Barack Obama, who has exerted influence discreetly in the Biden administration, has expressed strong concerns about the potential consequences if the current president fails to secure re-election against former president Donald Trump.
NBC observed a worrisome development for the Biden campaign.
The Washington Post, a journal renowned for its alignment with the Democratic Party, recently reported on the purported discontent of the Obama camp with the Biden campaign. This might potentially have negative implications for the current president’s chances of success.
Former President Barack Obama has raised questions about the structure of President Biden’s reelection campaign, discussing the matter directly with Biden and telling the president’s aides and allies the campaign needs to be empowered to make decisions without clearing them with the White House, according to three people familiar with the conversations.
Obama grew “animated” in discussing the 2024 election and former president Donald Trump’s potential return to power, one of the people said, and has suggested to Biden’s advisers that the campaign needs more top-level decision-makers at its headquarters in Wilmington, Del. — or it must empower the people already in place. Obama has not recommended specific individuals, but he has mentioned David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 race, as the type of senior strategist needed at the Biden campaign.
Plouffe presently holds a position as a board member of the Obama Foundation and formerly served as a White House senior advisor to Obama. The Washington Post subsequently presented a comprehensive summary of the conference in which Obama allegedly expressed his negative views.
Obama’s conversation with Biden on the subject took place during a private lunch at the White House in recent months, one of the people said, a meeting that has not been previously reported. Biden, who has long used Obama as a sounding board, invited his former boss to lunch, and the two discussed a range of topics including the 2024 election.
During the lunch, Obama noted the success of his reelection campaign structure in 2012, when some of his top presidential aides, including David Axelrod and Jim Messina, left the White House to take charge of the reelection operation in Chicago. That is a sharp contrast from Biden’s approach of leaving his closest aides at the White House even though they are involved in all the key decisions made by the campaign.
Obama also recommended that Biden seek counsel from Obama’s own former campaign aides, which Biden officials say they have done, the people said.
Why would a former president, who has noticeably refrained from commenting on the presidency of Joe Biden for the past three years, suddenly express such a clear and direct opinion about his former vice president’s diminishing chances of being re-elected.
Obama will most likely exert his influence in the Democratic Party in an attempt to obtain a 4th term in office, with Biden being his third.
Last week, in a rare interview with Breitbart News, former President Donald Trump revealed his intention to perhaps organize a rally at Madison Square Garden as a strategic move to secure victory in traditionally Democratic areas such as New York.
“I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump stated in the interview with Breitbart. “I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them. That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.
“But we’re going to do these other states too, and it will be a heavy move,” Trump went on. “I may rent Madison Square Garden and that’s the belly of the beast, right?”
Matthew Boyle and Alexander Marlow, reporters for Breitbart, provided an analysis on the importance of “The Garden”.
A Trump rally in Madison Square Garden certainly would be the “belly of the beast” in the heart of a Democrat stronghold, but it’s also in a city near and dear to Trump’s heart. Trump recently appeared at Madison Square Garden alongside former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, rocker Kid Rock, his son Donald Trump Jr., and UFC’s Dana White for the big UFC fight there in November. When Trump walked into the Garden, the crowd went wild. While that was a big moment for him, doing his own rally there would be a significantly bigger step and investment of campaign resources into the heart of a deep-blue state.
“We have some very good people there,” Trump stated in reference to New York Republicans, notably Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY).
“So, I believe we have a chance to win New York. I believe we have a chance to win New Jersey. If you look at Lee, he lost by a pretty close race. But it’s 100 times worse now than it was two years ago. Now, you have people — you have migrants living on Madison Avenue. You can’t get into a hospital. You can’t get into a school. You go to a public school and half the kids are sitting there and have no idea what the teacher is saying. You can’t get into these schools. I think it’s really bad and I think the people in New York and New Jersey and a lot of these states are — it would have been semi-unthinkable but I think these are states that can be won.”
Donald Trump may be considering a rally at Madison Square Garden, in his hometown of New York City, according to reports. NEWSMAX correspondent Mike Carter speaks with New Yorkers about the possibility.@MikeCarterTV pic.twitter.com/ZqwGG5091F
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 3, 2024