Amid criticism from all corners of the political landscape — including (so far) one sitting Democrat lawmaker — President Joe Biden is finally being compelled to agree to an interview following last week's debate against former President Donald Trump.
Following his alarming-to-even-Democrats performance opposite Trump, it was clear that if Biden was going to stick it out as the Democrats' nominee, he'd have to at least pretend to have the ability to answer off-the-cuff questions without a teleprompter. So, his team negotiated the easiest possible format and interviewer before they'd agree to let Biden face what is, to the octogenarian president at least, a herculean task: a taped interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
From an ABC News dispatch on the get:
The president's poor performance in the debate has garnered calls for him to drop out of the race by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Biden will speak to "Good Morning America" and "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos for the interview. A first look will air on the Friday, July 5, edition of "World News Tonight with David Muir" with portions airing on Saturday and Sunday on "Good Morning America."
The extended interview will air Sunday, July 7, on "This Week" and Monday's episode of "Good Morning America."
Stephanopoulos, of course, was a senior advisor for policy and strategy in the Clinton White House, a member of the then-president's inner circle, and served as the administration's de facto press secretary under Dee Dee Myers. Normally, this background would mean a line of softball interview questions designed to give Biden a chance to tout his agenda and what he thinks are his biggest accomplishments after more than three years in office.
But given the sudden, mostly feigned, realization by Democrats and the mainstream media that Biden has been pulling the wool over America's eyes regarding his fitness to serve, Biden's aides are still rolling the dice in a sense, hoping Stephanopoulos isn't among the growing number of Democrats who think it's best for the party for Biden to withdraw from the race.
The White House is also betting on President Biden being able to stick at least enough answers and appear engaged long enough for the edited version of the interview that's ultimately released displays some level of competence on the part of the president.
Prerecorded videos of Biden released by the White House are routinely mocked for featuring an excessive number of jump-cuts where the president presumably gaffed, paused too long, or misread the script written for him. Any similar appearance in the ABC News interview will only confirm that Biden can't get through a conversation without having his cues and words written out for him.
It would be helpful for ABC News to — as TIME Magazine did when it published its foreign policy-focused interview — publish a full transcript of the conversation with Biden so Americans can see what was cut from the final edit. The lack of transparency, given the drastic contrast between the Joe Biden who showed up to debate last week and the Joe Biden we were told was sharp as a tack behind closed doors, is becoming increasingly unacceptable — even to Democrats.
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