Obama finally moves against Biden, who could be gone by the weekend

The Washington Post reports former President Obama has told Biden’s allies his path to victory has diminished and he should consider whether to stay in the race against Donald Trump.

Obama believes the 81-year-old should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy”, the newspaper said, citing people briefed on his thinking.

It said there was no immediate comment from Obama, who was in office while Biden was vice president from 2009 to 2017 and who remains hugely influential in the Democratic party.

It came after Axios reported the growing number of Democrats calling on Biden to step aside is finally breaking his resistance.

The publication said Biden is now asking questions about vice-president Kamala Harris’ chances of beating Trump in November’s election - a clear sign he is becoming more open-minded about not being the candidate - and could be gone by this weekend.

Obama would be the most heavyweight Democrat so far to join a growing chorus in the party calling for Biden to drop out, following a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

It comes after two of the Democrats’ most senior leaders told Biden to step aside.

On the same day Mr Biden was diagnosed with Covid, leading him to quarantine at his beach home in Delaware, news was leaked that two of the most influential Democrats in Washington D.C., Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, had privately urged him to leave the race.

Ms Pelosi was speaker of the House of Representatives for eight years, across two separate terms. Mr Schumer is the current Senate Majority Leader. Few Democrats, aside from former president Barack Obama, surpass their level of influence within the party.

Details of Mr Schumer’s advice to Mr Biden leaked first.

The conversation in question happened in Delaware on Saturday, US time, shortly before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. That explains why it went virtually unnoticed.

“I sat with President Biden this afternoon in Delaware; we had a good meeting,” Mr Schumer said in a statement at the time. He provided no further details.

Today, America’s ABC News revealed that “Schumer had a blunt conversation with Biden, making the case it would be best if Biden dropped out of the presidential race”. It cited an unnamed source, described as “knowledgeable” and “close to both men”.

Mr Schumer’s spokesperson confirmed only that he had “conveyed the views of his caucus”, and suggested ABC News’ reporting was merely “idle speculation”.

The network said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had also spoken to Mr Biden and advised him to drop out.

In response to the story, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Mr Biden had “told both leaders he is the nominee of the party” and “plans to win”.

The Washington Post and New York Times have now also reported that Mr Schumer and Mr Jeffries told Mr Biden he was risking their party’s electoral prospects.

Later in the day, a second revelation dropped, this time from CNN.

The network said Ms Pelosi had “privately told Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows he cannot defeat Trump”, and that by staying in the race he could “destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House”. It cited four people who’d been briefed on their phone call.

Mr Biden reportedly argued with the former speaker, insisting he had seen polls which indicated he could still win the election.

Previous reporting across recent weeks indicated Ms Pelosi had been listening to the concerns of colleagues who worry Mr Biden will not only lose to Trump, but drag down the party’s other candidates in the process, ceding full control of Congress to the Republicans.

Publicly, her stance has remained unchanged: “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

Of course, according to Mr Biden, that decision has already been made, and he is staying in the race. That Ms Pelosi and other Democrats nevertheless keep urging the President to make a decision suggests, rather strongly, that they want a different answer.

Today’s leaks indicate that, having lobbied Mr Biden privately and unsuccessfully, Ms Pelosi and Mr Schumer are seeking to ramp up the pressure on him by making their views public.

As American polling guru and political commentator Nate Silver put it: “They basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn’t work, so now they’re leaking the details publicly.”

One other senior Democrat, Congressman Adam Schiff, went fully public today, calling on Mr Biden to “pass the torch”.

“A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Mr Schiff told The Los Angeles Times.

Biden forced to self-isolate with Covid

Concerns about Mr Biden’s fitness to be the Democratic nominee – and indeed his fitness for the presidency – have snowballed since his disastrous performance in the debate against Trump late last month.

Subsequent public appearances, including sit-down interviews with senior hosts from both ABC News and NBC News, have done little to ease Democrats’ fears. The same can be said of polling, which continues to show Mr Biden trailing, often badly, in every swing state that will decide the election.

As he is currently losing, with no sign of a recovery, the prevailing view is that Mr Biden needs to do something to change the dynamic of the race. And that might not be possible if he is incapable of performing well on the campaign trail.

Now, with today’s Covid diagnosis, he is being forced to stop travelling altogether.

“I will be isolating as I recover, and during this time I will continue to work to get the job done for the American people,” he said in a statement.

Having cut short a trip to Las Vegas to fly home, Mr Biden told reporters that he felt “good”.

More Coverage

Investigators discover shooter’s warning post

Wild reaction as granddaughter steals show

White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said Mr Biden had complained of suffering from a runny nose, a cough and “general malaise,” and after attending a campaign event he tested positive.

“His symptoms remain mild,” Dr O’Connor said, adding that Mr Biden’s respiratory rate, temperature and blood oxygen levels were all normal.

- with AFP