Footnotes to the Biden Press Conference

And now, for some useful commentary on Joe Biden’s marathon press conference. Apparently, it was so bad that even Democratic pundits could not defend it.

CNN’s Van Jones, not a member of the vast right wing conspiracy, offered this astute observation.

I think you have to be honest that you can be a foggy, meandering president. Say, like Reagan near the end, if you're winning. But if you are foggy and meandering on key questions and you're also not winning, then you've got a real problem.

Foggy and meandering, that sums it up well. And I note the idea that if you are winning you can get away with foggy and meandering, but if you are not winning, you have a real problem.

Well said.

And then, David Goldman, of the Asia Times, remarked on Biden’s foray into international politics, on the matter of Ukraine.  He begins by pointing out that the foreign press corps was aghast at Biden’s verbal incompetence. And, it was even more than aghast at Biden’s seeming to green light a Russian takeover of Ukraine.

As one would have expected, Biden has become a national embarrassment. Those who think that Congress passing a bill will turn his presidency around have not been paying attention.

Biden’s January 19 press conference drew pity from the global press, with verbal gaffes unlike anything that has escaped the mouth of an American president before. He predicted a Russian military move into Ukraine: “My guess is he will move in. He has to do something.” Russia will be “held accountable if it invades,” Biden said, but added, “It depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.”

A baffled reporter asked if he was giving Russia permission for a “minor incursion,” and Biden dug himself in deeper: “If it’s something significantly short of a significant invasion or not even significant — major military forces coming in…for example, it’s one thing to determine that if they continue to use cyber efforts, we can respond the same way, with cyber…There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens. The degree to which they are able to go.”

The White House press office spent the next several hours “clarifying” the “minor incursion” remark. The world simply concluded that Biden was senile.

Wrote Germany’s center-right daily Die Welt: “Biden stumbled several times. He showed lack of concentration. He closed his eyes several times and stared at the ceiling to regain his concentration. After more than an hour of questions, he looked at his watch and asked the reporters, ‘How much longer did you want to do this?’”

“It’s obvious why the White House staff wants to put the president in front of a microphone as little as possible,” Die Welt concluded.

The world, especially the Western world, awaits American leadership. The best we seem to be able to do is a doddering old man who cannot keep his thoughts straight. In anyone else it would be charming and would evoke sympathy. In a president it provokes horror and shame.

Anyway, the last word goes to the satirical site, The Babylon Bee. Though, truth be told, one does not exactly know why this is satire. It rings true:

Weary from his annual press conference, President Joe Biden has returned to his basement to hibernate until next year's press conference.

The visibly exhausted president was put to bed and given some Nyquil by his loving wife, Dr. Jill Biden, after being assailed by micro-aggressions from reporters who asked what he thought about some things.

"He'll be back when the time is right," said Jill, who is a doctor. "In the meantime, I'll be more than happy to run things. ¡Sí se pwoadwow!"

The cognitively sharp old man will be stronger than ever, say health experts.

"He just has to rest awhile, which all people do," explained Dr. Francisco Dolemite, a White House physician. "Do you sleep? Of course, you do! So stop acting like it's so abnormal to rest for a year!"

So, don’t expect Joe to be out before the microphones answering questions any time soon.