Obama confides in allies that Bidens debate performance hurt his re-election chances

Former President Barack Obama has confided in his allies that President Biden’s weak debate performance last week will make it more difficult for the commander in chief to win in November, according to a report. Obama, 62, already believed his former vice president’s path to re-election was going to be a tough road, and he now feels Biden’s Election Day prospects are even more precarious, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing several people familiar with his remarks to Democrats that have reached out to him. The 44th president reached out to Biden, 81, after last week’s debate and offered to serve as a sounding board and provide counsel as the 2024 race heats up, according to the outlet. Obama’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. A Biden campaign spokesperson told the Washington Post that the president is “grateful” to have his former boss’s “unwavering support.”  Obama has publicly acknowledged that Biden’s first of two scheduled 2024 showdowns with former President Donald Trump went poorly, but he hasn’t, at least in public, commented on the impact the disastrous performance may have had on the race.“Bad debate nights happen.Trust me, I know,” he wrote on X last Friday, while still urging voters to back his former VP over the 78-year-old presumptive Republican nominee. “[T]his election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” Obama insisted.“Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit.“Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November.”The Washington Post noted that Obama has long worried about Biden’s chances against Trump, reporting that the former president has warned Biden on several occasions in recent months about how difficult winning ...