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Inside the Obama-Biden tension: President's ally says he is 'deeply resentful' of Obama staff treatment and how he was 'pushed aside' for Hillary Clinton
Joe Biden's team believes Barack Obama is secretly orchestrating efforts to push him out of the 2024 election, according to one of the president's confidants.
While Obama has offered public support for his former vice president, alumni of his administration have been among the loudest voices warning of an election wipeout and his friend George Clooney went public with criticism on Wednesday.
Biden ally Joe Scarborough let rip on his 'Morning Joe' TV show a day later, exposing the burning tensions running through the Democratic Party.
'The Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this and, if Joe Biden believes that, that's not going to get him out of the race any faster anytime,' he said.
Scarborough went on to describe years of resentment and the way Biden felt he was passed over by Obama in 2016 when the then president picked Hillary Clinton to be his successor.
On Thursday, Joe Scarborough (center) used his 'Morning Joe' show to hit out at Barack Obama, saying Biden's team believed he was orchestrating calls for him to stand aside
He and Biden reportedly speak frequently. And it was Scarborough's show on Monday that the president picked for his fightback, dialing in by phone to rail against the 'elites' who are lining up against him.
On Wednesday, that was Clooney, one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and a good friend of Obama, with a New York Times column entitled: 'I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.'
A day later Politico revealed that he had checked in with Obama ahead of publication. The former president, sources said, did not warn him off the idea.
In fact, they were both together at the ritzy fundraiser in Los Angeles, where Clooney said: 'It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe "Big F***ing Deal" Biden of 2010.
'He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.'
Clooney was a frequent visitor to the Obama White House and the former president has even vacationed with him on Lake Como, Italy.
He joins a host of Obama figures who calling for Biden to step aside. The most vocal has been David Axelrod, who masterminded Obama's two presidential campaigns, and this week warned Biden he was heading for a 'landslide' defeat.
Scarborough hit back saying that Biden would simply disregard the warnings of people like Axelrod and the Obama alumni who run 'Pod Save America,' who also have demanded Biden steps aside.
'David Axelrod ensures that Joe Biden will dig himself in another day,' he said.
'Anytime the pod bros say something nasty about Joe Biden, which they they have repeatedly ... said nasty things about Joe Biden before the debate after the debate ...' he said.
Former President Barack Obama joined Biden at a glitzy fundraiser in Los Angeles last month. Goerge Clooney was there too and wrote that the president was a shadow of his former self
Clooney was a frequent visitor to the Obama White House and the two remain close. They are seen here heading to dinner from Clooney's Lake Cuomo home
'Every time they do that, he digs in a little bit further. The pathway to Joe Biden graciously stepping aside does not go through the Obamas or the Clintons.'
Biden's feelings about the Obamas and the Clintons run deep, continued Scarborough.
'Joe Biden is deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff, but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton,' he said.
'He's deeply resentful of those trying to shove him out of the way. He's always felt like an outsider. Always felt like people have looked down upon him.'
Biden has always made much of his blue collar roots and provided a folksy counterpoint to Obama's Ivy League erudition when they were in office.
But there were frequent reports of slights by Obama staffers, fueled by suggestions that Biden was eccentric and a remnant of an outdated style of politics.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said it was inconceivable that someone like Axelrod was operating without Obama's say so.
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod has been one of the loudest voices warning Biden that he is in danger of losing the White House to Donald Trump
Axelrod masterminded Barack Obama's two elections wins in 2008 and 2012
'It's really clear from the Obama wing of the Democratic Party that they have grave concerns about Joe Biden staying in the race,' he said.
'David Axelrod speaks for Obama because he doesn't want to go public.'
It is not the first time Team Obama has expressed concern about Biden's campaign. Axelrod and others have frequently and publicly worried that he had failed to build out the sort of infrastructure to win in 2024.
But they accelerated after Biden's disastrous performance during his first debate with Donald Trump.
'There are certain immutable facts of life, and those were painfully obvious on that debate stage, and the president just doesn’t seem to come to — he hasn’t come to grips with it. He’s not winning this race,' Axelrod told CNN at the weekend.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.