When you’ve lost Salon….
The Joe Biden reality show: Most stage-managed presidency in history keeps undermining itself
What a difference an administration makes.
Donald Trump had nothing to say and said it all the time.
President Joe Biden has more to say and rarely says it.
Or at least that’s what a lot of his fellow Democrats seem to think.
Following the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on the Fourth of July, there is growing criticism from members of Biden’s party, who accuse the president of not saying enough about this important issue. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden has approached the continuing gun violence issue with “passion” and “fury.” Some of his fellow Democrats, however, have reportedly begun to doubt both of those. Some of that criticism comes from Congress, where it is obvious they mistake “fury” for action. It would also explain why Congress often seems so furious and yet takes so little action.
Biden has done himself no favors because even the press (which, until recently, was still in a honeymoon with the White House) says he continuously hides from the public. He’s had just one full news conference at the White House — during the pandemic, with relatively few reporters present — and he routinely avoids putting himself in situations where the press can ask him questions.
It really doesn’t get much better for Joe
Donald Trump used the Oval Office as an interactive bully pulpit and battering ram — screaming and ranting and raving at the press while taking questions in a variety of venues that he believed gave him an advantage, whether in his infamous “chopper talk” sessions on the South Lawn, in pool sprays or elsewhere. Trump could make an ass of himself anywhere, always did and still does.
But today, the president of the United States is a role played by a septuagenarian in a reality show.
In other words, Trump spent a lot of time yammering and talking with the press. And yes, berating them. But, he did show up time and again, while Joe hides
For the first time since January, I was given permission, along with perhaps two dozen other reporters, to walk into the South Court Auditorium and serve as a temporary audience during a presidential reality show episode. Of course, that’s not how it was billed. But the auditorium has morphed into a Hollywood sound stage over the last 17 months. During previous administrations, the room was pressed into service as anything from an overflow work space to an auditorium hosting presidential press events. The first COVID briefings under Trump took place in that auditorium, before approximately 200 members of the press corps.
And now? Not many, and Joe doesn’t take questions. He looks like a talk show host
I swear, at one point I thought the president might turn, look at the audience and say, “We’ll have more with irate governors after this important commercial message . . . ”
If this had happened under Trump, he would have been late, combative and surly. He would have accused us at least once of being the “enemy of the people,” called us “fake news” at least twice and might have personally insulted a reporter just for good measure. But he’d mix it up with questions, not caring if they were pro or con. He was ready to fight with anybody. That was Trump’s game plan. After he got comfortable in any venue in the White House, he stayed and fouled the nest. At first, there was no chopper talk. Then, after trying it once and being invited back, he kept doing it. After he showed up in the Brady Briefing Room to discuss the pandemic, with a little more than a year left in his term of office, he was again invited back.
But, he did talk, right? Take questions? Interact?
Joe Biden accidentally reads the part on the teleprompter that says "repeat the line" when they wanted him to say the line again lmfao pic.twitter.com/pS3GdXPe5N
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 8, 2022
I don’t remember Trump making all these gaffes. Remember how the press used to give George W. Bush crap for his mispronounced words? Bush at least showed up, took questions, answered
That’s an oldy but goody. Biden can’t even speak using a teleprompter in an utterly scripted event
If Biden is actually incapable of occasionally taking unscripted questions from a wide variety of journalists, then the Democrats should be looking hard for someone who can — though they should heed the warning of history and avoid creating a Kennedy vs. Carter moment, as in 1980, that divides the party and allows a demon seed like Ronald Reagan to fall through the cracks and take root. In short, if the Democrats are going to proceed without Biden, it has to be at his initiative, or at least appear to be so. (Wink, wink.) The Democrats definitely don’t need a competitive primary season where the incumbent president is fighting for survival. But given that this is the Democratic Party, they might just do that.
Oops. It’s an incredible piece, well worth reading the whole thing.
Read: Salon Calls Brandon Most Stage Managed President Ever »