Fountaindale Public Library

The long alliance, the imperfect union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama, Gabriel Debenedetti

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

collective biography

index present

non fiction

The long alliance

bibliography

1291874854

Gabriel Debenedetti

the imperfect union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama

Delving far deeper than the simplistic bromance story that's long held the public eye, New York magazine national correspondent Gabriel Debenedetti reveals the past and present of the unusual partnership, detailing its development since 2003, its twists and turns from Iowa to Afghanistan, its ruptures and reunions, and its path to this pivotal moment for each man's legacy - and for democracy. Obama relied on Biden's experience to help him win in 2008, and he leaned on him heavily during his eight years as president. But as their personal relationsjip deepened, so did occasional policy disagreements and more frequent differences in political strategy over their approach to Congress, wars, and increasingly right-wing Republicans. Their differences built to a dramatic peak in 2015 - as Obama effectively supported Hillary Clinton, not Biden, to succeed him. The situation proceeded agonizingly during the Trump years, only fully mending itself with Biden victorious in 2020, claiming the presidency with both public and intentionally private help from his old boss. In an ironic twist, President Biden entered office in apparent position to restore Obama's legacy - the one that Trump spent four years trying to dismantle - and to go far further in implementing a progressive agenda that Obama could only have dreamed of, before running up against many of the same roadblocks that stymied him. The true story of this relationship is significantly more layered and consequential than the popular narrative. The original mismatch between the Washington traditionalist and the once-in-a-generation outsider has transformed repeatedly. The bond between them has been, at various times over the past two decades, tense, affectionate, non-existent, and ironclad - but the truth of it, far from the headlines, has always been surprising. Now it is shaping another presidency, and the future of the world as we know it, as both Obama and Biden uneasily consider how they will be remembered, both individually and as partners

adult