Former Obama adviser David Axelrod called the recently revealed details of President Biden’s cognitive decline “stunning” in a Wednesday interview, and called Biden’s decision to seek re-election “irresponsible” on the part of both the former president and his family.
Speaking on NPR’s Morning Edition, Axelrod laid into Biden’s inner circle and top Democrats for adapting the former president’s schedule to accommodate his “declining condition,” while simultaneously arguing to voters that he was fit to serve another term.
“What is clear is that they did everything they could to adapt his public appearances and adapt his schedule to his declining condition,” Axelrod said, adding that “it was an irresponsible decision on his part, and I have to say, on his family’s part.”
The former Obama strategist’s comments were in response to revelations from excerpts of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” a forthcoming book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.
The senior CNN political commentator pointed to one of the most “troubling” incidents detailed in the excerpt, in which Biden reportedly failed to recognize actor George Clooney, a donor and friend of two decades, at a California fundraiser.
“The details behind it were troubling. The thing that I was struck by was the reporting on his schedule before this event, and the rigors of what he was up to, and people dismissing his kind of being vacant, not being able to identify George Clooney, a friend of two decades, when he saw him, dismissed it as a function of jet lag and fatigue.”
Axelrod later points to Biden’s inner circle dismissing incidents like these as a symptom of a “deeper issue” within Biden’s circle that enabled his continued candidacy despite clear signs of decline.
“What struck me was that when you are president of the United States. Fatigue and strain is your daily existence. The presidency is relentless. And this is why I said in 2022 that it was going to be hard to make the case that he should be president for four more years.”
Tapper and Thompson’s book paints a picture of a widespread effort within Biden’s inner circle to conceal his deteriorating condition from public view, with insiders pursuing “aggressive efforts to hide his cognitive diminishment.”
Axelrod avoided labeling this effort from Biden’s team as “lying,” as “they were motivated by a belief in him, by a desire to see him continue,” instead putting most of the blame squarely on Biden and his family for putting staff in that position in the first place.
Biden’s 2024 bid was “an irresponsible decision on his part, and I have to say, on his family’s part,” Axelrod said.
When asked about Biden’s recent media appearances, including his appearance on “The View,” where viewers noticed him trailing off mid-sentence, Axelrod suggested the former president was continuing to receive poor counsel from the same advisers who encouraged his reelection bid.
“All he’s doing is making the story larger,” Axelrod said. “If he’s concerned about President Trump and some of the things that President Trump is doing, then he should want the Democratic Party to be in a position to move on and do well in the midterm elections.”
Biden’s office continues to defend his legacy. A spokesperson said that the former president “was a very effective president” and challenged critics to provide evidence of instances where “national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job.”
“Original Sin” is set to release in late May.
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