House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama held emergency talks on what to do with Joe Biden, who was at the top of the Democratic ticket. They failed to reach a consensus.
Neither knows what to do, but they agree that it has become much harder for Democrats to win in November since Biden’s disastrous debate performance, CNN.
Democrats are ‘begging’ Obama or Pelosi to help quell the infighting. The two political powerhouses have Biden’s ear, more than Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer or House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Three other House Democrats have called on Biden to withdraw from the race since his post-NATO news conference on Thursday night — including the Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Jim Himes, Conn. That brings the total number of Democrats in the House to 17.
Two senators have called on Biden to withdraw and others have expressed concerns about the extent to which he will influence the vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama held emergency talks on what to do with Joe Biden as the leader of the Democratic ticket — and failed to reach a consensus
Biden at one point called Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” and just before the press conference he called Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky “President Putin.”
While some Democrats publicly praised Biden’s debate performance — and the Biden team made a lap of honor – Others worry that they’ve reached a point where Biden’s performance was good enough to convince him he doesn’t need to drop out, but not good enough to allay concerns about his cognitive decline.
Pelosi, for her part, has maintained that the door is open for Biden to withdraw from the race — even as Biden insists he won’t. Obama has remained silent in recent days.
The former chairman urged Democrats to wait to publicly criticize the president until after the NATO press conference.
Reports indicate that Obama was aware of George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed calling on Biden to withdraw and had spoken to the actor about it.
“What’s happening behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials believe Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough surmised.
Asked whether Biden has her support on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the former speaker said Wednesday: “It’s up to the president to decide whether he runs. We all encourage him to make that decision because time is running out.”
Pelosi recalled that Biden had already made his decision, saying, “I want him to do whatever he decides to do.”
“Whatever he decides, we’ll go ahead with it.”
Behind closed doors she has told people that Biden cannot win and should step aside, according to Politico.