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From Obama to Clinton, how are the clans within the Democratic Party divided regarding Biden's candidacy?
Last month's fundraiser in Los Angeles for Joe Biden was a resounding success, raising more than $30 million in donations for the president's re-election campaign. This is also thanks to the support of George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
By the end of the evening, the crowd was cheering, the band was playing music, and it was time to leave the stage. But Biden seemed to freeze. His former boss, Barack Obama, came to his aid, taking the 81-year-old president by the arm.
Many Democrats are now hoping that Obama will again be the one to push Biden aside, after the president's dismal performance in last week's debate against Donald Trump convinced them that his November re-election campaign is futile.
The problem, warn those who know the president and his team, is that an Obama intervention could backfire. Among the Bidens, there is still bitterness toward Obama for supporting Hillary Clinton — against his vice president — as his successor in 2015.
" If Obama tries to get involved, it will be counterproductive ," said a senior Democratic party donor.
A Democratic lobbyist agreed: " I think the thing that a lot of people don't understand is that Barack Obama, Clinton and Biden don't have a good relationship ."
Relations between the three ruling clans of the Democratic Party have never been straightforward. Obama drew the ire of the Clintons when, as a first-term senator, he had the audacity to challenge Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination in 2008.
Biden's ties to the Clintons were never particularly strong, according to another operative, who had little faith in efforts to involve Bill and Hillary in the campaign to oust the president.
Those old wounds and rivalries now form a layer of mistrust at the top of an already fractured party.
Four years ago, it was Biden who held together a broad coalition — progressives, blue-collar voters, young and old, black people, etc. — to defeat Trump. His departure threatens to destroy this union.
" There is no unity among Democrats because, fundamentally, the parts of the Democratic coalition don't share the same values ," said Hank Sheinkopf, a senior strategist for the party, citing the deepening gap between its traditional blue-collar base and its elites. urban educated. He said about the leading families of the party: " They all represent different factions ".
By contrast, the Republican Party has appeared increasingly unified under Trump's dominance. Its unity has been achieved, in part, by persecuting dissidents, including those who blamed the former president for inciting the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol.
A veteran Democratic operative warned of "a giant show" if Biden were to fall.
Some of the Democratic divisions played out in the latest congressional primary race in New York's 16th district. It pitted a black member of the progressive "Squad," Congressman Jamaal Boëman, against a white establishment figure, George Latimer, who had the support of Hillary Clinton. What followed was an intra-party contest that featured accusations of racism and anti-Semitism, fueled by generational disagreements over Israel's war in Gaza.
A sign of possible fissures in the party was also given by Jim Clyburn, the South Carolina congressman who helped shore up black support for Biden four years ago. This week he came out against the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also black.
Other Democrats dismiss predictions of chaos and debate as a self-serving argument to keep Biden in the race.
Until now, party heavyweights have managed to keep their differences under wraps. But some data has appeared in the media. They have come via former Clinton and Obama advisers-turned-pundits James Carville and David Axelrod, whose calls for the president to step aside have struck a chord with the Biden camp.
After the debate, Ben Rhodes, a former Obama aide, criticized the Biden campaign's effort to repair the damage. "Telling people they didn't see what they saw is not the way to answer that," he said. / Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Finacial Times"
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