WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has complained privately to allies about how quickly his name and accomplishments have virtually disappeared from the national conversation, according to six people, and how quickly the party he served for more than five decades abandoned him. is familiar with the comments.
Biden has noted at times that he has not mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris, who topped the Democratic ticket in July, in recent campaign speeches, including when talking about an economy he believes her policies are based on. This is a positive trajectory, people said.
And one of the last notable times he spoke about him was particularly striking — during a debate with former President Donald Trump this month, three people familiar with his comments said.
“Obviously I’m Not Joe Biden” Harris said at the timeadding: “I’m certainly not Donald Trump. What I offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.” He made such a statement in response to Trump’s claim that Harris and the president’s economic policies are not different.
Details of Biden’s mixed feelings about the messaging of a campaign he has steadfastly abandoned provide a window into how he made his unusual decision to drop out of the Democratic nomination and endorse his vice president. His personal comments also mark a transition in Harris’ campaign, where he’s pitching himself as a candidate and addressing a key question voters have about his candidacy: how he differs from Biden.
This account of the president’s personal comments comes from 12 people familiar with the dynamic between Biden and Harris, including administration and campaign officials, as well as allies involved in his campaign’s transition to vice president. They were granted anonymity to speak freely about the inner workings of the campaign and the White House.
They all made it clear that Biden wants Harris to win in November — which he believes will shape his legacy — and plans to do everything he can to help him.
The president brought this up to Harris personally and repeatedly, according to a senior campaign official and another person familiar with the dynamic.
“He always tells him, ‘The most important thing is that you win,'” said a senior campaign official, adding that Harris and Biden had a productive lunch together last week and that his campaign is “looking forward to it.”
“We need to tell people who he is and what he’s going to do,” said a campaign official. “There was no real interest in hearing about his achievements when he was running. This is still the case.”
“These uninformed claims are the polar opposite of the truth,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in response to the article.
“President Biden welcomes the strong response of the American people to Vice President Harris’ leadership and policies that move us away from the dangerous agendas of the past, like MAGAnomics and abortion bans, and into the future,” he said.
Six people with knowledge of Biden’s personal comments said he was politically motivated to deflect campaign messages from his record, even if it sometimes angered him.
“He fully understands that not mentioning ‘Bidenomics’ and ‘Joe Biden’ is not common.” Politically, he gets it,” said one person familiar with the dynamic.
A senior Biden aide said the president asked Harris daily if there was anything he could do to help, and the two spoke regularly.
“He wants nothing more than to do everything we can to support him,” Biden said. “He’s 100% involved.”
But while Biden was attuned to political realities, he also expressed a range of emotions about his exit from the race — from feeling that his legacy rests on Harris’ victory to anguish over losing his mark on the national stage. his personal comments.
They portrayed a president who felt loyal to his vice president, and he felt loyal to him, and who felt ostracized by people he thought were his friends in the immediate aftermath of his exit, and all the less pathetic because of it. feels that the times are behind.
“It’s very complicated,” said one person familiar with his thinking.
A month after announcing his candidacy on July 21, Harris has regularly talked about Biden on the campaign trail — repeatedly opening his rallies by saying he brought “hello” from the president. Although he praised Biden at a White House event last week and appeared with him on Sept. 14 when both spoke at the Congressional Black Caucus’ Phoenix Awards Dinner, those remarks have been toned down in campaign appearances in recent weeks. The two were spotted together at a Labor Day rally this month.
“History will show what we know here,” Harris said At the September 2 event. “Joe Biden has been one of the most transformative presidents the United States has ever seen. And it comes from his heart.”
Harris did not mention Biden once during a 40-minute campaign speech on the economy in Pittsburgh last week. While he said in campaign speeches that “our country has come a long way since President Biden and I took office,” Harris now regularly says “we” when talking about what the Biden-Harris administration is doing.
“Over the past 3½ years, we have taken great strides to recover from the public health and economic crisis we inherited,” he said, for example, in his economic speech last week.
By contrast, Biden, who is expected to headline events for Harris in October, and members of his administration have dramatically increased how often they mention him publicly since running for president.
“He should be his own person,” said a Harris campaign official. “He has to do it to win.”
When Harris led Trump on the question of which presidential candidate best represents change a new NBC News survey 40% of registered voters this month said they were more worried that he would continue the same approach as Biden (compared to 39% who were more worried that Trump would continue the same approach from his first term).
Harris has a genuine affection for Biden, and their relationship has remained strong during their 3½ years together in the White House, people familiar with their relationship said. They said Biden expressed gratitude for her loyalty, especially during the toughest times when he was under pressure to drop out of the presidential race and felt other leaders of the Democratic Party were turning on him.
“He loves the president. He adores the president. He’s proud of the record they have,” said a person familiar with Harris’ strategy. “But I think the hard part for a lot of people is going to be this Harris administration. It’s not going to be Part Two of Biden.”
Since Harris announced his candidacy, his campaign advisers have debated how to handle the question of whether he will be an extension of Biden’s agenda, breaking with him on some policies. But he and his team are focused on how to win in November, and much of that has to do with explaining who Harris is, independent of Biden.
Some of his advisers believe Harris should have said “I’m not Joe Biden” rather than “I’m not the president” because the latter could leave the four people with knowledge of the discussions thinking he’s incapable of doing the job. he said.
“That’s why he has to say, ‘I’m not him.’ “He can’t say, ‘I’m not the president,’ because people will say he’s not ready to do that,” one of them said. “He understands that. It still doesn’t sting.”
Harris repeated the line in a radio interview a few days after the presidential debate when asked how he differed from Biden. “Well, I’m obviously not Joe Biden,” he said. “I offer a new generation of leadership.”
Appears on ABC Last week on “The View”Biden insisted that he would have defeated Trump if he had stayed in the race.
“I’ve never fully believed the claims of this extreme reluctance to run for re-election,” Biden said. “The thing is, my quest has always been on the verge of defeating this guy.”
Three of those interviewed for this article attributed any concerns about Harris’ campaign to Biden’s former inner circle, saying they did him a disservice by not being realistic enough about his chances of victory despite his stubbornly low approval numbers.
However, the vote swung in Harris’ favor after Biden left the party following a disastrous debate performance in June. While the overall race between Harris and Trump remains tight, the Democratic map has widened since Biden’s departure, putting North Carolina in play as well as Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. Enthusiasm showed a rise within the party Since Harris took over from Biden on July 21. He’s filling in like Biden never did on the battlefield, attracting and inspiring tens of thousands of new volunteers. eye-popping fundraising numbers.
Allies said, however, that Biden will feel vindicated not just by the altruism of his decision to step aside for Harris, but by what Democrats see as an accomplished four-year term.
“I’m sure the reality is hitting him,” said John Morgan, a longtime Biden ally and Democratic donor. “But the big reality for Joe Biden is that when we put it all together, his four years were a masterpiece.”