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Presented by Amway: The unofficial guide to official Washington. | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
|  Former President Barack Obama emphasized shared responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a recent interview. | Getty Images | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BIG IOWA GET — Iowa Gov. KIM REYNOLDS will endorse Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS at a Des Moines rally tomorrow night, the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel scooped. OBAMA’S WARNING TO ISRAEL, BIDEN — For the 44th president’s orbit, this was supposed to be a week of nostalgia and reflection. Celebrating the 15-year anniversary of BARACK OBAMA’s historic rise to the presidency, former aides gathered in Chicago in recent days, and the former president — who has generally kept a low profile since leaving office — is stepping into the spotlight for interviews and speeches. But Obama has upstaged any saunter down memory lane with one major phrase that’s going to reverberate through the national media and Washington in the coming days. “Nobody’s hands are clean.” That’s what Obama told his former staffers at “Pod Save America” when asked about the current violence in the Middle East. In an excerpt released yesterday of an interview that will run in the coming days, Obama emphasized shared responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that goes back decades — and cautioned listeners against ignoring the complexities of the roots of the bloodshed. Yes, Obama said Hamas’s attack was “horrific.” But, he continued, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and “what’s happening to Palestinians” is also “unbearable.” “If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said, arguing that the entire world bears responsibility for allowing the decades-long conflict to fester. WHY THIS MATTERS: On the one hand, that posture isn’t entirely out of character for the former president — at least on the substance. Obama had a notoriously frosty relationship with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, who ignored the American president’s attempts to ease tensions in the region, which included: 1. A push for an end to Israeli settlement expansion into Palestinian territory that Obama’s advisers worried exacerbated the conflict, 2. Warnings in his last days as president that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be “explosive” and undermine long-term peace efforts, and … 3. An embrace of a two-state solution recognizing a free Palestinian state based on 1967 borders (which, by the way, was also GEORGE W. BUSH’s position — though now it seems almost like a pipedream for the Palestinian cause). But on the other hand, Obama’s remarks were a jaw-dropper for about a million reasons. 1. The sentiment appears to go against decades of U.S. orthodoxy staunchly backing Israel, even among Democratic leaders in Washington — though, in recent days, some Democratic senators have started calling for a humanitarian pause on Israel’s counteroffensive to help Palestinians. Indeed, the remarks are a striking jab at not only Israel, but against Obama’s own former VP: JOE BIDEN’s longstanding and relatively closer relationship with Netanyahu has led the current president to underscore Israel’s right to defend itself first and foremost. It also bucks the company line Democratic leaders have been using on this matter. Even Obama’s former Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTONtold Norah O’Donnell that calls for a ceasefire “would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding their armaments, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis.” Former Speaker NANCY PELOSIsimilarly parroted the “gift for Hamas” line. 2. The timing is also striking. Obama rarely weighs in on political matters, and yet chose to engage on one of the most contentious topics du jour. It comes as the world is still reeling from headlines about 1,400 people — mostly Israelis — being massacred, babies being slaughtered and about 240 taken as hostages. Plus, the rise of antisemitism on college campuses that has made Jewish students fear for their safety. Even more eye-popping are the blunt words he chose — “nobody’s hands are clean” — which will almost certainly be used by critics of Israel as they push for a ceasefire. They may even quickly be lumped into those notorious, evocative phrases politicians used in moments of passions, such as Bush’s notorious “mission accomplished.” As our colleague Alex Ward noted to us this morning, Obama’s remark underscored one of the trademarks of his presidency: stepping back from emotionally charged issues to dissect them in ways he deemed rational –– a trait that critics over his eight years in the Oval Office said made him appear aloof and unfeeling. He basically used three minutes to say “it’s complicated,” suggesting passions on both sides were partly to blame the complications. Experts of the conflict would generally agree with that broad frame, though it’s rare for a current or former senior U.S. official to discuss the issue like that. A FEW OTHER THOUGHTS: Obama’s comments will strike accord with a growing swath of the Democratic base. Last night, pro-Palestinian groups took their protests to the White House and to streets across the nation to call for an end to Israel’s retaliatory