In an interview with Politico, Vice-President Joe Biden claimed that Barack Obama froze him out after he came out for gay marriage in early 2012 before Obama could make his own announcement supporting it. Biden said that after that incident, Obama assigned him “every s*** job in the world.”
Biden said that at the beginning of Obama’s tenure, he told the president that he would help him any way he could as long as Biden’s voice was the last voice Obama would listen to before he took any actions. Biden said, “When the president asked me what portfolio did I want, I said, ‘Base it on what you want of me to help you govern… But I want to be the last guy in the room on every major decision… You’re president, I’m not, but if it’s my experience you’re lookin’ for, I want to be the last guy to make the case.'” Biden added that he was content with tasks such as dealing with the Senate and calming Afghan President Hamid Karzai if Obama made him his go-to guy.
As the 2012 re-election campaign began, Biden heard rumors that he was to be replaced on the ticket by then-outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. When Biden asked those-in-the-know whether the rumors were true, they denied them, but they were lying. Pollsters for Obama’s reelection campaign had been querying people as to the public’s reaction if the switch were made.
After the gay marriage gaffe, Obama’s staff allegedly tuned Biden out. He was banned from strategic planning meetings which he had attended in Obama’s first term; headlining private dinners with potential fundraisers was no longer a job for Biden, attempts were made to block two candidates Biden wanted for his chief of staff, and Biden’s public appearances were limited.
After Obama won reelection, his first TV appearance came with Hillary Clinton, not Biden. Obama’s campaign manager in 2012, Jim Messina, now runs a major PAC and has said it will back Hillary–another knife in Biden’s back. Messina told the New York Times, “I think the numbers clearly show that she’s the strongest presidential candidate on the Democratic side and Priorities is going to be there for her if she decides to run.”
Politico reported that after his comment, Messina backtracked and called the White House to tell them he had given the interview and also called Biden to apologize. Biden reportedly didn’t respond.
Biden still fancies the White House despite recent polls showing Clinton with at least a 60-point lead as the presumptive 2016 candidate.
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