The new CNN profile of the inner workings of the White House is yet another devastating portrait of inertia, incompetence, flailing, and finger-pointing. It’s not just that the Biden team seems overwhelmed by the massive problems facing the country as the midterm elections get closer; it is that the team around Biden struggle to even get the easy parts right:
Multiple Democratic politicians who have reached out to work with Biden — whether it’s on specific bills, brainstorming or outreach — often don’t hear anything back at all. Potential appointees have languished for months waiting to hear if they’ll get jobs, or when they’ll be done with vetting. Invitations to events are scarce, thank you calls barely happen. Even some aides within the White House wonder why Biden didn’t fire anyone, from the West Wing or at the Food and Drug Administration, to demonstrate some accountability or at least anger over the baby formula debacle. . . .
Several officials say Biden’s tendency to berate advisers when he’s displeased with how a situation is being handled or when events go off poorly has trickled down the ranks in the West Wing, leaving several mid-level aides feeling blamed for failings despite lacking any real ability to influence the building’s decision-making. That’s contributed to some of the recent staff departures, according to people familiar.
Notice the problems described aren’t a matter of messaging and spin; as I noted last week, this goes well beyond Karine Jean-Pierre having lousy press conferences. What those multiple Democratic politicians describe is the basic blocking and tackling of politics — working with your allies on Capitol Hill, keeping the lines of communication open, making sure your allies feel valued and appreciated. And a lot of it points to weak leadership, with leaders blaming their underlings for their own failures.
No doubt, the buck stops with the president. (The article states that “few are trying, and even fewer succeeding, in pushing back against Biden’s infamous inability to settle on decisions, on everything from whether to lift tariffs on Chinese imports or cancel student loan debt.” Good to see CNN deciding to tell us that Biden’s indecisiveness is infamous now, as opposed to before the election.)
But Erick Erickson notes the article doesn’t mention White House chief of staff Ron Klain. While it’s hard to separate the poor performance of a long-past-his-prime blowhard of a president from the poor performance of his staff, it is probably long past time to recognize that the senior staff around Biden just aren’t doing a good job. Almost all of them have been on the job for a year and a half; they’re not “settling in” anymore. Klain, Jen O’Malley Dixon, Bruce Reed, Mike Donilon, Anita Dunn, Neera Tanden, Susan Rice — if the president isn’t seeing good policy options, these are the folks who are supposed to put good policy options on his desk. If the president is indecisive, these are the folks who are supposed to make clear to him that time is of the essence. If Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are losing faith, these are the folks who are supposed to help the president smooth things over.
No, this isn’t entirely the staff’s fault. If, as I suspect, Biden’s age and health mean he has only a few good hours a day and needs a lot of rest, this White House operates without a fully functioning president for long stretches.
But it’s not just the president who’s supposed to return calls from congressional allies, make sure appointees are processed and nominated on a regular schedule, send out invitations to White House events, or send thank-you notes. The outreach to allies and thank-you notes are the sort of thing that well-run Senate offices take care of as naturally as breathing, part of a culture of professionalism, responsibility, and attention to detail.
After the 2020 election, the Biden team was greeted with declarations that “the grown-ups are back in charge in Washington.” But what if the team around Biden were never the grown-ups, after all? What if they were a familiar bunch of overgrown teenagers in grown-up bodies — irresponsible, gossipy, finger-pointing, prone to infighting, leaking to the press, turf battles, and spreading the blame?