The co-hosts of the progressive podcast "Pod Save America" appeared on "The View" Friday. They dissected the Democratic Party's failures during the 2024 campaign.
Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer, all former Obama staffers, criticized the party’s handling of President Biden. They blamed his re-election ambitions, despite age and poor polling, for the disarray.
"I think one thing, though, that harmed the Democrats over the last couple of years was a lack of candor," Vietor told the hosts. "There were a lot of voters who felt like Joe Biden was too old to get another four years."
The trio slammed Democratic leaders for delaying Biden's exit from the race. They said waiting too long to act left the party scrambling.
Infighting within the party has grown since Trump’s victory in November. Reports suggest conflicts over replacing Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Nancy Pelosi was among those critical of Biden’s delay in stepping aside. Speaking on a podcast, she said, "Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race."
Others targeted influential figures like Obama’s allies. They accused them of failing to develop a solid plan to replace Biden on the 2024 ticket.
"The View" co-hosts pointed out these divisions. The ex-Obama aides agreed they stemmed from ignoring Biden’s weaknesses until it was too late.
Vietor argued voters were clearly rejecting Biden before his exit. "You could see it in polling and you could see it in primaries," he said. He added, "Democrats said, ‘You know what? It’s fine. Everything will be okay. Trump is bad and therefore that will offset that.'"
Vietor stressed honesty and working-class values as the party’s path forward. "We got to get our act together," he urged.
Joy Behar asked if any of them believed Biden could have won. Favreau was blunt: "He would not have won."
Favreau claimed Biden’s team hid critical polling from him. "His own polling showed… that Donald Trump was going to win 400 electoral votes – 400 plus," he said.
Sources told The Washington Post Biden still believes he could have won. Pfeiffer responded wryly, "If Joe Biden wants to spend the rest of his days believing he would have won, that’s a gift we can all give him."