Joe Biden is sleepy. He’s slow. He’s aloof. And he calls it a day early—very early at times. Yet, The New York Times did a lengthy piece about the inner workings of this White House to confirm what we already knew, along with insight into what foods he hates to be served in public events and his favorite drink, which is apparently orange Gatorade. It’s the anti-Trump piece in the sense that it shows how Joe comes to a decision which is at a pace slower than a Galapagos tortoise. Yes, that part we knew. His decision-making process is as torturous as this presidency. And the publication notes how this process is at odds with a nation that craves urgency on the economy. The man takes everyone on an esoteric journey where details upon details are demanded and where Sleepy Joe becomes Grumpy Joe at the flip of a switch. One thing that might make progressives upset are the four final folks he solicits for advice before finally making a move—some days later (via NYT):
Mr. Biden had already spent the first two months of his presidency debating how to respond to Mr. Putin, and despite his acknowledgment in March that he needed to act quickly, his deliberations were far from over. He convened another meeting in the Situation Room that stretched for two and a half hours, and called yet another session there a week later.
“He has a kind of mantra: ‘You can never give me too much detail,’” Mr. Sullivan said.
Quick decision-making is not Mr. Biden’s style. His reputation as a plain-speaking politician hides a more complicated truth. Before making up his mind, the president demands hours of detail-laden debate from scores of policy experts, taking everyone around him on what some in the West Wing refer to as his Socratic “journey” before arriving at a conclusion.
Those trips are often difficult for his advisers, who are peppered with sometimes obscure questions. Avoiding Mr. Biden’s ire during one of his decision-making seminars means not only going beyond the vague talking points that he will reject, but also steering clear of responses laced with acronyms or too much policy minutiae, which will prompt an outburst of frustration, often laced with profanity.
Let’s talk plain English here, he will often snap.
Interviews with more than two dozen current and former Biden associates provide an early look into how Mr. Biden operates as president — how he deliberates, whom he consults for advice and what drives his decisions as he settles into the office he has chased for more than three decades.
On policy issues, Mr. Biden, 78, takes days or weeks to make up his mind as he examines and second-guesses himself and others. It is a method of governing that can feel at odds with the urgency of a country still reeling from a pandemic and an economy struggling to recover. The president is also faced with a slim majority in Congress that could evaporate next year, giving him only months to enact a lasting legacy.
Those closest to him say Mr. Biden is unwilling, or unable, to skip the routine. As a longtime adviser put it: He needs time to process the material so that he feels comfortable selling it to the public. But the approach has its risks, as President Barack Obama found out when his own, sometimes lengthy policy debates led to infighting and extended lobbying, and made his White House feel process driven.
Well, this White House being Obama 2.0 is not shocking. We have Russia and China doing what they want, just like during the Obama years. We have anemic jobs growth, just like during the Obama years. We have the president pushing more gun control. Gas prices soaring. Inflation now rising. And Biden’s biggest domestic accomplishment was set forth by Trump regarding the COVID vaccine and the rate of vaccinations. None of what Joe Biden has proposed has really done anything, but the Times spent a lot of words dissecting the action process here. In all, it’s a lot of sentences to show that this White House is a lot of talk and no real action. Second, yeah, Biden is cranky but that’s about it while they portrayed Trump as a madman for the better part of three years. He’s slow Joe—and this piece confirms that. Also, he reportedly refuses to have leafy greens served because they get stuck in his teeth. And the final four dudes he consults with are all white, Bruce Reed, Mike Donilon, Ron Klain, and Steve Ricchetti.
Look, I don’t care about that aspect, but for the lefty wing of his base that bean counts how many Jews, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, non-binaries, trans, gays, Martians, and Klingons there are in a room before entering, this might be a problem.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member