Three former advisers to President Barack Obama recently criticized President Joe Biden during their recent “Pod Save America” podcast episode, amidst ongoing rumors of tension between their camps. Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, collectively known as the “Obama bros,” spent much of their time discussing President Biden’s perceived shortcomings in the first presidential debate and his subsequent interview, reflecting a critical stance on his recent public performances, according to Fox News.
Vietor described Biden’s sit-down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week, an attempt to repair the damage and improve Biden’s election chances, as “bad” and “hard to watch.” He added that he believed the interview could not have resolved the political problem stemming from the debate. The interview, in his view, only increased his concerns because Biden “struggled to speak in a clear, coherent way.
Vietor also expressed concerns about Biden’s inability to present a compelling agenda for his second term, which he argued is essential for swaying swing voters away from former President Donald Trump. Vietor also mentioned that Biden’s explanations for his subpar debate performance—attributing it to travel fatigue and illness—did not sufficiently address the issues observed during the debate.
Lovett agreed with Vietor, stating that the interview was “a hard setting for him to succeed, even at his absolute best, because it’s hard to justify why it was more than a week after the debate, that it was so brief, and he was only doing one.” He added, “The debate was just a bad night. We all saw it. The explanations are kind of vague… That doesn’t do enough to assuage our concerns about what we saw that night. Right? So, the explanations don’t offer anything.
Favreau acknowledged that Biden’s interview was “more coherent than the debate,” but he still had concerns, highlighting a lack of urgency and clear messaging from Biden. He suggested that these shortcomings might hinder his ability to recover from the debate’s negative reception. Favreau then pointed to recent polls indicating that Biden is trailing Trump in every key swing state.
Vietor later stated that it “seems like a clear-cut choice that we’d have a better chance with someone else,” while Lovett argued that Biden wasn’t “delivering the message effectively.” He added, “That George Stephanopoulos interview was painful to watch. It was a terrible interview. He did a terrible job articulating why he’s in the race, what happened at the debate, and why he’s the person to beat Trump. He’s doing a terrible job.
Their comments came a day after former Obama adviser David Axelrod said during an appearance on CNN that Biden was “certain” to lose the race to Trump. He stated, “There are certain immutable facts of life. Those were painfully obvious on that debate stage. The president just… hasn’t come to grips with it. He’s not winning this race.
Tensions have reportedly risen between former and current advisers from the Obama and Biden administrations. This strain is partly due to the level of criticism directed at President Biden and the decision to favor Hillary Clinton over him for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
