Biden, Obama back together in the White House for a day
Joe Biden and Barack Obama got the band back together on Tuesday when the former president visited his former vice-president in the White House.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama got the band back together on Tuesday when the former president visited his former vice-president in the White House to try to restoke Democratic momentum ahead of mid-term elections.
The mood was simultaneously nostalgic, festive and humorous as the old team reunited.
“Welcome back to the White House, man. It feels like the good old days,” the US President told his former boss in a packed ceremonial East Room, where they entered together to huge cheers from staff and congress members.
It was the first time Mr Obama had stepped into the hallowed corridors and historic rooms since he left five years ago, handing power to Donald Trump.
“Vice-President Biden,” Mr Obama began on taking the microphone, before correcting himself to laughter, saying “that was a joke”. Mr Biden prolonged the quip by introducing himself as “Barack Obama’s vice-president”.
But for Mr Biden, who served two terms as deputy to the first black president before coming out of retirement to deny Mr Trump a second term, it was a hugely poignant moment.
Beset by aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, galloping inflation, a bitterly obstructionist Republican opposition, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Biden’s had more than a year to appreciate how hard the top job really is. His approval polls are dire, stuck in the low 40 per cent range, with little sign of improvement.
The peg for the reunion was a relatively happy political event: the 12th anniversary of the launch of the Affordable Care Act, Mr Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
Popularly known as Obamacare, the subsidised healthcare plan expanded medical services to millions in a country where many are unable to afford to visit the doctor and dentist and risk being bankrupted by the cost of emergency operations.
Republicans have repeatedly tried to strip away a plan they denounce as socialism, but Obamacare has mostly survived the assaults and under Mr Biden seen expanded participation.
“Despite great odds, Joe and I were determined,” Mr Obama said. “I intended to get healthcare passed even if it cost me re-election – which for a while it looked like it might.”
The deeper point of the Biden-Obama get-together was a chance to reinforce Mr Biden’s centrist brand and reassure Democrats running scared ahead of what polls predict will be a crushing election defeat in November, with Republicans regaining control of congress.
Apart from talking up healthcare policy, the White House emphasised that the 44th president and current 46th were having lunch, just as they used to once a week.
“They are real friends, not just Washington friends,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted.
Mr Obama’s Democrats were wiped out in the 2010 and 2014 congressional races. But he showed with his re-election in 2012 that a president can survive those earthquakes.
Mr Obama, his famously silky rhetorical skills still intact, appealed for Democrats not to lose self-belief. “I’m outside the arena but I know how discouraged people can get with Washington,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Biden gave a glimpse of how healthcare could feature in the Democrats’ bid to save their hold on congress. “If Republicans get back in power they (will) try to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” he warned. “So pay very close attention folks.”
AFP
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