Top members of President Joe Biden’s campaign team are attacking the president’s Democratic opponents, responding to grievances, fears, and horrors over the debate with sarcasm aimed at former supporters, less than three days after the widely criticized performance by Biden.
Deputy Biden campaign manager Rob Flaherty attacked “some self-important Podcasters” in a fundraising email sent on Saturday night. This was a not-so-subtle jab at the “Pod Save America” hosts—Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Dan Pfeiffer, and Jon Lovett—all of whom were former Obama aides and sounded completely distraught on Thursday night’s podcast episode.
According to the campaign, the so-called bedwetters are back at it again. And yet again, they are incorrect.
Some issues arise from that. One is that the 2016 “bedwetters” were justified in their fear of losing to Trump. Another is that by urging people to doubt Biden’s performance on Thursday night, you are essentially telling them to ignore what they saw. Another issue is that the critics fail to take into account the fact that the people involved would prefer not to have this discussion at all. Their hope is that the discussion collapse will never occur. They had nothing but praise for Biden, his policies, and his performance as president.
On Sunday morning, Favreau spoke with AWN over the phone, explaining that the Democratic Party is striving for a democratic society where people can debate constructively without being disagreeable, trust each other to be adults, and engage in discourse. They appear to believe that any criticism that is publicized is negative. In my opinion, now is a good time to have this discussion. Having it now would be better than in October.
“It would be irresponsible not to have a conversation about how best to win,” Vietor continued in a text to Playbook, citing President Biden’s statements that the future of American democracy is at stake. This isn’t just a handful of weaklings from the Beltway trying to appear kind. All sections of the electorate share these worries.
It is not about Biden’s presidential abilities, Favreau told AWN. The task is within his capabilities, he thinks. He worries that Biden can shift the race’s momentum in the next few months leading up to November. He asserted that regardless of the caliber of the campaign crew, the ability to accomplish it remains with the candidate.
Then there’s James Carville, the renowned Democratic strategist who oversaw the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton.
He did admit that he is uncertain about Biden’s status as the nominee in November. But after the argument, nothing has swayed him: He told us, “I think he shouldn’t be,” just hours after his name was used in a fundraising SMS for Biden’s campaign. “In politics, you have to cater to the desires of the people from time to time, goddamn.”
For being so forthright, Carville fears he may lose friends and possibly money. He went on to tell AWN that he’s been getting calls from prominent Democrats demanding that he stop being so useless at the moment. However, the most crucial disclaimer is: “No one says, ‘You’re wrong.'”
There are indications that efforts to rally behind Biden have been, at best, half-hearted, with residual skepticism in certain influential corners of Washington.
While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took to Sunday morning talk shows to bolster support for the president, Maryland’s Jamie Raskin (D) went over and beyond in his appearance on MSNBC’s “Velshi.”
“Joe Biden’s debate performance was problematic,” Raskin stated. All throughout our party, people are having really serious, forthright, and hard conversations. What to do is a topic of significant discussion between us. Whatever President Biden decides, our party will remain united, that much is certain. Our convention will have him as its keynote speaker regardless of who the candidate is. To defeat the country’s authoritarian and reactionary forces, he will be our guiding figure.
