Current:Home > NewsNew book details Biden-Obama frictions and says Harris sought roles ‘away from the spotlight’-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
New book details Biden-Obama frictions and says Harris sought roles ‘away from the spotlight’
View Date:2024-12-23 22:35:46
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new book about Joe Biden portrays the president as someone whose middle-class upbringing helped foster a resentment of intellectual elitism that shaped his political career and sometimes caused strain with his onetime boss, Harvard-educated Barack Obama.
Biden, who spent eight years as Obama’s vice president, told a friend that Obama couldn’t even curse properly, according to “The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future.”
Released Tuesday and written by Franklin Foer, a staff writer for The Atlantic, the book says Biden said Obama was unable to deliver a “f—- you” with “the right elongation of vowels and the necessary hardness of consonants; it was how they must curse in the ivory tower.”
Now, as the president runs for reelection, the early frontrunner among Republicans is former President Donald Trump, whose supporters can sometimes resent the perceived elitism of Washington’s political class — suggesting some overlap with Biden.
The anecdote also may resonate with Democrats. Ardent supporters of both Biden and Obama fondly recall the then-vice president telling Obama in a private aside that was captured on a hot mic, “This is a big f—-ing deal,” during the signing ceremony for Obama’s signature health care law in 2010.
Foer’s book offers a deep examination of Biden’s first two years in office, which the author describes as encompassing a lot of “flailing” before the president began to cement his legacy through signature policy achievements and “creative diplomacy” that helped rally the world behind Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.
The 80-year-old Biden continues to face questions about his age, and Foer calls it “striking” that Biden attends few meetings or public events before 10 a.m. In private, Biden would “occasionally admit to friends he felt tired,” the book says.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked last week by a reporter citing an early excerpt from Foer’s book if personal fatigue might help explain why Biden’s morning schedule was often light. She responded, “That’s a ridiculous assumption to make.”
Jean-Pierre referred back to that exchange during her briefing with reporters at the White House on Tuesday, and provided updated comment, saying that administration officials had now “seen the context of the excerpt.” She said the book was actually praising Biden for helping to push major legislation through Congress and unify global support around Ukraine.
It “seemed to be making the opposite overall point about how the value of his experience and wisdom resulted in rallying the free world against authoritarianism,” she said.
Jean-Pierre also said “there’s gonna be a range, always, a range of books that are about every administration” that would feature “a variety of claims.”
“That’s not unusual. That happens all the time,” she said. “And we’re not going to litigate here.”
Foer’s book also describes struggles by Vice President Kamala Harris to carve out a role for herself as Biden’s No. 2 that have been well-documented previously. But Foer suggests Harris may have hurt her own cause in that area, initially asking to be in charge of relations with Scandinavia because it was “away from the spotlight.”
The book reports that the vice president was initially excited about helping the administration tackle the root causes of immigration that have seen so many Central American migrants seeking asylum arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border — but that she eventually began to accept conventional wisdom that it was a thankless assignment.
Foer’s book says Biden tried to treat Harris more respectfully than he felt Obama often had treated him as vice president, calling her “the vice president” instead of “my vice president.” But, during his early days in office, as Biden was convening his team to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Biden joked that the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, should sit in the vice president’s seat.
“The Last Politician” describes the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. It says that when Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, relayed to the president that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country, leaving Kabul to fall to the Taliban, Biden declared in frustration, “Give me a break!”
It also reports that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally intervened to help many women whose work in Afghanistan made them potential targets for the Taliban. She directed a group of them to wear white scarfs so they could be identified by U.S. Marines guarding the Kabul airport, and unilaterally contacted world leaders to find places for their eventual evacuation flights to land.
The book says Clinton’s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a personal rebuke from Sullivan, former close advisor to Clinton, who told her “What are you doing calling the Ukrainian government?”
“I wouldn’t have to call if you guys would,” Clinton responded, according to Foer’s book.
veryGood! (9856)
Related
- Mike Tyson has lived a wild life. These 10 big moments have defined his career
- Can the Chiefs deliver a perfect season? 10 big questions for NFL's second half
- Brianna LaPaglia Says Zach Bryan Freaked the F--k Out at Her for Singing Morgan Wallen Song
- Celery is one of our most underappreciated vegetables. Here's why it shouldn't be.
- Republican Gabe Evans ousts Democratic US Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado
- Who is racing for 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship? Final four drivers, odds, stats
- Community grieves 10-year-old student hit and killed by school bus in Missouri
- LGBTQ+ hotlines experience influx in crisis calls amid 2024 presidential election
- Will Reeve, son of Christopher Reeve, gets engaged to girlfriend Amanda Dubin
- New Federal Funds Aim to Cut Carbon Emissions and Air Pollution From US Ports
Ranking
- Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election
- Stocks rally again. Dow and S&P 500 see best week this year after big Republican win
- Flight carrying No. 11 Auburn basketball team grounded after scuffle between players
- Pete Holmes, Judy Greer on their tears and nerves before 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'
- A crowd of strangers brought 613 cakes and then set out to eat them
- Brianna LaPaglia Says Zach Bryan Freaked the F--k Out at Her for Singing Morgan Wallen Song
- ‘Saturday Night Live’ to take on a second Trump term after focusing on Harris
- With Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase leading way, Bengals running out of time to save season
Recommendation
-
Statue of the late US Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, is unveiled in his native Alabama
-
Judith Jamison, transcendent dancer and artistic director of Alvin Ailey company, dies at 81
-
How many points did Bronny James score tonight in G League debut?
-
Arizona Republican lawmaker Justin Heap is elected recorder for the state’s most populous county
-
'Heretic' spoilers! Hugh Grant spills on his horror villain's fears and fate
-
Tyreek Hill injury updates: Will Dolphins WR play in Week 10 game vs. Rams?
-
Andrea Bocelli on working with Russell Crowe, meeting the Kardashians and new concert film
-
Trump made gains in heavily Hispanic areas all over the map. Here’s how he did it