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Former President Barack Obama stuck to the Democratic script on inflation that hit a 41-year high of 8.5% on Tuesday, blaming it on Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine even as a key member of his own party pressed President Biden to take bold action to curb rising costs.

Speaking about the issues that will dominate this falls midterm elections, Obama told NBCs Al Roker that people understandably feel exhausted after dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for two years and admitted that inflation is a real issue.

A lot of it is having to do with these COVID supply chains and now Putins gas tax, essentially, by virtue of his invasion of Ukraine, Obama said in a portion of the interview that aired Tuesday evening on NBC Nightly News.

But the 44th president insisted that the underlying economy is good and that Democrats have to go out there and tell their story before voters hit the polls in November.

Obama was echoing the sentiments of Biden, who served as Obamas vice president during his two terms in office.

Biden argued Tuesday that skyrocketing consumer costs and prices at the pump are the result of Putins invasion of Ukraine that began Feb. 24.

We saw in todays inflation data, 70% of the increase in prices in March came from Putins price hike in gasoline, the president said at an event in Iowa, where heannounced a plan to suspend a federal rule capping ethanol levels in gas for the summer months in a desperate bid to lower the price of fuel.

We need to address this challenge with the urgency itdemands, he added.

But Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) accused Biden of doing a disservice to Americans by acting as if inflation is a new phenomenon.

Hard earned wages and financial savings are disappearing faster every month as prices continue to climb, while the pain and frustration of spending more on everyday items lingers over us all, especially among those who can afford it the least, Manchin said.

Americans are seeing some of the largest increases in goods such as gas up 48%, beef up 16%, chicken and milk up 13%, and staples like coffee and eggs are up 11%, he said.

The moderate from the Mountain State, who helped scuttle the presidents $2 trillion social spending bill in December, said the administration cannot spend itself out of the current predicament.

[W]e cannot spend our way to a balanced, healthy economy and continue adding to our $30 trillion national debt, Manchin said.

Obama also sidestepped a question from Roker about whether he should have had a more forceful response to Russia after Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 and said the Russian leaders actions in Ukraine is him being reckless in a way that you might not have anticipated 10 years ago. But that danger was always there.

You know, the situations in each of these circumstances are different, he added. But I think that what were seeing consistently is a reminder of why its so important for us to not take our own democracy for granted, why its so important for us to stand for and align ourselves with those who believe in freedom and independence.

Similar comments made last week by the former president about his response to the 2014 annexation of Crimea prompted criticism that he was stating revisionist history on his record with Russia.

Obama, speaking at aDisinformation and the Erosion of Democracy conference at the University of Chicago, said he had to drag allies to take action against Russia.

I will say that, as someone who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction. Because, in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we wouldve wanted to see, from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies, Obama said.

Max Abrahms, a terrorism expert and professor of international security at Northeastern University, called Obamas response self-serving.

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Obama insists Ukraine invasion to blame for inflation

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Former President Barack Obama participated in a generally apolitical NBC "Today" segment Wednesday about his new Netflix show on national parks, but he couldn't resist sneaking in a seeming shot at Donald Trump.

To promote "Our Great National Parks," he and anchor Al Roker led local Washington, D.C., children in a scavenger hunt in Virginia's Great Falls National Park. At one point, Obama reminisced about seeing a group of whales migrating in Hawaii.

After one of the children alluded to it being the state where he was born, Obama said, "I was born in Hawaii, yeah Honolulu. See, you know more than some people know about where I was born."

Obama smiled, clearly referencing the infamous "birther" controversy from earlier in his career. Proponents of the theory said he was born outside the United States and was ineligible for the presidency. Obama eventually produced his longform birth certificate in 2011, but Trump continued to question its authenticity afterward.

OBAMA REACTS TO RUSSIA'S UKRAINE INVASION: PUTIN HAS ALWAYS BEEN RUTHLESS'

Obama, and future NBC late-night host Seth Meyers, memorably skewered Trump over the birther controversy and his rumored run for high office at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner.

"No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald," Obama said at the time. "Thats because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like: Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"

Five years later, Trump successfully ran for president and replaced Obama in the White House, although he said revenge for the dinner roast wasn't on his mind. During the campaign, he said Obama was clearly born in the United States and said Hillary Clinton was the catalyst for the birther theory.

'SNL' CELEBRATES KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, MOCKS BIDEN'S MEETING WITH OBAMA

Back in the studio after the segment aired, fellow "Today" host Craig Melvin chuckled and said of Obama, "He couldn't resist."

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Obama narrated and helped produce the five-part national parks series for Netflix, which features parks from around the world.

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Obama takes shot at Trump over birther controversy in NBC national parks segment - Fox News

Russian forces have overwhelmingly floundered in their efforts to overtake Ukraine since launching their invasion in February, and they retreated from around the capital of Kyiv in recent days amid stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces.

U.S. officials now assess that Russian forces are resupplying and reinforcing their ranks before mounting a new offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where Russia first made an incursion 48 days ago into two breakaway areas largely controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

CIA Director William Burns told Congress last month that Putin is probably angry and frustrated by the state of Russias war effort, and that hes likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.

