Barack and Joe. Joe and Barack.

The way Joe Biden explained it on the campaign trail in Iowa during the 2020 presidential campaign, he and BFF Barack Obama had long talked of Biden succeeding Obama in the White House, and continuing the work of their administration. It was only tragic fate, in the form of the loss of his son Beau, that intervened, according to Joe.

And now, after four years, the plan could finally go forward, with Biden running as Obama’s “true heir.”

No matter what side you’re on, the #Obama / #Biden #memes are so hilarious! 😂😂#LOL #BidenMemes #fun #ObamaBiden @BarackObama @JoeBiden @CNN https://t.co/2eLu8FlA4a

— Valentina Sciarra 🇪🇺 (@Sciarring) November 14, 2016

“Barack Obama,” Biden declared in his campaign announcement in Philadelphia, “is an extraordinary man, an extraordinary president.” On the social media-generated #BestFriendsDay, Biden’s campaign posted a picture of “Joe” and “Barack” friendship bracelets. Remember that embarrassing thing?

It was creepy then; it’s creepy, now.

Happy #BestFriendsDay to my friend, @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/JTd1t7NtyL

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 9, 2019

However, Barack reportedly didn’t share the same reverent respect for Joe that Joe profusely professed for Barack — apparently with reason.

According to Politico, in reference to the possibility of Biden becoming the 2020 Democrat presidential nominee, Obama told a fellow Democrat: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.” “And you know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden,” Obama also reportedly said.

Leon Panetta, Obama’s secretary of Defense, recalled, in a conversation with Politico, a year ago:

“He was loyal, I think, to Obama in every way in terms of defending and standing by him, even probably when he disagreed with what Obama was doing. To some extent, [he] oftentimes felt that that loyalty was not being rewarded.”

This flashback from the Politico piece is enlightening, today, well:

[T]he deep hurt still felt among Biden’s allies over how Obama embraced Hillary Clinton as his successor, and a powerful sense of pride that is driving Biden to prove that the former president and many of his aides underestimated the very real strengths of his partner.

Interviews with dozens of senior officials of the Obama-Biden administration painted a picture of eight years during which the president and vice president enjoyed a genuinely close personal relationship, built particularly around devotion to family, while at the same time many senior aides, sometimes tacitly encouraged by the president’s behavior, dismissed Biden as eccentric and a practitioner of an old, outmoded style of politics.

And the Most Insightful Part of All?

Here’s a hint.

Jen Psaki backtracks on the administration’s previous claims that record high illegal immigration is due to “a seasonal spike.” pic.twitter.com/SNxvzAWeBG

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 3, 2021

Yep, even Jen Psaki, former White House communications director under Barack Obama, current White House press secretary under Joe Biden, said of Biden at the time: “You could certainly see technocratic eye-rolling at times.”

As described by Politico at the time, young White House aides frequently mocked Biden’s gaffes and lack of discipline in comparison to the “almost clerical” Obama. They would laugh at how Biden, like an elderly uncle at Thanksgiving, would launch into extended monologues that everyone had heard before.

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, who was known for his mind-meld with Obama, wrote in his memoir that “in the Situation Room, Biden could be something of an unguided missile,” as noted by Politico. And this:

Former FBI Director James Comey recalled in his book that “Obama would have a series of exchanges heading a conversation very clearly and crisply in Direction A. Then, at some point, Biden would jump in with, ‘Can I ask something, Mr. President?’”

“Obama would politely agree, but something in his expression suggested he knew full well that for the next five or 10 minutes we would all be heading in Direction Z. After listening and patiently waiting, President Obama would then bring the conversation back on course.”

The examples and recollections go on. But the song remains the same, regardless of who sings it — among those who were around the “elderly uncle,” as described by Psaki — then. 

And that guy is your president, now, America.

The question is, from Obama’s reported “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up, to Joe being “something of an unguided missile,” to Joe taking important discussions off into “Direction Z,” were they right?

Less than seven months in office, the answer is clearly “yes.”

World leaders blame Biden, express disappointment with Afghanistanhttps://t.co/aKJjB4yoor pic.twitter.com/cx87hF9xgb

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 15, 2021

We need only look at the disaster on the border, COVID-positive illegal aliens clandestinely shipped around the country in the dead of night, to the disaster that is now Afghanistan and the horror that is coming to the innocent men, women, and children of that war-torn country, for all the proof necessary. And Kamala Harris waiting in the wings.

The realization that this is where we now find ourselves — 245 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence — is not only mind-numbing; it is chilling as hell. It didn’t have to be this way.

Speaking of Biden’s ineptness, check out my previous article: Biden Ordered Afghanistan Withdrawal Against Warnings From Top Generals: Report