Obama’s heightened visibility this week wasn’t just an effort to gin up money for the Biden campaign.
The world’s been seeing a bit more of POTUS 44 of late.
Former President Barack Obama was at the White House for lunch with President Joe Biden this week. On Biden’s social media channels, Obama featured in two new videos urging people to donate to the Biden campaign. Then there was a fundraising text issued under Obama’s name asking supporters to pitch in for his “friends Joe and Kamala.”
At a fundraiser in New York on Thursday, Obama was on Biden’s mind, too.
“By the way, I got to tell you, I had lunch with Barack the other day. And I was kidding him; I said, ‘Every time I hear…’ — he’s helping out a lot — I said, ‘Every time I hear “Hail to the Chief,” I turn around and look for you, wondering where the hell you are,’” Biden said.
Obama’s heightened visibility this week wasn’t just an effort to gin up money in the final days before the end-of-quarter campaign fundraising deadline. It offered a subtle glimpse into how he and Biden world writ large are thinking about his role in 2024.
Confidantes and aides expect Obama’s political appearances to be strategic, with an emphasis on leaning in at opportune moments and with an eye on tackling some of the political work that Biden has trouble with. That means reaching out to younger voters, enlisting the next generation of Democratic leaders and spreading his and Biden’s message on unconventional platforms in addition to the campaign events, fundraisers and rallies.
“We are deliberate in picking our moments. And that is based on a strategy of when we can drive impact,” said Eric Schultz, Obama’s longtime spokesperson.
Obama aides say that there was nothing particularly new about his activity this week. The former president ramps up his visibility around the work he does for his various political and nonprofit ventures. And in this case, the Obama Foundation recently hosted a leaders forum in Athens.
But there also was an impending fundraising deadline for the presidential campaign back home, for which Obama came in handy. The former president was a factor in the Biden campaign’s deadline blitz, which included more than 20 fundraisers across the country, a campaign official told POLITICO. The campaign has leaned on effective fundraisers and surrogates with strong donor networks like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gavin Newsom of California, as it seeks to raise money in the absence of a competitive primary and with donor fatigue still lingering from an intense midterm cycle.
Source : https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/01/obama-potus-44-2024-00104517