After the debate, Obama and Pelosi were distraught. The debacle left Obama shocked, if not exactly surprised.
“The 44th president never had much faith in [the] political ability” of his former vice-president, Parnes and Allen write. “Less than two weeks earlier, at [a] Los Angeles fundraiser, Obama led Biden offstage by the wrist after the president stood frozen for a few moments while staring into the crowd.”
Obama was disturbed. Parnes and Allen describe a post-debate call.
“What is your path?” Obama asked Biden.
“What’s my path? Biden thought as he listened to Obama. What’s your fukking plan?”
He intuited Obama’s endgame. But Obama also lacked faith in Harris.
“Obama already had determined that he didn’t think Harris should take the president’s spot on the ballot,” Parnes and Allen write. “‘That was his position from the outset,’ according to one person who spoke to him at the time.”
Pelosi, like Harris from northern California, unlike her a hardened politico with ruthless instincts, thought the same way.
“She actually was worried when people were panicking the night of the debate, saying ‘Oh my God, it’s going to be her,’” Parnes and Allen quote “someone who spoke to Pelosi”.