Jen Psaki wants to see Biden stop being Mr. Nice Guy
Speaking to Tim Miller and Sarah Longwell with the Bulwark, new MSNBC host Jen Psaki explained why she'd like to see President Joe Biden stop playing nice.
In a conversation about how to beat Donald Trump, Psaki explained that there is a question of talking about accomplishments to rally support for what has been done or if it's about running against Trump directly, and how to balance the two.
Longwell argued, "Joe Biden has to be the 'good news man,'" in the political arena. "My advice is you take Joe Biden — Donald Trump is going to be holding big rallies. He's going to get big numbers there, and he's going to sound like a lunatic, but like a cogent lunatic in the way that people are used to listening to Donald Trump sound like a lunatic. I think you deploy Joe Biden by sending him into crowds as a man. Like he walks into people and he puts his arm around people, and he doesn't give speeches, but you see lots of action of him meeting and talking and listening to them."
She said that there is a psychology of telling people things are good so that they begin to look around and recognize it when they see it.
Miller recalled that during Barack Obama's administration, there were big personalities on staff that were able to do attacks for Obama from the administration or the campaign. Biden doesn't have that.
At the same time, Psaki explained that the staff reflects so much of who their boss is and that Biden has that "calm, measured empathy." Biden's administration doesn't have the same kind of big personalities with their own stand-alone careers.
She also noted that Biden often expressed his desire to have Democrats on television and in public echoing the same message, whether unemployment numbersor reduction in inflation, but that for some reason, it is impossible to achieve.
Miller pointed to the inflation numbers and the charts that show the significant impact of the Inflation Reduction Act had on helping to reduce inflation. If it was Donald Trump in that position, he would be all over television pointing to the chart, saying he did that. As it stands, Republicans don't even agree that inflation has reduced.
Longwell went on to explain that regardless of the nominee, Republicans will essentially attack Biden being dead and make it seem like Vice President Kamala Harris is the one running things. She asked how Biden should deal with it.
Psaki explained that it has been an issue that the campaign has seen in polling since the beginning. That gets a lot easier for going up against Trump, who is the same age.
"One thing he's going to have to do is harden the critiques," she said. "Yes, he's got to be the positive news guy, but I think people also have to see the kind of passion and pep in his step he does have about the contrast that needs to be drawn. He's not the first person to say, don't compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative. But the more they can harden that contrast. You don't have to talk about the intricacies of the Mar-a-Lago documents case. It's about fighting for our democracy vs. not. Protecting the national security of the country vs. not. Honestly, protecting the sanctity of the military given recent attacks and not. The quicker and more authentically, but hardened, they can get to that contrast the better."
See the full interview in the video below or at the link here.
Leave a Comment
Related Post