![]() There were more pressing matters of concern raised, such as lagging turnout among Black men, but there was not an airing of grievances. Josh Shapiro’s move to drop the requirement requiring state workers to have a college degree was discussed, as was the effective blue-collar messaging of freshman Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state. One Democratic perennial that arose: how to avoid coming off as elitist. The meetings were described to me a mix of get-to-know-you chatter mixed with long-winded advice, talk of best practices and curiosity about what the lawmakers were hearing at home. Multiple attendees of the conversations told me it was never fully clear to them why Obama wanted to gather. (Biden, few in the room needed reminding, didn’t win either state in 2020.) One of the gatherings, though, included members who also worked in Obama’s administration and when the former president recalled having won Florida twice, one lawmaker interjected that he also won Ohio. They should establish their own identity, he said, while allowing that the party’s fate in 2024 would be largely tied to Biden’s success. The former president was careful to avoid criticizing Biden with the lawmakers, only encouraging Democrats to be aggressive marketing their accomplishments. And that’s to say nothing of stoking the fever swamp right’s racially unsubtle view that Obama is, alternately, secretly running the Biden White House or plotting his former vice president’s ouster. Still, the former president is no doubt aware that convening multiple, extended interactions with House Democrats, even with innocent intentions, could irritate the White House and inflame his off and on rivalry with Biden. An Obama adviser declined to offer a comment. A senior White House official corroborated as much, and said they received feedback from the conversations, but wouldn’t detail what they were told. ![]() Surely recognizing this, Obama’s advisers took care to alert the Biden West Wing about the conversations, I’m told. The times Obama has appeared with Biden since the former vice-president became president have been marked by Obama overshadowing Biden. Podcasts, documentaries, his foundation and, yes, golf in Hawaii and on Martha’s Vineyard have taken precedence.įurther, there’s the Obama-Biden relationship, which was never the bromance it was made out to be and was soured by Obama effectively tapping Hillary Clinton as his would-be successor. The sessions, which took place over cheese and crackers in Obama’s Washington office, are striking for a number of reasons.įor starters, he rarely took much of an interest in counseling lawmakers when he was president.Īnd while he reliably shows up on the stump each year for a number of Democrats, he’s hardly played the role of party power broker since leaving office. The gatherings were Obama’s idea, I’m told, and were designed for the now-61-year-old former president to keep current with his party’s rising stars, more than six years after he left office. ![]() ![]() Included were progressive members, like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), as well as more moderate lawmakers, such as Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). ![]()
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