First of all, he showed up. His predecessor's temperament would have never been able to take the atmosphere. Nor would his view of the media's role have permitted him to make jokes and spend a lighthearted, entertaining evening with people he clearly looked down on and despised. And the feeling was mutual, which most definitely would have darkened the atmosphere.
But President Biden was as comfortable and natural in that setting, as any President who understands what constitutionally guaranteed free press means, supports it, and who does not interfere with them. That's the way it should always be, regardless of who is in the White House. And for the first time since President Obama left office, freedom of the press was on public display in the quirky kind of way that it happens at this particular event.
That being said, I think that President Biden is being more fair and gracious to the media than they currently deserve. The right wing accuses the "main stream media" of a liberal bias, tough to prove at any time, certainly now. No doubt, 85% of the people gathered in that room last night voted for Biden in the general election, but after four years of "a plague" as the President referred to the previous administration, expectations were high. A Democrat, especially an experienced one, was destined to win this election.. It's not like this President and his political direction is unknown. Quite the contrary, he's been pretty predictable and he's followed the agenda he laid out during his campaign.
He's handled economic policy affected by a pandemic, which no one had ever really done before, and in the government's handling of the pandemic, made a night and day difference over what was going on before, responding in a way that has been successful in dealing with the problem, as much as can be so where protected free speech permits false information and conspiracy theories to be disseminated.
Events like this one make one thing clear, and its something the news media needs to make note of and change their coverage. We don't have a President with dementia, or reduced mental capacity, or cognitive disfunction. He's always struggled with stuttering, a speech impediment that has been a setback for him, which he's acknowledged. And every President has had those moments when words failed them, they lost their train of thought, got ahead of themselves or stepped out of the moment. The 45th occupant of the White House rarely finished a complete sentence and had a very small vocabulary, over-using phrases and words, losing his train of thought and rambling on to the point where the main point got lost in the verbiage.
In the critical moments of this Presidency, when the stress is at its highest point, President Biden has been firm, clear, articulate and direct, and there's no sign of any diminished mental capacity. The Presidency carries a lot of stress, but this President has picked advisors who know their stuff and have the ability to do their job, and he relies on them, so things get done. We expect that, and that's one of the reasons why I voted for him, along with the fact that he listens to people and considers their perspective.
He is, above all else, trying to protect and preserve American democracy. He's very clear about that, and we're about to see how that's going to take shape here, very soon.
President Biden has been the Democrat most active in working toward bi-partisan cooperation in government, throughout his career. He has had friends on both sides of the aisle, particularly before the big lie and conspiracy theories set the GOP agenda for them. But frankly, I'm not big on bi-partisan cooperation anymore. If the Democrats can keep their majority, and get enough votes in the Senate to bypass the obstacles, then I don't care if all the bills they pase have no GOP support at all. The GOP has, for the most part and with few exceptions, abandoned any bi-partisanship and it is hypocritical of them to whine about it when the Democrats pass bills without any of their member votes. Joe Biden's example just makes that look as bad as it really is.
Thank you, President Biden, for one of the most entertaining evenings of television I've had in a long time.
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