Once allies in the White House, former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden now seem to be dining at the same table of discord.
According to Breitbart, the bond between these two Democratic heavyweights has frayed to a breaking point, marked by a chilly encounter at a Washington, D.C., restaurant and lingering resentment over Biden’s exit from the presidential race last year.
Reports of tension between Obama and Biden have simmered for years, with whispers that Obama held outsized influence during Biden’s administration—a notion that rankles conservatives who value clear leadership over shadowy puppeteering.
Last month, the two were spotted at Café Milano in Washington, D.C., a high-profile spot where you’d expect a handshake or at least a nod between old friends.
Instead, their security teams had to shuffle around to accommodate each other’s presence, yet Obama and Biden didn’t exchange a single word. It’s a silence louder than any speech, signaling a rift deeper than mere scheduling conflicts. “They didn’t interact at all. They were in the same restaurant?” remarked Katie Couric, capturing the sheer awkwardness of two former allies acting like strangers in a shared space (Couric).
The cold shoulder at Café Milano isn’t just a one-off; it’s the latest chapter in a saga of bruised egos and political maneuvering.
Biden’s camp holds a grudge against Obama, believing he played a key role in nudging Biden out of the presidential race after a widely criticized debate performance against President Donald Trump over the summer. For many on the right, this smells like the progressive elite closing ranks, sidelining a struggling candidate without regard for the democratic process.
“Biden and the people around him very much blame Barack Obama for the effort to push Biden out of the campaign,” said ABC reporter Jonathan Karl, laying bare the bitterness that festers behind closed doors (Karl).
In the aftermath of Biden’s withdrawal, he worked the phones to rally support for former Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, but one name was conspicuously absent from his call list: Barack Obama.
Obama did reach out to Biden, yet the call went unanswered, and the two didn’t speak for weeks afterward—a snub that speaks volumes about trust, or the lack thereof. While progressives might spin this as a mere scheduling hiccup, it looks more like a deliberate fracture to those skeptical of insider politics.
Obama, for his part, swiftly threw his weight behind Harris as the nominee in late July, praising her with words like “vision” and “strength” in a critical moment, leaving little doubt where his loyalties lie (Obama).
Adding fuel to the fire, an earlier incident at a star-studded fundraiser in July saw Biden appearing to hesitate on stage, only to be guided off by Obama—a moment that raised eyebrows among conservatives already questioning Biden’s autonomy.
While the Associated Press later issued a fact check, citing denials from Biden’s team and an anonymous source that he froze, the optics remain damaging for a party often accused of propping up its leaders. To many on the right, it’s a metaphor for a presidency steered by unseen hands, a narrative that’s hard to shake even if the specifics are disputed.
The saga of Obama and Biden is more than a personal spat; it’s a window into the fractured state of a party grappling with its past and future, while conservatives watch with a mix of concern and vindication over the perils of progressive overreach. Though empathy is due to both men for the pressures of public life, the breakdown of this once-storied partnership raises tough questions about loyalty and leadership in Washington’s cutthroat corridors.