A top adviser has said in an upcoming book that former President Joe Biden ruined the campaign hopes of former Vice President Kamala Harris, by staying in the race too long before bowing out.
According to The Guardian, David Plouffe, who managed former President Barack Obama’s winning 2008 presidential campaign and was a senior advisor in Obama’s White House, was recruited to help with Harris’ campaign and her “nightmare” 107-day sprint against President Donald Trump.
“Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” authored by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, quotes Plouffe as saying that Harris’ campaign against Trump was “a f*cking nightmare.”
“And it’s all Biden,” Plouffe was reported as saying while reflecting on Biden’s decisions to run for re-election and then to continue on for more than three weeks after his debate against Trump went disastrously, while raising questions about his mental acuity and age. “He totally f*cked us.”
Plouffe, alongside several former Obama staffers, has been openly critical of Biden, particularly regarding his role in the Democratic loss. Following Harris’s defeat, he shared a post on X stating that her campaign had started from a “deep hole.” Soon after, he deleted his account.
The book recounts how Plouffe received calls from donors expressing concerns about Biden’s waning energy, cognitive abilities, and speech delivery. In response, he pressed the White House and the Democratic Party on their confidence in Biden’s ability to secure another election victory and was consistently reassured that he could.
Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, and Thompson, a national political correspondent for Axios, interviewed around 200 sources for their book, including members of Congress, White House officials, and campaign insiders.
Some had raised concerns about Biden, with one senior aide who quit the White House, told Tapper and Thompson that “we attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn’t realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023.”
“I love Joe Biden. When it comes to decency, there are few in politics like him. Still, it was a disservice to the country and to the party for his family and advisers to allow him to run again.”
Another Democratic strategist said Biden’s insistence on seeking re-election was “an abomination. He stole an election from the Democratic party; he stole it from the American people.”
