2020 presidential front-runner Joe Biden explained that he was “surprised” that a number of other presidential candidates attacked former President Barack Obama during Wednesday night’s debate.
Obama’s record on immigration and healthcare were prominent facets of Wednesday night’s debate, and Biden was put on the hot spot having to both defend those policies while also trying to explain his own.
“I’m looking forward to them,” Biden told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I must tell you, I was a little surprised how much the incoming was about Barack, about the president. I mean I’m proud of having served with him, I’m proud of the job he did. I don’t think there’s anything he has to apologize for. And I think, you know, it kind of surprised me the degree of the criticism. But look, it’s — as I’ve told you before, and God love you, you’ve had to cover me a long time now, but this is a marathon, and I feel good.”
The vice president was confronted about the 3 million deportations that took place under the Obama administration by fellow candidates Julián Castro and Bill de Blasio, as well as by protesters who heckled him over the same issue.
Castro accused him of having not “learned the lessons of the past” in regards to fixing the immigration system.
