- Some among Obama’s team were skeptical that Biden would be an effective leader in the White House.
- “The Obama people thought Biden would suck as president,” an ex-Biden aide recently told Axios.
- The Axios report detailed a relationship between Obama and Biden that is respectful but complicated.
President Joe Biden’s administration is filled with aides who also served under President Barack Obama, with many staffers who’ve worked with both Democratic leaders having maintained tight bonds over the years.
But according to Axios, some of Obama’s former staffers were also highly skeptical that Biden would be an effective president.
“The Obama people thought Biden would suck as president,” an ex-Biden aide told the outlet. “They didn’t think he’d be organized enough to execute.”
Axios also reported that some Biden aides have been dismayed that a significant number of ex-Obama staffers were able to secure higher-level positions in the Biden administration over many aides who’d been with the president for a longer period of time.
However, the relationship between Biden and Obama has remained “respectful,” according to Axios.
During Obama’s presidency, much was written about Biden’s more freewheeling style on the campaign trail as well as the former Delaware senator’s ability to cut legislative deals with lawmakers across ideological stripes.
Obama, who walked into the Oval Office after serving less than four years in the Senate, leaned on Biden’s expertise in Washington as he worked to advance some of the administration’s biggest legislative accomplishments — which included the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Affordable Care Act.
And Obama will return the favor in the coming months, as he’ll stump for Biden across the country ahead of what is likely to be a tight reelection contest against former President Donald Trump.
In response to the Axios report, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates pointed to the longtime relationship between the two men.
“As President Biden has said, President Obama is family to him,” he told the outlet, adding that the president “talks to both former President Obama and President [Bill] Clinton often.”
