When Joe Biden Reportedly Complained That Obama Couldn’t Properly Say ‘F**k You’
While the ‘bromance’ between former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden has often been highlighted, their relationship wasn’t without its quirky disagreements. One such rift as revealed in Franklin Foer’s book The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House And The Struggle For America’s Future, involved the proper way to say “f–k you.” The book facilitates an intriguing glimpse into the dynamic between Obama and Biden, showcasing them as so in sync that they developed an unspoken code.
For instance, if Obama wanted to ask a challenging question during a cabinet meeting without directly asking, he would lean back in his seat, signaling Biden to pose the question instead. As per the reports of Foer, Biden once confided in a friend that Obama didn’t know how to say ‘f–k you’ correctly. Biden explained that Obama’s delivery lacked the “right elongation of vowels and the necessary hardness of his consonants,” attributing it to how they must curse in the ‘ivory tower.’
As per HuffPost, their difference didn’t hinder their collaboration. Serving as Vice President under Obama for two terms, Biden played a prominent role in negotiating key legislation such as the Affordable Care Act. Their bond was visible when Obama visited the White House last year, referring to Biden as an “extraordinary friend and partner who was by my side for eight years.”
However, Biden’s relationship with Obama influenced how he interacted with his Vice President, Kamala Harris. Foer wrote, “Biden wanted to treat Harris with the respect that he felt Barack Obama hadn’t accorded him. He made a point of referring to her as the vice president, as opposed to my vice president. He was a stickler for asking her opinion in meetings—and making sure that her office was kept in the loop.”
As per the New York Post, on the campaign trail, Biden promised a wholesale reversal of Trump’s immigration policies, but once in office, he struggled with the implications of these reforms. Despite his campaign promises, Biden initially decided to maintain Trump’s cap of 15,000 refugees per year, later agreeing to raise it to 62,500 after intense internal debate. However, his hesitancy and aggressive stance on the issue created friction within his administration and drew criticism from progressive allies.
As per the book, “..to commit himself to a wholesale reversal of Trump immigration policy to win the election. But privately he hated to see how his campaign proposals were being translated into policy…Biden hadn’t realized that reforms would go so far. When he learned that [US immigration agents] might stop targeting fentanyl dealers, sex offenders, and other felons, he exploded in anger.
They want me to increase the number of people in the country, but that’s kind of crazy (Biden told Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the book)” Blinken was “a passionate proponent of raising the cap,” who objected to Biden’s actions and nudged him. Foer wrote, “his obstinacy [to raising immigration caps] deterred aides who might have otherwise challenged him, for fear of wasting precious capital on a hopeless fight.”
