Biden Says He Spoke With Warren Buffett About U.S. Leadership

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told donors on Wednesday that he recently spoke by phone with billionaire investor Warren Buffett about America’s leadership role on the global stage.

“We have to refuse to postpone what America has to do, the work we have to do. There’s nothing beyond our capacity, for God’s sake. Just got off the phone with Warren Buffett and talking about how we have position unlike we were 50, 70, 80 years ago to lead the whole damn world in a way that no one else can. There’s no limit to America’s future,” Biden said during a virtual fundraiser.

Buffett, who endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and voted for Barack Obama in 2012, has not endorsed Biden and has stayed out of politics recently. The billionaire didn’t mention the words “election,” “Donald Trump,” or any Democrat running for president in his annual letter to investors in February.

The Biden campaign declined to elaborate on the details of the call, and Buffett’s assistant didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The comments reflect Buffett’s routinely optimistic tone about the future of America. He has long said it is a “terrible mistake” to bet against the U.S. and that the country’s “golden goose” of commerce and innovation would continue to power growth and prosperity.

“The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history,” Buffett wrote in his annual letter to shareholders released in 2016.

Buffett, 90, has been more cautious this year as the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, arguing in May at his shareholder meeting that his record cash pile wasn’t so big when taking into consideration the worst-case possibilities for the virus and the ensuing recession. But Buffett still emphasized that America has faced great problems in the past and “American magic” had prevailed.

The fundraiser was hosted by Jane Hartley, former U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco and chairman of Sesame Workshop; Blair Effron, founder of Centerview Partners; Deven Parekh, managing director of Insight Partners and Roger Altman, founder of Evercore.

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