President Joe Biden stood for one hour and 56 minutes taking questions from the press Wednesday afternoon. During that time, he addressed a wide range of subjects. We saw his wit, his thoughtfulness, and his humor. When he was given a question about his mental clarity, he laughed. What came out clearly was his patriotism, his devotion to America’s democracy, and that he is up to the fight.
When asked about his lack of accomplishments, he turned a reporter’s question around:
‘Has any president ever accomplished more in their first year? Name one. Think about the timeframe it took to come up with vaccine. Pretty amazing. It Saved hundreds of thousands of lives.’
Over nearly two hours, he addressed a wide range of topics:
- Schools are open in spite of COVID-19, “95 percent of them are open now.”
- He will pass “big chunks” of his Build Back Better signature bill.
- On inflation, he said the “best weapon is a more productive economy.”
- On Russia and President Vladimir Putin, Biden held firm that America would stand behind Ukraine. Putin’s requests are “a big no.”
And it is possible that Putin could invade Ukraine:
‘Depends which side of the bed he wakes up on.’
Then, President Biden showed remarkable insight into his opponent. He acknowledged that Putin was coming from a place where he fundamentally desired to reunite the Russian empire.
But time and time again, President Biden kept coming back to what has happened to the Republican Party. He said that he was a bit taken aback by people who he considers friends refusing to negotiate for fear of being primaried.
He asked:
‘What are the Republicans for? What have they done? Do they have an agenda? On the environment? On taxes or racism? What about prescription drug costs? Do they have things they want to support? I was surprised. I didn’t expect that. They object to things they favored.’
The Republicans were obstructionists under President Barack Obama. But there have been changing dynamics at work on the hill:
‘I haven’t been able to get my friends into the game. And (John) McCain (R-AZ), he isn’t here.’
But our president said that the voters are not as “susceptible:”
‘They’re not as susceptible to the outlandish things that are said. That they are much more informed about the motives of the political players. The American public knows what’s real and what’s fake.’
On the media, President Biden said:
‘I’ve never seen a time when the choice of political coverage is where people go to get reinforced. The nature of way things get covered has changed. And there is the internet. It has never been quite like that.’
He told one reporter who was asking about his low poll numbers:
‘Every president in the last four had 44 percent approval ratings. I don’t believe in polls.’
Then, he was asked whether he was satisfied with his COVID team? He said that his top CDC person told him she wasn’t a communication specialist. And he supported her, adding:
‘Scientists are learning more about what is needed and not needed. On the CDC communications piece. She said “I’m a scientist.” Science is an Unfolding story. It’s the Nature of way diseases spread.’
When President Biden made the remark about whether people were with King or Bull Connor, he was making a reference to where people would stand in history’s eyes. Because our democracy is at stake. He said that we are going to have a “real fight:”
‘January 6. that’s a real problem.’
Some of his friends have not even acknowledged President Biden won the election. There is an unpatriotic radicalism, opposition obstruction on top of what President Obama faced. Can President Biden bring the country together again? There was only one answer:
‘We have to.’
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads a chapter from her book of the same title. She also writes for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in process). Find her here on Facebook.