Indeed, Russian forces hasty retreat in northern Ukraine exposed scenes of apparent war crimes and other atrocities in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv. Russias targeting of civilian areas also has included a missile strike on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk that killed more than 50 people last Friday.

In a statement Monday night, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Defense Department was monitoring reports of potential chemical weapons use in the besieged city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine.

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Obama: Ukraine invasion proof that Putin has grown more 'reckless' - POLITICO

Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy pushed back Wednesday at progressives who had criticized his appearing with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Mr. Dungy noted on Twitter that his home-state governor was signing a pro-fatherhood bill about which he had said nothing that former President Barack Obama didnt.

2 days ago I spoke on behalf of a Florida bill that supports dads & families and it offended some people, Mr. Dungy said in his tweet, which included snippets from a 2008 Obama speech on the issue.

14 yrs ago Pres Obama said the same things almost verbatim. Im assuming people were outraged at him too, Mr. Dungy added dryly.

Mr. Obama had said that we know the statistics that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.

The bill, according to an account in The Hill, directs $70 million to educational and mentorship programs to help children, fathers, and families, including organizations like Mr. Dungys nonprofit group All Pro Dad.

I am serving the Lord so Ill keep supporting dads and families, said Mr. Dungy, the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl.

Liberals and leftists were irked that Mr. Dungy appeared in public with Mr. DeSantis and called for NBC Sports, for which Mr. Dungy is a broadcast pundit, to punish him.

Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann, for example, called Mr. Dungy that fraud standing there, cackling, also a fascist political prop. This you, @NBCSports, @SNFonNBC?

Added Shana V. White: FYI: Tony Dungy has been anti-Black, homophobic and into respectability politics since forever. Would not be surprised if he was a member of the GOP. Thats why hes hanging with DeSantis.

Mr. Dungy, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl win, also had released a statement Monday supporting the bill that Mr. DeSantis signed.

This is going to be tremendous and such a good help to fathers in Florida, he said. This bill is so important. I want to thank all of the men and women that have been behind this.

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Tony Dungy defends appearance with Ron DeSantis: 'Obama said the same things' - Washington Times

Valerie Biden Owens revealed that her brother, then-Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, was "hesitant" to accept Sen. Barack Obama's offer to join the Democratic ticket as his vice presidential running mate in 2008, according to her newly released memoir.

In the book, "Growing Up Biden: A Memoir," Owens recounted that after Obama secured enough delegates to capture the party nomination, he reached out to Biden, who had suspended his 2008 presidential campaign at the start of the year.

The Illinois Democrat was gauging whether Biden who at that point had been in the Senate for nearly 36 years and had chaired both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees would be interested in becoming his vice president.

Obama made it clear that he didn't need Biden to win the general election, but wanted his help in governing.

"Joe was hesitant," Owens wrote in the memoir. "At that time, he had the best seat in the house, no pun intended, as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Could he do more with his current position than he could as Vice President?"

She continued: "Traditionally, Vice Presidents didn't really do anything. He would have to report directly to a superior for the first time in decades."

However, it was their mother Catherine Finnegan Biden who reminded Biden of the significance of becoming part of what would be a historic ticket, with Obama being the first major party Black presidential nominee in US history.

"What finally did it? Mom," Owens wrote. "She said: 'We have the chance to elect the first African American as President, and you have to even think about it?'"

Biden has said he initially turned down Obama when he first asked Biden to be vetted for vice president. "I said, 'No, thank you. I don't want to be vice president,'' he said in 2015, adding that he thought he could help Obama more as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"He said, 'Go on home and talk over your family and get back to me,'" Biden said then of Obama. "And my family was right and made the right decision best decision in my political career was to join the president."

In August 2008, Biden accepted Obama's offer, but the veteran lawmaker had one condition in order to proceed with the decision; he wanted to be "the last person in the room" with Obama in advance of major decisions.

"They had a handshake deal, but it seemed there was one last piece before it could be finalized," Owens wrote. "The Davids needed to sign off: David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager; and David Axelrod, his strategist."

Owens then detailed how the agreement took place at her home in Delaware in lieu of Biden's home as it was being surveilled by media outlets amid the vice presidential speculation and mentioned the efforts of her husband, Jack; her sister-in-law, Jill; and her late nephew, Beau.

"The Davids flew into New Castle County Airport, and Beau and Jill picked them up baseball caps and sunglasses adding to the intrigue," she wrote. "Joe had already arrived at our home, waiting for them down by the pool, where there was privacy."

"When Beau drove in with our guests, Jack and I met them and escorted them down to the pool. As promised, we left them alone: no pictures, no distractions, no chitchat," Owens added.

After the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the Obama-Biden ticket fueled by high Democratic enthusiasm, fatigue with the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War, and concerns about the economy catapulted the party to a huge electoral victory that November.

Obama and Biden easily defeated the Republican ticket consisting of then-Sen. John McCain of Arizona and then-Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, winning the Electoral College 365-173.

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Biden was 'hesitant' to sign on as Obama's VP nominee in 2008: book - Business Insider