Team Biden Takes on the Press on Memory, Age

Of all the ways President Joe Biden sought to be different from Donald Trump, one of the most visible on a daily basis was his relationship with the press. Biden made it clear he respected the role of a free press in a democracy and did not berate reporters in White House press conferences, nor did his administration suspend journalists’ credentials, as his predecessor’s did.

Even in an instance when members of the White House press corps arguably behaved badly themselves – shouting over each other last year to the point no one could get a question out and answered – the president made a gesture of support. He called an NBC reporter on his cellphone to talk about China, since the reporter could not be heard above the cacophony.

But as the press has focused recently on Biden’s age and memory, the president and his campaign team have become more confrontational. Biden snapped back at Fox News reporter Peter Doocey at a recent White House press availability, during which the president also chided reporters for focusing on comments about his memory in a special counsel report, instead of on the legal bottom line that no charges would be filed against him.

When Doocey asked how “bad” Biden’s memory was, the president said, “My memory is so bad I let you speak.”

Meanwhile, the Biden-Kamala Harris campaign has more directly slammed news outlets and reporters for their coverage.

“You probably did miss it,” the campaign headlined an email to the media this week, referring to Trump’s weekend comments that he’d encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO members who hadn’t ponied up enough defense funding.

It was an alarming message to U.S. allies, the email said. “But if you read the New York Times this weekend, you might have missed it buried behind five separate opinion pieces about how the president is 81 years old – something that has been true since his birthday in November – and *zero* on this topic.”

On social media, the campaign has been brutal in pointing out gaffes and apparent temporary memory lapses by television reporters, showing a clip of Fox News host Jesse Watters misidentifying the home state of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on the air, “seconds after trying to criticize President Biden’s memory.”

In another post, the campaign called out Doocey again, saying he “appears confused on air while attempting to question President Biden’s acuity” and showing a clip of Doocey hesitating before identifying late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

It’s typical for presidents to grow frustrated with the press corps – and understandable that Biden would be particularly sensitive to questions about his mental fitness for office, experts say.

But the pushback may not work the way the White House hopes.

“The way this hurts Biden is that it makes him look unpresidential,” says David Clementson, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia who has done extensive research on the effects of politicians and public figures dodging questions.

“If Biden has a nice, funny, witty retort, he’s presidential,” Clementson says, noting the 1984 debate in which former President Ronald Reagan, questioned about his age, said he wouldn’t use his Democratic opponent’s youth and inexperience against him.

But should he come off as “a grumpy old man” and stoop to using vulgar or low-brow language, “that’s not presidential because it’s not witty,” Clementson adds.

Biden doesn’t help himself by having few press conferences, since it fuels the idea that he’s being kept from unscripted moments – whether that’s true or not, says Frank Sesno, executive director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future and a former Emmy award-winning journalist.

“I think some of this is ageism. Some of this is looking for a narrative that fits the zeitgeist, rather than the other way around. Some of it is driven by actual behavior,” Sesno says. But “one thing these White Houses share – whether it’s Donald Trump in [the hospital] for COVID, or Biden and his memory – they don’t want to talk about it. And by not talking about it, they feed it.”

The Biden camp, meanwhile, is keeping up the media-tweaking online. A recent post featured a “2024 voting guide” showing Biden next to the words, “Didn’t encourage Russia to invade Europe.” Next to a photo of Trump: “Encouraged Russia to invade Europe.”

“This one’s for the @nytimes,” the campaign said.