NEW: Inside “Uncle Joe’s” mission to prove Obama wrong & the complicated relationship
Biden “oftentimes felt that that loyalty was not being rewarded” by Obama, says Leon Panetta.
+ why Ron Klain in 2015 said of Bidenworld: “I am definitely dead to them”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/14/obama-biden-relationship-393570

The tension in the relationship has played out on the trail

Biden aides boast they wrapped up the race faster than Obama in 08
say Biden's 1-on-1 retail politics are superior to the aloof Obama's
They revel in having proven Obama's brainiacs wrong & don't forget the doubters

The story often told post-2016 is that Obama's discouragement of Biden's WH ambitions was an act of compassion: that's Beau's death had left him w/o the emotional bandwith to run.
But Obama and his aides' embrace of Hillary's 2016 ambitions well predated Beau's May 2015 death.

Joe himself wrote about it in his 2017 book.
On January 5, 2015, the two met privately
Biden wrote that Obama “had been subtly weighing in against" his run already.
“I also believe he had concluded that Hillary Clinton was almost certain to be the nominee, which was good by him”

also a tidbit. Philippe Reines told me Hillary reconsidered her decision not to run last fall when Biden was struggling. “There were a number of people who...said to themselves, ‘You know, did I make the right decision?'....She went through that exercise.”

Some Biden allies fumed at Obama's endorsements of Hillary vs Joe:
Hill: “I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office”
Joe: “I believe Joe has all of the qualities we need in a president right now … and I know he will surround himself with good ppl"

Biden has long had a chip on his shoulder abt being considered a lightweight
“I have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect" he infamously said on the trail in '88
less remembered part of that exchange was abt Dem snobbery
"It seems to me you’ve all become heartless technocrats”

And so Obama & his aides' critiques/embrace of Hillary hit him where that chip is.
Didn't make the piece but it's illuminating that Biden thinks "Middle Class Joe" is an insult!
"they don’t mean it as a compliment. They mean 'not sophisticated.'" he said in a podcast last yr.

On Obama embracing Hillary, Panetta said: "there was a certain attraction to someone that would certainly break ceilings and kind of create the same kind of precedent that he created … as opposed to...your more traditional politician and, you know, a white Irish Catholic guy.”

the Clinton campaign did a survey in fall of '15 abt Biden. Per internal memo, he was 3rd in IA BUT:
“W/ Biden in the race, our support among African Americans drops by 23 pts...While we still lead, it is not the overwhelming, commanding lead we hold in a 1-on-1 race w/ Sanders"

"Biden would have won" speculation is dumb b/c we don't know and Hillary has many strengths that Biden doesn't.
The reason this is important is b/c it left a mark w/ Biden and is part of what drives him and his team now.

there are small outward signs of the tension
for ex. Biden is one of the few candidates to have not gone on Pod Save America or Axelrod's pod during the campaign
Tommy Vietor said: “I can’t speak for his campaign’s scheduling decisions...but the Zoom is always open"

several weeks ago, the Pod Save America guys talked about Biden not coming on.
"it's a little bit confusing to me," Jon Lovett said. (around the 17 minute mark) https://crooked.com/podcast/how-we-beat-trump/

Favreau said: "if you're going to have the candidate spend some time doing his podcast like he does that reportedly reaches about 30 or 40 thousand people an episode, come on Pod Save America--reach 2 to 3 million ppl on one of our episodes and then he'll get more listeners"

Another funny Biden "chip on the shoulder" moment that also speaks to the different sort of smarts Biden has from Obama comes from @MikeGrunwald's New New Deal.
Secretary Chu contradicted Biden in front of ppl and Biden snapped "he won a Nobel Prize...I got elected 7 times"

One factoid for the political junkies out there: Biden brought on Richard Ben Cramer's researcher for What It Takes, Mark Zwonitzer, to help write both his 07 and 2017 books.
Didn't seem to mind Cramer's take in 88: "“Joe Biden had balls. Lot of times, more balls than sense.”