Obama and Biden blast Trump’s presidency during socially distanced conversation
The former president and vice president criticized the current POTUS on his handling of the pandemic, health care and race in America
Joe Biden enlisted the help of former President Barack Obama to chastise how the current commander in chief Donald Trump is handling the coronavirus pandemic, among other things, and offered up a referendum on Obama’s legacy.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, released a 16-minute video to social media on Thursday that starred his former boss after teasing it the day before.
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Their “socially distanced conversation” immediately touched on the economy. Both noted how their administration inherited an economy that was in disarray when they took office in 2009.
“We had to move fast, not just 100 days,” Obama said. “We had to move in the first month to get the recovery act passed.”
Biden called Obama “Mr. President,” and answered that, “We have got to sustain and keep people from going under forever.”
In the video, Obama and his former vice president assailed how Trump has handled the COVID-19 crisis. Biden asked Obama if he’d ever say, “It’s not my responsibility, I take no responsibility,” as Trump did in March as the virus peaked.
Obama responded that was not his style.
“Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office,” Obama said.
Biden then criticized 45 for “his inability to get a sense of what people are going through.”
He continued with the insistence that Trump, “just can’t relate in any way.”
Obama responded by sharing that he knew Biden was the right person to be his running mate because he could empathize with others.
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“One of the things that I have always known about you, Joe, it’s the reason why I wanted you to be my vice president and the reason why you were so effective. It all starts with being able to relate,” Obama told Biden.
Obama added that families in America could see themselves through Biden.
“If you can sit down with a family and see your own family and the struggles that you’ve gone through or your parents went through or your kids are going through, if you can connect those struggles to somebody else’s struggles, then you’re going to work hard for them. And that’s always what’s motivated you to get into public service,” Obama said.
The Affordable Care Act, widely regarded Obama’s signature policy accomplishment while in office, was discussed in detail. Biden has campaigned on wanting to expand on the health insurance mandate that is also known as Obamacare.
Biden added that it was “cruel” of the Trump administration to dismantle what is commonly referred to as Obamacare through the courts, especially during the coronavirus and while the economy is cratering.
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“I mean, you and I both know what it’s like to have somebody you love get really sick. And in some cases to lose somebody, but that loss is compounded when you see the stress on their faces, because they’re worried that they’re being a burden on their families,” Obama said.
“They’re worried about whether the insurance is gonna cover the treatments that they need. I couldn’t be prouder of what we got done, 20 million people have health insurance that didn’t have it because of what we did.”
Biden touched upon the death of his eldest son Beau who died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
“And I used to sit there and watch him in the bed and in pain and dying of glioblastoma, and I thought to myself, what would happen if his insurance company was able to come in, which they could have done before passed Obamacare and said, you have outrun your insurance,” he said.
Biden and Obama also criticized Trump for dividing Americans. Obama said his vice president would restore “basic decency” and “what’s best in America.”
Biden responded that he “had faith in the American people,” to make that possible.
The White House took exception to Biden and Obama’s narrative on how Trump has handled the pandemic.
“Any suggestion that President Trump did not take the threat of COVID-19 seriously or prioritize the health and safety of the American people is blatantly false,” spokesman Judd Deere said. “During these uncertain times, Americans are receiving comfort, hope and resources from President Trump.”
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