There are many ways to measure the accessibility of a US president. One way is to count press conferences. At this point, President Biden seems invisible.
CNN White House reporter Kevin Liptak shared this note with colleagues on Wednesday: “While we await notice when President Biden will hold his first solo press conference, an analysis of the past 100 years shows that he is behind his 15 most recent predecessors, all of which held a solo press conference within 33 days of taking office. ”Liptak searched this university database to confirm the data.
Thursday is Biden’s 43rd day in office. “Although he has answered questions from reporters a few times, including during sprays and a more formal question-and-answer session after an event in January, he did not hold a formal press conference,” said Liptak. “That includes both a solo press conference and a 2 + 2 press conference during his two virtual ‘bilateral’ meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.”
So what is Biden waiting for? The passage of a Covid relief law, possibly. Katie Rogers of the NYT brought that up when I asked about the drought of the press conference on last Sunday’s “Reliable Sources”.
After the broadcast, I heard from a few viewers who said the press force should be more patient with Biden, in light of Trump’s odious treatment of the press. It is true that Trump proved the limits of accessibility, as frequent Q & As are of little value if the answers are lies. But Trump isn’t the only measure of Biden – that’s why I appreciated Liptak’s look way back in time, showing that Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, to name a few, are all soon to press held after being sworn in …
The answer from the WH
On Wednesday evening, I asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if she had any response to the call for a POTUS press. Psaki replied, “We look forward to holding a full formal press conference, but in the meantime, the president regularly answers questions from reporters about the White House, including this morning. And his focus day in and day out is on getting it under control. “Get out of the pandemic. Control and get people back to work. That’s what people chose him for.”
In my opinion, reporters are right in pushing for more access to questions and answers, and they shouldn’t take the pressure off. Biden should use the press conference setting to tell the public what he is doing …
Tucker’s gross distortion
Here’s a classic example of how Fox’s Tucker Carlson takes something legitimate and turns it into BS commentary. Questions about when Biden will hold a full-fledged press conference are legitimate – but on Wednesday evening Carlson went much further, saying that Biden “refuses to speak directly to the media.” Strange, given that Fox’s White House reporter Peter Doocy has had repeated contact with Biden this winter. That is not “silence”. Carlson then made fun of Biden’s public speech, saying he didn’t want to see a press anyway: “It’s one thing to know that your country is run by a man with cognitive decline, it’s another thing to see it, and we don’t want to see it. “
For the record
– “Biden has an approval score of 51% in a Monmouth U survey released Wednesday,” slightly down from 54% at the end of January … (Fox)
– One of Wednesday’s biggest stories: “Biden has agreed to compromise with moderate Democrats to cut income eligible for the next round of $ 1,400 stimulus vouchers …” (CNN)
– The Trump administrator “referred a record number of secret leaks to criminal investigations, at least 334 in total,” according to a newly unearthed DOJ document … (The Intercept)
– From CNN’s fact-checking team: “In an opinion article published Wednesday, former VP Mike Pence did something he used to do in the office: echo a lie” from Trump “in a slightly more sophisticated way …” (CNN)