bombings. Their demands come as thousands of Palestinian civilians are killed in Gaza — where 2 in every 5 deaths are children, according to Save the Children. While Alex reports that Obama’s comments were off the cuff, his choice of words certainly seemed intentional for several reasons. For starters, unlike the many gaffe-prone pols out there, Obama rarely puts his foot in his mouth. He’s an experienced politician who knows how to coolly sidestep questions he’s loath to answer. It’s also the second time that Obama has spoken out against the Israel-Hamas war with a message emphasizing shared culpability. Last month, he warned in a statement that Israel’s retaliatory efforts cutting off food and water to Gaza, killing civilians “could ultimately backfire” by hardening Palestinian attitudes toward the Jewish state, weakening international support and undermining long-term peace efforts. This almost certainly won’t be the end of the conversation on Obama’s remarks. Keep an eye out for pro-Israeli groups’ reaction to his comments, as well as Republicans who will seize on them to argue that Democrats aren’t fully behind Israel. We’ll also be watching to see how Democrats — particularly Jewish Democrats — respond. This almost certainly won’t be the end of the conversation on Obama’s remarks. Keep an eye out for pro-Israeli groups’ reaction to his comments, as well as Republicans who will seize on them to argue that Democrats aren’t fully behind Israel. One conservative has already compared them to DONALD TRUMP’s “very fine people on both sides” comment in the wake of the white nationalist march in Charlottesville. We’ll also be watching to see how Democrats — particularly Jewish Democrats — respond. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. What do you make of the seeming split between Obama and Biden? Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Amway: For decades, Amway has lowered barriers for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to explore small business ownership, without facing the costs of starting a business from scratch. Amway provides high-quality products, online storefronts, a dependable supply chain, top-notch customer care, and a supportive community of entrepreneurs – allowing popular health and wellbeing products to reach customers across the country. Hundreds of thousands of Americans choose to be Amway Independent Business Owners. | | | SUNDAY BEST … — Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on former President DONALD TRUMP’s claims he could easily end the war in Ukraine, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Former President Trump said that [in] about 24 hours, that he can manage it and finish the war. For me, what can I say? So he’s very welcome as well. President Biden was here, and he — I think he understood some details which you can understand only being here … So, I invite President Trump." — White House Principal Deputy National Security Adviser JONATHAN FINER on the future of the Israel-Hamas war, on CBS' “Face the Nation”: “I don't want to speculate about how close we are or are not to the end of the war. But what I will say, and President Biden has been very clear, about this is that whenever this conflict is over, we cannot go back to the way things were before October 7, either in Gaza, or in the West Bank.” — Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. GILAD ERDAN when asked if there’s progress towards a humanitarian pause, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “[W]e always remind [everyone:] We shouldn't believe or take any numbers coming out of Gaza at face value. Everything is being controlled by the terrorists of Hamas. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In coordination with the U.S. and the U.N., we allowed the number of trucks entering Gaza now with food and medicines to reach almost 100 trucks every day. So we don't see the need for humanitarian pauses right now, because it will only enable Hamas to rearm and regroup and prevent us from achieving our goal to destroy Hamas' terrorist capabilities.” — House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON on criticism of his Israel aid bill coupling with cuts to the IRS, on “Fox News Sunday”: “We're trying to change how Washington works. And so by taking that money from this giant fund, over $67 billion that's sitting there to build up the IRS, we weighed those priorities and said: ‘You know what, it’s more important to protect Israel right now than it is to hire more IRS agents.’” — Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) on if he would support a bill with aid to Israel, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “We will see what the bill looks like. But I think it's terribly important that, as we debate that, to say to Israel: ‘you want this money, you got to change your military strategy.’ The other point is, we have to give hope to the Palestinian people.” Related read: “Bernie Sanders says Senate should use aid package to force Israel to change,” by David Cohen TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
| | | | A message from Amway:   New Amway data shows 58% of Americans want to start their own business. For many, the question is not whether they will start a business, but when. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden has nothing on his public schedule. VP KAMALA HARRIS will return to D.C. from LA.
| | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. THE POLLS EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT: Just one year out from Election Day 2024, a series of new NYT/Siena College polls show a dire state of affairs for President Biden: He trails Donald Trump in five of six critical battleground states — after having defeated Trump in all of them in 2020. A look at the numbers:
- In Nevada: Trump leads at 52%, Biden at 41%
- In Georgia: Trump leads at 49%, Biden at 43%
- In Arizona: Trump leads at 49%, Biden at 44%
- In Pennsylvania: Trump leads at 48%, Biden at 44%
- In Michigan: Trump leads at 48%, Biden at 43%
- In Wisconsin: Biden leads at 47%, Trump at 45%
The big-picture results: “Discontent pulsates throughout the Times/Siena poll, with a majority of voters saying Mr. Biden’s policies have personally hurt them,” writes NYT’s Shane Goldmacher. “Demographic groups that backed Mr. Biden by landslide margins in 2020 are now far more closely contested, as two-thirds of the electorate sees the country moving in the wrong direction.” A key voting block: “Black voters — long a bulwark for Democrats and for Mr. Biden — are now registering 22 percent support in these states for Mr. Trump, a level unseen in presidential politics for a Republican in modern times. … In a remarkable sign of a gradual racial realignment between the two parties, the more diverse the swing state, the farther Mr. Biden was behind, and he led only in the whitest of the six.” A crosstab that caught our eye: When voters were asked who they’d vote for if Biden were not the Democratic nominee, the unnamed generic Democrat defeats Trump by 8 points (48% to 40%), and has the lead in all 6 battleground states. Full crosstabs 2. LATEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST: In his second visit to the region in a month, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN continued calls for a “humanitarian pause” in the Israel-Hamas war while meeting with Israeli government officials and, separately, in an unannounced visit to the West Bank, where he met with Palestinian President MAHMOUD ABBAS. As the Biden Administration continues to urge the Israeli government to show restraint in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks from Hamas, the Israeli military temporarily reopened a corridor in the Gaza Strip yesterday “to provide northern Gazans safe passage to the south,” WSJ’s Omar Abdel-Baqui and Vivian Salama report from Amman, Jordan. “The Israel Defense Forces said it allowed traffic on Salah al-Din Road, a major north-south thoroughfare in the strip, for three hours on Saturday, and promised to do so again for four hours on Sunday, although residents said the route was unsafe.” In Ramallah, Blinken stressed that “the U.S. envisions the Palestinian Authority as ‘playing a central role’ in any post-Hamas administration in Gaza,” reports AP’s Matthew Lee. “But Abbas said the Palestinian Authority would only assume power in Gaza as part of a ‘comprehensive political solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Palestinians’ official WAFA news agency. Abbas condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as a ‘genocidal war’ and urged Blinken ‘to immediately stop them from committing such crimes,’ the agency reported.” 3. SUNSHINE STATE SHOWDOWN: “The first-ever in-person showdown between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis in Florida did not go well for the Republican governor and his supporters,” Gary Fineout and Kimberly Leonard report from Kissimmee. Before the two presidential hopefuls took the stage yesterday for the “Florida Freedom Summit,” Trump had already “outflanked” the DeSantis campaign by flipping several state legislators in his favor. The context: “That Trump is besting DeSantis in his home state is light-years from the governor’s moment of triumph just one year ago, when he won a resounding reelection victory … Since then, DeSantis has failed to live up to the high expectations set for him. Trump continues to dominate the GOP field, with national and early state polling showing Trump ahead by wide margins and DeSantis’ numbers mostly declining.” What Trump said: During the event, Trump “repeated his frequent claim that his endorsement of DeSantis during the 2018 Florida GOP gubernatorial primary pushed DeSantis to victory. At one point, he did a dramatic DeSantis impersonation of the governor breaking down in sobs as he pleaded for his support.” What DeSantis said: “DeSantis, in contrast, focused on this legislative record in Florida during his speech earlier in the day … The governor still received loud applause during his 30-minute speech, though the audience for Trump cheered much louder and longer when he took the stage.” Related reads: “How Ron DeSantis Lost Florida to Donald Trump,” by WSJ’s Alex Leary … “'Yell and boo as much as you'd like': Republican longshots make their case in Florida and other trail takeaways,” by ABC News’ Abby Cruz, Nicholas Kerr, Hannah Demissie, and Will McDuffie
