#BIDEN PRESS CONFERENCE GAFFES TV#

It raises questions as to why are you secluding the president, why are you hiding the president, why won’t you let him talk to reporters? “It could potentially in the back of voters’ minds question his competency, his energy, his ability to handle the job. They just don’t trust him to get out the story clean without a problem.”īut the cautious approach could backfire on 79-year-old Biden, he warned. The White House does not trust the president to go out unscripted and doesn’t want to leave the president to his own devices. Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, added: “The strategy is pretty obvious. Such incidents, observers say, help explain why White House officials want to keep Biden away from grillings by the nation’s toughest interviewers. He recently caught his own staff by surprise with a blunt commitment to defend Taiwan militarily and a candid admission that he was not aware of the severity of the baby formula shortage until April. Biden has also held fewer solo press conferences than other recent presidents.īill Whalen, a former media consultant for politicians including former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said: “We’ve gone from a flood with Donald Trump, who could not go a day without talking to the press – which would create a different set of problems for the Trump White House – to now a drought where this president has, for the better part of four months, not sat down one-on-one with a reporter.”īiden has earned a reputation for gaffes during half a century as a senator, vice-president and president. Over their equivalent periods, Barack Obama gave 187 interviews, George W Bush gave 60, Bill Clinton gave 64, George HW Bush gave 70 and Ronald Reagan gave 78, the Project found. Between 20 January 2017 and 29 April 2018, by contrast, Trump gave 95 interviews, according to the White House Transition Project, a non-partisan group that chronicles presidential communications. To put that in context, his interview rate is trailing far behind his recent predecessors at the same stage of their presidency.įrom taking office on 20 January 2021 up to 29 April 2022, Biden gave 23 interviews.

Like Trump, Biden frequently pauses to talk to reporters who shout questions over Marine One’s whirring propellers as he comes and goes from the White House – but such exchanges lack the depth or opportunities for follow-ups afforded by substantial one-on-ones.īiden’s last such interview – and his only one so far in 2022 – was with Lester Holt of NBC News back on 10 February.

He made further remarks from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Friday about the latest jobs figures and fielded a few questions from journalists.

#BIDEN PRESS CONFERENCE GAFFES TV#

This week he wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal about his plan for fighting inflation and another for the New York Times about US strategy for supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia.īiden delivered a speech about gun violence from the White House on Thursday evening in the hope of reaching a wide TV audience. “Biden’s refusal to address the American people about the many crises they are facing under his failed administration is inexcusable,” said Emma Vaughn, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.Īs he approaches 18 months in office, a president eager to get his message out has settled into certain rhythms and comfort zones while sidestepping, to the frustration of the White House press corps, some traditional forums.

Biden press conference gaffes