One commentator described him as a “moral, kind man.”
Another asked him to respond to what Barack Obama said at John Lewis’ funeral.
And several people called on how he achieved liberal priorities.
With two or three obvious exceptions, President Biden ‘s first press conference yesterday was an easy one, failing to highlight important issues. Too much time was spent on process issues.
Biden did well, for all the pregame conversation about whether he was too awkward to go against the media for an hour he walked on too long at times (as he saw himself at a point or two), stopped himself in the middle of the sentence, and strangely kept going to find the predetermined list of who he would want. And he put an end to major controversies, turning the issue of gun control into a question of infrastructure.
In short, he was nothing like a Trump pressman.
In addition to tough, sharp questions from ABC’s Cecilia Vega and NBC’s Kristen Welker, the journalists were either polite, asking open-ended questions or making it clear that they wanted him to stress the record. -his work.
Yamiche Alcindor at PBS, who spoke on Biden ‘s method, asked about controversial messages for migrant families with this free license: “How do you resolve that tension?”
After the president was part of a lengthy response that blamed the Trump administration, Alcindor turned to a Republican she said was trying to restrict “voting rights”. She invited him to attack the film, referring favorably to Chuck Schumer and Jim Clyburn.
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CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, who Obama said the filibuster is a “relic,” also pushed Biden to the issue. That focus on the Senate’s parliamentary strategy has led to the perception that some news outlets are calling for the practice to be scrapped so that the president can deliver on his Democratic agenda. Republican without delay.
AP’s Zeke Miller set the tone at the summit when he asked about the GOP’s “strong unified challenge” on Biden’s agenda on “immigration reform, gun control, voting rights and climate change.” But then he threw a soft ball: “To what extent are you willing to go to fulfill those promises you made to the American people?”
What is he going to say? Not long enough?
In a number of these questions, the view was that this “reform” was the right path to pursue. I don’t remember many commentators asking Trump how far he would go to fulfill his promises, when these were initiatives such as tax cuts and the construction of a border wall.
CBS ‘Nancy Cordes went back to local Republican efforts to “limit” voting, saying “Democrats are afraid” that “especially Democrats would be afraid to influence minority voters and non-voters”. young voters. They are the very people who helped you choose you in November. Are you concerned that if you cannot pass voting rights legislation, your party is going to lose seats and may lose control of the House and Senate in 2022? ”Again, without any challenge on the material, just the process and politics.
Cordes echoed Biden’s most enthusiastic response, in which he called Republican measures “anti-American,” “sick” and “despicable.” He said that in some states voting would begin at 5pm and no one could to give water to people who were waiting accordingly. But reporters made no attempt to outline these measures or criticize the Democrats’ bill. In fact, no journalist has asked the president to respond to Republican criticism, with the exception of Mitch McConnell saying that he has only spoken to Biden once.
Cordes also asked if Biden was running for re-election in 2024, and Collins continued to ask if Kamala Harris would stay on the ticket – this is just a month or two after he took office. No president would be quick to say it was a lame duck.
Vega, on the other hand, challenged the president by attacking a 9-year-old boy she had met who had walked to the border from Honduras: “Do you have the messages and say that these children stay in this country and work their way through this process, encouraging families “to come? Biden said he would not let them “starve to death” and suggested Trump did so.
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And Welker didn’t need a windmill for long: “Will you guarantee that journalists will have access to the crowded facilities moving forward?” Biden said he promised, “when the plan is in place. I have a very short progress. “She tried unsuccessfully to put it down on a date.
To be sure, the topics, which included Afghanistan, China and North Korea, were meaningful. No one asked about Biden dogs. But here ‘s the agreement: questions of malice and acceptance of Democratic priorities made such a pavement easy for Joe Biden.