The former vice president is admired for his character, but some former Obama aides worry about a matchup with President Trump.
By Michael Scherer , Michael Scherer National political reporter covering campaigns, Congress and the White House Email Bio Follow Dan Balz and Dan Balz Chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress Email Bio Follow Matt Viser Matt Viser National political reporter Email Bio Follow May 11 at 12:36 PM Only one of the 21 Democrats running for president wants voters to see him as the establishment choice best able to fulfill the promise of President Barack Obama’s...
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in Pittsburgh last month. This account is based on interviews with 53 former Obama advisers, senior White House and Cabinet staff, and campaign professionals, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not ready to take a public position on Biden’s campaign.
“Where I am in this race is very similar to where a lot of Obama people are. The Biden loyalty is real,” said Rufus Gifford, Obama’s finance director in 2012, who has co-hosted a Biden fundraiser but not yet committed to his candidacy. “But this is a little bit bipolar. Obama people were all courted by the establishment candidate in ’07 very aggressively and decided to go in a different direction.
Among those who had not yet picked a favorite, there was remarkable unanimity of preferences: Almost all said they had limited their consideration to five candidates now in the sprawling field: Biden, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala D. Harris , Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
That is the quality most of Obama’s former aides now say they are seeking in the field. They include people such as Kyle Lierman, a former senior policy adviser in the White House Office of Public Engagement. A former campaign intern for Biden in early 2007, he used the word “love” when speaking of Biden, and he said he was ready to drop everything in 2016 to work on his campaign if he had run against Clinton for the nomination.
Buttigieg also has garnered a significant share of the wealthy network of early financial donors that helped launch Obama’s campaign in 2007, a group with a clear preference of working for candidates with whom they forge an emotional relationship. A Biden spokesman said the campaign was attempting to infuse the campaign with an array of former Obama aides as well as fresh talent who worked on the 2018 elections or are new to politics.
“If you were there, you got a firsthand look,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama’s first chief of staff. “You know the guy who never bucked any assignment, took everything on, whatever he was given, whether around the globe or every nook and cranny of the country.” “Joe Biden is a very nice guy; he’s an extraordinarily nice person. But he was like a hedged bet by team Obama,” said Arun Chaudhary, an early 2008 Obama staffer who became the first White House videographer and whose firm is now working for 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson. “He was everything Obama wasn’t just in case the country didn’t want a young charismatic black guy. Biden was picked because he was the opposite of that, an old establishment Washington guy.
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