Biden raged over Obama's interest in presidential rivals: book

President Joe Biden, during his 2020 campaign for office, privately raged over reports that former President Barack Obama expressed interest in his rivals for the Democratic nomination, a new book claims.

In "The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama," New York Magazine's Gabriel Debenedetti details Biden's frustration over Obama's non-committal stance toward backing his campaign, according to the Washington Examiner. 

Obama took particular interest in candidates Julian Castro and Michael Bennet, the outlet noted.

"Biden had started making a show of reading articles about Obama world’s interest in others. 'You believe this s***?' he’d ask aloud," the book reads.

"Obama had whispered to friends that he strongly doubted Biden could create the kind of inspiring connection with Iowans and New Hampshirites that Obama once had," Debenedetti also wrote. "Obama was particularly certain that Biden and his advisers simply didn't understand internet-era campaigning."

After Obama began to lend more direct support to Biden, the former vice president began to change his tune on his former running mate, the book states.

"Soon, Biden started talking differently about Obama in private, chuffed to be back in more frequent contact and thrilled to have something like a joint project again," it reads. "But Obama felt himself getting dangerously close to straying from his insistence on not weighing in on intraparty fights or becoming a political football. He and his team pulled back a bit to maintain neutrality."

The book is slated for release on Tuesday.