Read my lips: Biden, Obama, Bubba and Pelosi look glum at Ethel Kennedy funeral

Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, October 18, 2024 Contract With Our Readers

Four glum Democrats and a funeral.

It’s not the title of an indie movie sequel, but the consensus of analysts reading the room as Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi were seen together on Wednesday at Ethel Kennedy’s memorial service in Washington, DC.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi at Ethel Kennedy’s funeral. / AFP / Getty Images

Two of those Democrats, Obama and Pelosi, are largely seen as responsible for removing a third, Biden, from the 2024 presidential race.

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According to a professional lip reader who translated conversations between the Dems for the New York Post, Biden bluntly told Obama that “she” is “not as strong as me” — with Obama agreeing “that’s true.”

Moments earlier, Obama said, “it’s important that we have some time together” in a possible reference to campaigning alongside Kamala Harris.

The dialogue was translated for The Post by Jeremy Freeman, a London-based forensic lip reader who was born deaf and for 16 years has served as a University College London-certified expert witness for litigants, the police, and journalists.

Amid pressure from Democrats at the top of the party’s food chain, Biden initially refused to step aside, saying he had earned the nomination with more than 14 million votes in the primaries.

Biden, 81, ultimately decided to drop out and endorse Harris amid mounting pressure from Democrats questioning his mental acuity after he struggled to articulate his positions in a June 27 debate with GOP candidate Donald Trump.

Pelosi, 84, who had reportedly not spoken to Biden since pressuring him to drop out of the race, delivered remarks at the funeral and praised former presidents Obama and Clinton, at which time Biden appeared to wince, reports say.

Obama earlier this week had railed against black men who are hesitant to support Harris and those who are supporting Trump.


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