Former President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden blasted President Trump for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic while congratulating themselves on their own crisis management skills.
“When we came into office, even before inauguration, we had seen a historic financial crisis. Irresponsibility on Wall Street had spread out to Main Street,” Obama said in a pre-recorded discussion released Thursday.
The former president added, “We had to move fast, not just in a hundred days. We had to move in the first month to get the Recovery Act passed. We’re now in a situation where not only we’ve got an economic crisis, but we also have a public health crisis to boot.”
Folks, I sat down with my friend President @BarackObama to discuss the significant moment we’re in, who we are as a nation, and how we can build back better. Watch our full conversation: https://t.co/n2P71Le1oH
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 23, 2020
The 16-minute video, billed as “President Obama and Vice President Biden: A Socially Distanced Conversation,” is the first in-person appearance that the pair made together this election cycle. They previously shared a split-screen at an endorsement and fundraising event.
During the sit-down, the duo talked about a range of issues, including healthcare and racial injustice. But Obama told his two-term vice president that “for all the specific policies that we’re going to need, more than anything, it’s just that basic decency and an understanding about what’s best in America.”
“That I think people are going to be hungry for,” he said.
Leaning into their overarching message of highlighting the 36-year Delaware senator’s capacity for empathy, the Biden campaign spent 24 hours hyping the recording.
“You know what it’s like as much as anybody to be in the White House during a crisis,” Obama said in a promoted excerpt. “You know what it’s like to have to get laws passed through Congress. You know what it’s like to deal with foreign leaders. You know what it’s like and how lonely it can be, to make tough decisions — where not every decision is going to be perfect, but you gotta make them and take responsibility for it.”
Obama held off endorsing his No. 2 until the primary had clearly swung in his favor in April. As one of the Democratic Party’s most popular leaders, the former commander-in-chief is now trying to make up for lost time as Biden and Trump hurtle toward the Nov. 3 general election.
Biden is polling ahead of the incumbent as of late July, averaging an 8.7-point advantage.
