Biden has avoided controversy so far — but his days of doing so are numbered

The US quietly reached a notable milestone on Thursday: 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency. The 46th president is now properly at home in the White House, having made his first speech to Congress, held his first press conference, and attended his first international summits. 

He’s even undergone his first (laughably minor) scandal: the issue of his two rescue dogs, Major and Champ, and Major’s unfortunate tendency to snap at staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

On the surface, there are a lot of victories for Biden to boast about: surpassing his goal of delivering 200,000 vaccinations to Americans in his first 100 days; getting through a wide-ranging Covid relief bill with bipartisan support (even if it meant abandoning changes to the minimum wage); earning the respect of Black Lives Matter campaigners for staying in touch with George Floyd’s family during the trial of his now convicted murderer, Derek Chauvin. But bubbling below the surface are possible issues.

Mitch McConnell — who, it seemed, had abandoned Trump at the eleventh hour and thrown his lot in with Biden — now has his eye on the 2022 midterm elections and regaining his position as Senate majority leader (a job taken from him by Democrat Chuck Schumer in November 2020.) That means lots of talk about Biden’s supposedly socialist tendencies and tax increases that Republicans are doing their best to position as devastating to the everyday American (in reality, they will only materially affect millionaires).

Of course, Biden doesn’t just have the expectations of centre-right figures on his shoulders. A lot of progressively minded Democrats agreed to “hold their nose and vote” on election day, despite the fact that most of them had backed Bernie Sanders. For the most part, they have been satisfied with Biden’s achievements. At times when he could have sat on the fence, he has chosen to speak up, such as when Georgia passed a voter suppression law based on the idea that Trump had the election “stolen” from him and Biden supported efforts to move Major League games out of the state as punishment. However, few will forget that he didn’t challenge the decision in Congress which ultimately led to him abandoning efforts to raise the minimum wage. He will have to return to this issue if he is to have continued credibility with younger Democrats, the likes of whom are more on the side of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar than Nancy Pelosi and Pete Buttigieg.

Another Biden-era change has affected day-to-day life in the newsroom: his batten down the hatches approach to press conferences. While Trump and his staff were much more prone to impromptu Q&As, off-the-cuff interviews and phone calls filled with threats and intrigue, Biden has taken the opposite approach. Conferences are now heavily vetted and uncontroversial, short and to the point, and restricted to small circles of reporters. Those who work within the administration stay on-script, telling DC reporters that he’s “putting his head down and getting the work done”. Aside from in Congress or on official business, we rarely hear from “number 46”. It’s clear Biden took to heart claims that he was “gaffe-prone” during the election cycle and is doing everything he can to control the narrative.

This strategy can work — for a while. The problem is that after a few months of champing at the bit for a controversy, Fox News and its allies start filling the void themselves. Tucker Carlson has been ranting about mask wearing being child abuse and other pundits have been stirring up “Kamala’s the real one in charge” sentiment in the wings. Anti-vaxxers are getting on primetime TV and Trump is promising to start running MAGA-style rallies again.

At some point, Biden will have to start getting combative and confident in public again to provide an antidote to the divisive rhetoric and the controversialist tactics. The clock is ticking.

Yours,

Holly Baxter

US Opinion Editor