Barack Obama recently spent several hours last Friday in the family dining room of the White House when he visited his former vice president, Joe Biden. The occasion was hardly just two old friends catching up CNN.
It has been noted that Obama has made clear to associates in recent months that he believes Biden’s intensifying re-match with Donald Trump in November will be incredibly close, and that the 2024 election marks an “all-hands-on-deck” moment, people familiar with his thinking told CNN. To that end, his return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last week was largely a working visit.
Biden and Obama, along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were involved in an organizing call in the White House residence heralding the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
“We have the chance to do even more, but that only happens if we send Joe and Kamala back to the White House in November,” Obama said in the video. “So, we’ve got to keep working.”
The campaign also recorded other content featuring the two presidents, sources said, that they plan to roll out in the coming weeks.
Obama and Biden speak with regularity, sources said, and the former president remains in direct contact with some top White House officials, including Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, who worked in the Obama administration.
Since the announcement of the current president’s reelection last year, the former president has occasionally assisted Biden, especially in quiet chats and public fundraising pleas, in an effort to ease Democratic concerns about Biden’s potential for a second term. As the general election gets closer, his involvement with the Biden campaign is anticipated to increase. According to his advisers, he has already committed to making multiple campaign appearances before November in an effort to support Biden’s efforts to reassemble his winning coalition from 2020.
At a glamorous Manhattan fundraiser on Thursday that included Biden, Obama, and former President Bill Clinton, Obama gave Biden his strongest endorsement. Stephen Colbert will host a rare discussion between the three presidents.
