Biden calls White House ‘a gilded cage’ and says being president is making him feel self-conscious

President Joe Biden on Tuesday reflected on the trappings of the White House, including the staff who waited on him, describing his new residence as a “gilded cage” in which he sometimes felt self-conscious.

“I get up in the morning, look at Jill and say, ‘where are we?’” he joked, adding that even though he has been president for only four weeks, things are moving so fast that it feels like four years.

Speaking at a CNN townhall on Tuesday night, President Biden also said that all his living predecessors called him at the White House, with the notable exception of one — former President Donald Trump. “By the way -- all of them, with one exception, have picked up the phone and called me, as well,” he said.

He also painted a picture of his new daily life, saying that he found himself “extremely self-conscious” because of the White House staff waiting on him.

“I don’t know about you all, but I was raised in a way that you didn’t look for anybody to wait on you,” he said. “And it’s where I find myself extremely self-conscious for wonderful people who work in the White House. But someone standing there and hands me my suit coat.”

He also compared the experience of living at the White House with that of the vice-president’s official residence at the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington. Mr Biden said that the vice-president’s house offered ample room to swim, explore and exercise in greater privacy.

But he added that he feels a “sense of history” at his new residence, as he hears historians speak about his predecessors who rose to the moment and those who didn’t. He said, that he looked at American presidency in terms of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, and George Washington, whom he described as “superhuman.” He, however, said that he felt more comfortable belonging to the league of past seven American presidents who he knew well.

“I don’t know, they are superhuman. But I had to remind myself that they’re really fine men that I knew well, the last seven presidents. And, at least, they’re people who I knew well enough to know that I play in the same team with. So it took away the sense of, this is -- my God, you know -- I’m not Abraham Lincoln, I’m not Franklin Roosevelt, how do I deal with these problems?” he said.