WaPo Columnist Knocks Biden, Says He Played ‘Second Fiddle’ to Obama

After former President Barack Obama’s first appearance at the White House since 2017, a columnist for The Washington Post is arguing that the nation “needs” him to return to the political scene.

In a column on Tuesday, Dana Milbank wrote, “The 44th president returned to the White House Tuesday for the first time since he left office five years ago. Fit and vigorous, if a bit grayer and more wrinkly.”

“Though he retains ‘more than a passing interest in the course of our democracy,’ he said, ‘I’m outside the arena,'” he continued.

Milbank argued, “Therein lies the problem. President Obama: Your country needs you. Democracy is on the ropes. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the ship of state, and no one is better able to help the cause than Obama.”

The columnist went on, “America desperately needs Obama in the arena — although not necessarily in the Biden White House.”

Milbank noted that while Obama was at the White House it “invited comparisons to his less charismatic and much older successor” and suggested that President Joe Biden “still seemed to be playing Obama’s understudy.”

“Obama was all smiles, waves, winks, nods and cocked eyebrows to his ebullient fans, whom he shushed after 25 seconds of applause. ‘Feels good, doesn’t it?’ Vice President Harris remarked,” he wrote.