| | | | A message from Amway:   | | | 4. A VERY STABLE GENIUS: In recent months, Donald Trump has privately informed advisers and friends that he wants the Justice Department to look into former allies and officials who have turned against him, including his former chief of staff, JOHN KELLY, former AG BILL BARR and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. MARK MILLEY, WaPo’s Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Devlin Barrett scoop this morning. More details: “Much of the planning for a second term has been unofficially outsourced to a partnership of right-wing think tanks in Washington. Dubbed ‘Project 2025,’ the group is developing a plan, to include draft executive orders, that would deploy the military domestically under the Insurrection Act. … It is unclear what alleged crimes or evidence Trump would claim to justify investigating his named targets.” 5. PEEK INSIDE A NEW DYNAMIC: “Inside the Joe Biden-Mike Johnson relationship: Greetings, briefings and clashes over foreign aid,” by AP’s Seung Min Kim: “Johnson’s early moves have confounded administration officials, particularly his strategy on aid to Israel. Inside the White House, aides took particular notice of Johnson’s decision to insist that emergency foreign assistance be coupled with offsetting cuts — a step rarely taken, if ever. … “Though Democrats believe Johnson is a more useful political foil than his predecessor as speaker … the White House itself has been careful to not overtly antagonize Johnson, deliberately deferring most of the campaign-style attacks on his background and positions to the party’s political committees.” 6. SPECIAL REPORT: In an authoritative piece this morning, Ben Schreckinger dives into “one of the thorniest” disputes in the HUNTER BIDEN laptop leak story: the White House's repeated denials about a 2015 dinner at Cafe Milano. A review of congressional testimonies, court filings and media reports, “casts doubt on several statements made by Biden and his representatives,” Schreckinger writes, including “the president’s claim that he has never discussed his relatives’ business dealings with anyone and his suggestion that the appearance of emails apparently belonging to his son was the result of a Russian plot.” 7. WHAT’S IN A NAME: Another day, another look at how the White House’s “Bidenomics” messaging isn’t resonating with voters even as the president works to promote his economic accomplishments. “No one seems to like ‘Bidenomics … not voters, not Democratic officials, not even, at times, the president himself,” NBC News’ Peter Nicholas, Megan Lebowitz and Carol Lee report. “It’s a term that mystifies Americans and confounds even its namesake.” 8. DIRECTIONALLY CHALLENGED: A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows that just over three-quarters of Americans think the country is “headed in the wrong direction,” ABC News’ Meredith Deliso reports this morning: “Republicans are overwhelmingly negative, with 95% thinking things in this country are heading in the wrong direction, followed by 76% of independents and 54% of Democrats, according to the poll.” 9. HAPPENING TOMORROW: Trump is expected to take the witness stand in his New York civil fraud trial tomorrow focused on his family business dealings, WSJ’s Jacob Gershman reports: “Away from cameras and under oath, the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner is expected to face questioning about how his company calculated his net worth and the worth of his assets as it sought hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.”
| | | | A message from Amway: Amway occupies a unique space in the entrepreneurial landscape. Now, the company has released a trove of new data – the latest installment of a large, long-running global study on perceptions of entrepreneurship – about how Americans actually think about business ownership. What did Amway’s latest Global Entrepreneurship Report find about the motivations or hesitations associated with business ownership? Learn more. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a reunion party for the Obama 2008 and 2012 paid media and polling team, at the Chicago Illumination Company on Friday: David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Larry Grisolano, Erik Smith, John Anzalone, David Binder, Cliff Franklin, Mike Franklin, Jeff Link, David Dixon, Rich Davis, Peter Giangreco, Lis Smith, Mark Putnam, Buffy Wicks, Casey Hernandez, Candace Chu, Eric Lesser, Lauren Paige, Kate Kochman, Isaac Baker, Tim Skoczek, Mark Skidmore, Christine Glunz, Kathy Gasperine, Gerald Hawthorne and Meaghan Burdick. — SPOTTED at the Economic Security Project’s Bold New Consensus conference in NYC on Thursday to talk about economic policies: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Mitch Landrieu, Heather Boushey, Elizabeth Kelly and Natalie Foster. — SPOTTED at Picnic Theatre Company’s sold-out parody of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” at Dupont Underground on Friday: Steve Rochlin and Christina Sevilla, Emily Lenzner, Ali Dukakis, Sara Cook, Edward Roman, Hugo Vergès, Michael Isikoff, David Corn, Kimball Stroud, David White, Raquel Krähenbühl, Fin Gómez, Sarah March, Nancy Bagley, Bruce Kieloch, Rodell Mollineau, Adam Green, Nihal Krishan, Mark Paustenbach, Ana Harvey, Katherine Doyle and Nina Rees. MEDIA MOVES — William Lewis will be WaPo’s new publisher and CEO, effective next year. Lewis currently is the founder, CEO and publisher of The News Movement. Full announcement HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) … New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu … Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers … Valerie Biden Owens … John Harwood … NBC’s Ken Strickland and Jason Calabretta … POLITICO’s Katy O’Donnell and Camille von Kaenel … Justin Muzinich … The Messenger’s Nolan McCaskill … Steve Pfister … Benjamin Wittes of Brookings and Lawfare … Stephen Rubright … WaPo’s Kevin Sullivan … Keith Castaldo of Subject Matter … Annie Kelly Kuhle of FP1 Strategies … Steve Caldeira of the Household & Commercial Products Association … Moira Whelan of the National Democratic Institute … Accenture’s Matt Nicholson … former Reps. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) … Jane Timken … Kristin Bodenstedt … John Procter … Chris Mewett ... Ryan Mewett … Malik Haughton … Karen Mulhauser … Target’s Molly Cagle … StitcherAds’ Gabrielle Hoffman … CBS’ Dana Jacobson Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producer Bethany Irvine. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
