Michelle Obama has decided to create some space between herself and the Bidens due to their handling of the situation involving her close friend Kathleen Buhle, who is also Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, as reported by Axios.
“The family tensions — and the former first lady’s disdain for partisan politics — are partly why one of the Democrats’ most popular voices hasn’t campaigned for President Biden’s re-election,” two sources told the outlet.
Michelle Obama hesitated to support President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020, as reported. However, it was not just her who felt uneasy about the Biden family, as per the report. At a fundraiser in 2017 for the Beau Biden Foundation, former President Obama privately referred to the Biden family dynamics as “strange,” according to a source familiar with his comments. During this period, Hunter Biden had recently divorced Buhle and started dating Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden. Michelle Obama, who did not attend the fundraiser, believed that the Biden family had mistreated Buhle and held her responsible for the public disclosure of Hunter Biden’s controversial behavior, despite her efforts to address his drug addiction and infidelity.
The tensions between the Obamas and Bidens had already surfaced before Hunter Biden and Buhle’s divorce, as indicated in the report. The relationship took a turn in 2015 when President Obama advised then-Vice President Joe Biden against running for president in 2016.
Obama’s advisors have long maintained in private that the former president discouraged Biden from running for office because of the sorrow caused by his son Beau’s passing. However, Biden believed that his superior was discouraging him because he favored Hillary Clinton. Prior to this, Hunter Biden had also developed negative feelings towards the Obama administration after being forced to resign from his position as a lobbyist due to concerns about public perception, as reported by Axios.
In his memoir, Hunter expressed that leaving that job felt like being on an endless escalator. He found himself facing significant expenses with no savings, and now had to work tirelessly to establish a new career. Additionally, Hunter detailed instances where some members of Obama’s staff would undermine and ridicule his father.
“I didn’t hang around the White House much; I didn’t want to be in the position of walking into a barbecue on a Sunday with the president and the White House staff after reading about someone throwing my dad under the bus,” Hunter had written, according to Axios. “I knew I couldn’t control my temper and keep my mouth shut.”
In spite of these tensions, there have been discussions between the two factions regarding the possibility of the popular former first lady campaigning for Biden this year. As per the report, Anita Dunn, a top White House aide, and Melissa Winter, a top aide to Michelle Obama, recently had a lunch meeting where they discussed specific ways in which Biden’s campaign could involve the former first lady.
Currently, both camps are maintaining a cordial facade, with a spokesperson for Michelle Obama stating her support for Biden’s re-election and emphasizing her friendship with Kathleen and the Bidens. Crystal Carson, the spokesperson, pointed out that “two things can be true” in this situation, implying that despite any tensions, there is still a positive relationship. Andrew Bates, the White House spokesperson, dismissed any notion of tensions and instead likened the relationship between the two camps to that of a family.
“The Biden and Obama families are like family to one other, and whomever made these claims about that relationship isn’t familiar with it,” he said.
