Obama steps up to give Joe a lift
Bid to revive Biden camp
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama is stepping up – both publicly and behind the scenes – to help galvanise US President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
The former president is understood to have made private calls to Mr Biden’s chiefof-staff Jeff Zients about his strategy after an “all hands on deck” session at the White House last Friday.
The former president will also take centre stage at a fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Thursday (US time) alongside Mr Biden and another former president, Bill Clinton.
The Biden camp is hopeful that as well as raising $10m through ticket sales, the evening will inject some energy into the campaign, which has been battling poor approval ratings.
Aides close to Mr Obama say he has long worried about the 2024 race and the prospect of his former vice-president losing to Donald Trump.
Mr Obama, 62, and Mr Biden, 81, have, throughout the latter’s presidency, maintained regular contact and met for White House lunches.
Mr Obama has for months been warning Mr Biden not to be complacent about Mr Trump’s candidacy, according to reports.
And the Biden team has been criticised for being slow to organise their state-by-state grassroots movement, which worked so well for Mr Obama during his election campaigns.
In November, polls showed Mr Biden trailing Mr Trump across six battleground states – all of which Mr Biden won in 2020 – by an average of 48 to 44 per cent, according to a New
York Times/Siena College poll. Seventy-one per cent of those polled said Mr Biden was “too old” to be an effective president, with even 54 per cent of Mr Biden’s supporters agreeing with that statement.
At the beginning of March, the same polls found Mr Trump led Mr Biden, 48 per cent to 43 per cent.
However, for the first time, a swing state poll this week suggested the race was tipping in Mr Biden’s favour.
The Bloomberg News/ Morning Consult poll found the president was gaining on Mr Trump in six of seven swing states, significantly so in two of them.
Tickets for the Radio City Music Hall event range from $225 to $500,000, with top-tier attendees paying $100,000 to have famed US photographer Annie Leibovitz take their photo with Mr Biden, Mr Obama and Mr Clinton.
Singing superstars Lizzo, Queen Latifah and Cynthia Erivo, and actor Mindy Kaling, are among the famous faces due to attend.
Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to Mr Obama, said the former president would do everything possible to support Mr Biden in his bid for re-election.
“Given the stakes of this election, President Obama will do all he can to support President Biden’s re-election,” he said.
“In fact, he looks forward to helping Democrats up and down the ballot make the case to voters this fall.
“Our strategy will be based on driving impact, especially where and when his voice can help move the needle.”