Obama, Biden discuss country’s future, coronavirus outbreak in socially distanced sit down

Former President Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden recently took part in a socially distanced conversation to discuss Biden’s presidential bid and the future of the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Video of the conversation, which will be released in its entirety on Thursday, shows the former president and vice president arriving in masks for a sit-down conversation and talking about how the Trump administration has handled the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, ‘It’s not my responsibility. I take no responsibility.’ Literally. Literally,” Biden said in a preview of the conversation released by his campaign, taking an apparent dig at President Trump.

“Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office,” Obama responded.

“No. I don’t understand his inability to get a sense of what people are going through,” Biden said. “He can’t relate in any way.”

“Well, and one of the things I have always known about you, Joe, it’s the reason I wanted you to be my vice president, and the reason why you were so effective … it all starts with being able to relate,” Obama said.

Biden and Obama also tackle the economic fallout from the pandemic, as well as the ongoing national conversation on racial injustice, according to the Biden campaign.

The Trump campaign fired back in a statement hitting Biden over his record as senator and vice president. 

“Even the former President’s half-hearted, scripted praise can’t cover-up Joe Biden’s nearly 50-year long legacy of failure,” said Trump campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley. “Biden’s half-century in Washington has been mired in controversy and failed socialist policies that don’t reflect our values, while in just three years, President Trump has provided every day, hard-working Americans with real success and more opportunities to reach their American Dream.”    

Obama has proven to be a formidable asset to the Biden campaign. The pair raised $11 million in their first 2020 fundraiser together last month, in which more than 120,000 people signed up to participate. 

The former president slammed Trump without directly naming him during the virtual event, noting the stakes for November’s election.

“My predecessor, who I disagreed with on a whole host of issues, still had a basic regard for the rule of law and the importance of our institutions,” Obama said.

“And what we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be.”