New York Magazine Reporter’s New Book: Frustrated Obama Asks Aide ‘Shoot. Me. Now.’ Regarding Biden’s Ramblings

Yowza. National correspondent Gabriel Debenedetti of the hard-left leaning New York Magazine has decided to give book writing a bit of a whirl… and it sure looks like his debut tome will have something for everyone.
Except, of course, for the Biden sycophants. They won’t like this one bit.
No, not one bit.
Titled The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama, Debenedetti’s effort is scheduled to hit bookstores September 13th.
Reporter Daniel Bates of London’s the Daily Mail not only did a great job noting all the pertinent bullet points, but also covered the article proper with sufficient details without turning the article into a book itself.
Here are just a few of the highlights of Bates’ report (emphasis mine);
  • Obama and Biden did not have a cozy ‘bromance’ as many believe, book, due to be published September 13, claims
  • In their early days, Obama thought that Biden was ‘condescending’ and rambled on so much he once told an aide: ‘Shoot. Me. Now.’ 
  • Biden was accused of ‘betrayal’ for announcing they both supported gay marriage before Obama had the chance
  • Obama’s aides ranted: ‘He’s ruined what should have been Obama’s historic moment because he can’t control his loud mouth’ 
  • Obama’s first impressions of Biden was that he was ‘old-school’ and that his gesture was ‘condescending at best, borderline offensive at worst.’
  • Once they were in office, their relationship improved with weekly meetings and Obama following through on his promise to give Biden access 
  • After the failed 2010 midterms, Obama considered asking Hillary Clinton to be his running mate for 2012, and Biden became ‘distraught’ 

In their early days Obama thought that Biden was ‘condescending’ and rambled on so much he once told an aide: ‘Shoot. Me. Now.’

The Long Alliance, by New York magazine national correspondent Gabriel Debenedetti, claims that Biden refused to grovel to the Commander in Chief, saying: ‘My manhood is not negotiable.’

The lack of faith in Biden went so far that Obama thought about replacing him with Hillary Clinton as his running mate in 2012 because he thought it would boost his chances of reelection.

Obama won a Senate seat in Illinois and arrived in Washington in 2005 but was met with skepticism by Biden, then a Senator for Delaware.

He was ‘wary of fresh faces’ like Obama and was ‘slightly annoyed’ by the headlines that seemed to follow him everywhere.

Biden did however want to get to know Obama and offered to get dinner at a simple Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill – ‘nothing fancy’ as he put it.

Biden was taken aback and ‘detected more than a hint of arrogance and a hefty serving of presumptuousness.’

The meeting ended on a ‘sour and uncomfortable note’ with no dinner scheduled.

Obama’s first impressions of Biden was that he was ‘old-school’ and that his gesture was ‘condescending at best, borderline offensive at worst.

Yet the two men came together to work on the unglamorous Senate Environment and Public Works committee.

As Obama saw it, Biden tended to ‘ramble, clearly loving every minute of it.’

Obama told his close advisor David Axelrod: ‘Joe Biden is a decent guy but man, that guy can just talk and talk. It’s an incredible thing to see.’

When Biden held court during George W. Bush’s confirmation hearings for secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice, Obama gave a staffer a note saying: ‘Shoot. Me. Now,’ the book claims.

In early 2007 Biden further damaged his relationship with Obama with an interview in the New York Observer in which he called him the ‘first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy.’

Biden’s campaign for the Presidency in 2008 was in trouble from the start and even his top donors told him that it ‘wasn’t his moment’ – that it belonged to Obama instead who was also running.

Relegated to the sidelines, Biden watched Hillary and Obama fighting it out with both ‘interest and significant annoyance.’

Obama thought about Biden as a rival with an ‘eye roll’ and whenever he was due to speak after would ask the organizers how far behind schedule they were.

According to the book, ‘The biggest insult to Biden was how little his input mattered to Obama’s inner circle.

‘Biden could hardly shake the suspicion that Obama’s eggheads saw him as a foolish distraction they couldn’t fully trust.’

Yet there were still more gaffes such as Biden saying: ‘We’re gonna have a generated crisis to test the mettle of this guy,‘ referring to Obama.

In private Obama said: ‘Why the hell would Joe say that?’

Biden ‘rolled his eyes behind Obama’s back at his aloofness and glad-handing with fellow pols.’

For his part, Obama sighed when Biden went on too long in meetings, occasionally tapping him on the arm to shut him up – and sometimes in public, the book claims.

Biden was surprised by Obama’s ‘humorlessness’ while Obama thought that Biden’s gaffes were giving their opponents ‘ammunition.’

Obama even made fun of Biden in a TV interview, saying of his latest misstep that ‘I don’t remember what Joe was referring to – not surprisingly.’

During discussions about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan – Obama would eventually agree to a 30,000 troop surge – he told Biden: ‘You know Joe, it’d be fun to let you be president for just five minutes to see how you’d handle it.’

Well… we all know how Biden handled it.
Whatever happened to the simpler times?


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