Biden, who spent eight years as Obama\u2019s vice president, told a friend that Obama couldn\u2019t even curse properly, according to The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden\u2019s White House and the Struggle for America\u2019s Future<\/em>.<\/p>\n Former US president Barack Obama in 2020.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Released on Tuesday and written by Franklin Foer, a staff writer for The Atlantic<\/em>, the book says Biden said Obama was unable to deliver a \u201cf\u2014- you\u201d with \u201cthe right elongation of vowels and the necessary hardness of consonants; it was how they must curse in the ivory tower.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, as the president runs for reelection, the early frontrunner among Republicans is former president Donald Trump, whose supporters can sometimes resent the perceived elitism of Washington\u2019s political class \u2014 suggesting some overlap with Biden.<\/p>\n The anecdote also may resonate with Democrats. Ardent supporters of both Biden and Obama fondly recall the then-vice president telling Obama in a private aside that was captured on a hot mic, \u201cThis is a big f\u2014-ing deal,\u201d during the signing ceremony for Obama\u2019s signature health care law in 2010.<\/p>\n Then US president Barack Obama, right, speaks as then vice president Joe Biden stands in the Rose Garden at the White House in 2016.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Bloomberg<\/cite><\/p>\n Foer\u2019s book offers a deep examination of Biden\u2019s first two years in office, which the author describes as encompassing a lot of \u201cflailing\u201d before the president began to cement his legacy through signature policy achievements and \u201ccreative diplomacy\u201d that helped rally the world behind Ukraine in the face of Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n The 80-year-old Biden continues to face questions about his age, and Foer calls it \u201cstriking\u201d that Biden attends few meetings or public events before 10am. In private, Biden would \u201coccasionally admit to friends he felt tired,\u201d the book says.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked last week by a reporter citing an early excerpt from Foer\u2019s book if personal fatigue might help explain why Biden\u2019s morning schedule was often light.<\/p>\n She responded, \u201cThat\u2019s a ridiculous assumption to make.\u201d<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre referred back to that exchange during her briefing with reporters at the White House on Tuesday, and provided updated comment, saying that administration officials had now \u201cseen the context of the excerpt.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the book was actually praising Biden for helping to push major legislation through Congress and unify global support around Ukraine.<\/p>\n It \u201cseemed to be making the opposite overall point about how the value of his experience and wisdom resulted in rallying the free world against authoritarianism,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre also said \u201cthere\u2019s gonna be a range, always, a range of books that are about every administration\u201d that would feature \u201ca variety of claims.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not unusual. That happens all the time,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to litigate here.\u201d<\/p>\n Foer\u2019s book also describes struggles by Vice President Kamala Harris to carve out a role for herself as Biden\u2019s No. 2 that have been well-documented previously. But Foer suggests Harris may have hurt her own cause in that area, initially asking to be in charge of relations with Scandinavia because it was \u201caway from the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n The book reports that the vice president was initially excited about helping the administration tackle the root causes of immigration that have seen so many Central American migrants seeking asylum arrive at the US-Mexico border \u2014 but that she eventually began to accept conventional wisdom that it was a thankless assignment.<\/p>\n Foer\u2019s book says Biden tried to treat Harris more respectfully than he felt Obama often had treated him as vice president, calling her \u201cthe vice president\u201d instead of \u201cmy vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n But, during his early days in office, as Biden was convening his team to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Biden joked that the nation\u2019s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, should sit in the vice president\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n Intervened to help Afghan women: Hillary Clinton.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n The Last Politician<\/em> describes the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. It says that when Biden\u2019s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, relayed to the president that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country, leaving Kabul to fall to the Taliban, Biden declared in frustration, \u201cGive me a break!\u201d<\/p>\n It also reports that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally intervened to help many women whose work in Afghanistan made them potential targets for the Taliban. She directed a group of them to wear white scarfs so they could be identified by US Marines guarding the Kabul airport, and unilaterally contacted world leaders to find places for their eventual evacuation flights to land.<\/p>\n The book says Clinton\u2019s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drew a personal rebuke from Sullivan, former close advisor to Clinton, who told her \u201cWhat are you doing calling the Ukrainian government?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have to call if you guys would,\u201d Clinton responded, according to Foer\u2019s book.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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