Barack Obama Didn’t Endorse Joe Biden In 2016 Because He’s ‘Just Another White Guy,’ Says Author
Back in the 2016 general election, Barack Obama threw his support behind Hillary Clinton, who would later be defeated by current U.S. President Donald Trump. According to author Steven Levingston in his new book, Barack and Joe: The Making of an Extraordinary Partnership, Obama chose Clinton over then-Vice President Joe Biden in part because Biden was “just another white guy.”
“Joe, despite his many virtues, was just another white guy, one in a long line of American presidents — hardly the symbol of the Teutonic change that Obama hoped would mark his place in the history books,” Levingston wrote, per Breitbart.
According to Levingston, Obama believed Clinton would “confirm his revolutionary stamp” on America’s politics as the first black president passing the torch to the first female president.
The book also highlighted the fact that Obama passed on endorsing Biden for president in 2020, which reportedly stung more given that he met with other potential presidential candidates, including Beto O’Rourke.
Elsewhere, in a humorous anecdote, Levingston outlines Obama emailing one of his advisers during his time as a newly elected senator.
“Shoot. Me. Now,” he wrote during one of Biden’s speeches.
Although Biden remains the front-runner in the race, recent polls put him in a dead heat with fellow Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He is also facing attacks from Donald Trump and his team in the wake of the Ukraine scandal. Following impeachment proceedings stemming from Trump’s controversial phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and allies are claiming that Biden interfered with Ukraine’s legal system to save his son, Hunter, from legal action.
In response to the attacks, Biden’s camp reportedly sent a letter to all major TV networks urging them to stop booking Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who continues to spread the now-unsupported theory of the Bidens’ Ukraine dealings.
“While you often fact check his statements in real-time during your discussions, that is no longer enough,” the letter reads, per The Daily Beast. “By giving him your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation.”
I deleted this tweet because apparently the Biden campaign is actually demanding they get equal time whenever Giuliani appears.
That seems like a horrible idea. Honestly, they should be giving him all the rope he wants. pic.twitter.com/bzvuA8LnAC
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) September 30, 2019
Biden will take the debate stage in October and also has qualified for the November debate. Given his current level of support ? — 27.8 average in the polls ? — he appears to be set to participate in many more debates in the future barring his decision to drop out of the race or a significant dip in his polling support.
