Too Fun to Check: Did Obama Tell Biden to Retire?

Ehhhh … probably not. But it’s not too difficult to believe, either. If this is indeed Barack Obama’s third term in office by proxy, Joe Biden has ruined the legacy, and not just because his incoherence has now become the norm.

Yesterday, Radar Online reported that Obama “read the riot act” to Biden over his poor performance, and essentially told him to shape up or ship out:

President Joe Biden is stubbornly ignoring polls, pals, and former President Barack Obama, who are all allegedly telling the 81-year-old he needs to quit the 2024 race to save America and the Democratic Party, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Insiders snitched that tensions between the two presidents recently exploded after irate Obama rushed to a secret meeting and confronted Biden about his fading chances to fend off surging Republican candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming November election.

“Obama read Joe the riot act,” spilled a Beltway insider to the National Enquirer. “He told him to up his game or step aside for a candidate who can win the race.”

This sounds too good to be true, especially since Obama has been an undeniable influence on Biden’s White House. If Obama wanted Biden out, he’d start by asking his own allies to depart. He and Michelle Obama are racking up millions of dollars with their production company partnership with Netflix, so he certainly could find some room for them, at least. So far, though, they’re all sticking around, officially or otherwise.

Or … are they? After all, as our PJM colleague Matt Margolis and American Thinker’s Monica Showalter point out, one major Obamaland figure has publicly sounded an alarm for a couple of months now. Radar Online features David Axelrod as the Mouth of Barack, too:

After the frightening episode, sources say Obama huddled with his former senior adviser and top Democratic strategist David Axelrod, who’s been a vocal critic of Biden’s ability to do the job.

“Obama is letting Axelrod be his public mouthpiece about Joe’s incompetence and declining mental capacities,” dished the insider. “Meanwhile, he and Michelle are working behind the scenes to take him out.”

Again, that sounds absolutely delicious, except, well … no one’s taken Biden out. It’s not as if he’s tough to corral these days, either. He can barely find his way off a stage, let alone dodge a nimble Valerie Jarrett or Anita Dunn. They may want Biden to retire, and maybe even have asked him to do so — but if they have, it hasn’t worked, and it won’t. In fact, Democrats are promoting the South Carolina Democrat primary in nine days (the GOP primary is separate, on February 24) to hype up support and enthusiasm for Biden, especially among black voters.

That’s one big reason for skepticism about this rumor du jour, but the second is almost as obvious: What about Kamala Harris? If they push Biden off the ticket, Harris expects to be next in line, and so do her progressive allies. Supposedly the Obamas would solve that dilemma by having Michelle Obama declare her candidacy, but that’s a big problem too. The deadlines for appearing on primary ballots in most states passed weeks and months ago. That means even if Biden did retire, Harris would succeed Biden and presumably assume his delegates. Even if not, it would create a floor fight at the convention to settle the ticket. On top of that, Mrs. Obama doesn’t like retail campaigning and isn’t good at it.

That’s not conclusive proof that it’s not happening, of course. But it’s still good reason to remain skeptical about rumors of Barack Obama chewing out the sitting president, and of Joe Biden countenancing it in the first place.