Obama, Clinton join Biden at fundraiser
Sold-out NYC event raises more than $26M
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Joe Biden on Thursday night in New York at the most lucrative fundraiser of the 2024 campaign, warning fellow Democrats that Donald Trump must be defeated while making forceful cases for Biden’s reelection.
“Joe is absolutely right that we’ve got not just a nominee, but, frankly, a party and an entire infrastructure that increasingly seems unconcerned with the essence of America,” Obama said of Trump and Republicans. “The idea of self-governance and the possibilities of us all fully operating and bridging our differences and moving forward.”
“But we also have a positive story to tell about the future,” Obama added.
The three presidents took turns taking questions during an “armchair conversation” moderated by Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Obama: ‘Sometimes we forget where we started’
The Biden campaign fundraiser, held at Radio City Music Hall before a sold-out crowd of more than 5,000 donors, raised more than $26 million, the most ever for a single fundraiser in U.S. political history, according to the campaign.
“It’s not just the negative case against the presumptive nominee on the other side. It’s the positive case for somebody who’s done an outstanding job,” Obama said, referring to Biden.
“Sometimes we forget where we started, and where we are now. You’ve got recordbreaking job growth. You’ve got an unemployment rate that is as low as it has been.”
Most polls show Biden trailing Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, in a head-to-head contest, in part because Biden is underperforming among Black, Latino, and young voters − three crucial constituencies of the Democratic base.
“I think our democracy is at stake, not a joke. I think democracy is literally at stake,” Biden said. “Think about the things (Trump) has said, think about the things he wants to do.”
Biden added: “We’re at a real inflection point in history, things are changing. This guy denies there is global warming. This guy wants to get rid of not only Roe v. Wade − by the way, which he brags about having done − he wants to get rid of the ability of anyone anywhere in America to have the right to choose. All the things he’s doing are so old.”
Clinton said voters should put aside their differences given the stakes of the race. “Talking about the defense of democracy not only begs support for President Biden but also begs the question of why are we even arguing about some of this stuff?”
Clinton on Biden: He ‘deserves another term’
Clinton made an economic pitch for Biden, who has struggled to get credit for an improving economy. Clinton accused Trump while in office of taking credit for an economy that had started improving under Obama and said Biden later inherited “a mess” left by Trump.
“All of a sudden, Joe Biden comes along and creates roughly twice as many jobs,” Clinton said. “So I believe in keeping score. Not in a vindictive way but in a positive way. He’s been good for America and he deserves another term.”
The fundraiser was limited to the president’s traveling pool press and not open to all reporters. No television cameras were allowed, consistent with the policy of all Biden fundraisers.
“This is an especially exciting and rare occasion. Three presidents have all come to New York, and not one of them is here to appear in court,” Colbert said in a jab at Trump.