I usually don't watch press conferences (or debates), because they are boring and seldom result in meaningful results (same goes for meetings
).
But I did watch Biden's press conference today because I was curious to see whether he could make it through without committing a big gaffe or uttering some unintelligible garbled sentence.
His staff and family must be delighted because Biden did "make it through" without completely embarrassing himself. Maybe Hunter shared a couple lines of cocaine with him before the press conference that allowed him to get through it.
Nevertheless, it was a poor performance.
Since he was not able to use a teleprompter, he frequently had to lower his eyes and refer to (and sometimes read from) notes on his lectern. That might occasionally be OK, but Biden did it a lot-far more than should be necessary if he were really well-informed on the issues.
He also frequently failed to give specific answers to specific questions. He would start off to give an answer that was somewhat related to the question and then he would veer off on to a completely different topic while referring to the talking points in his notes. A reporter asked him about the filibuster and he wound up talking about the border and when he finally stopped the reporter had to remind him that she had asked him a question about the filibuster.
In addition to failing to address the reporters' specific questions, he often gave long rambling answers. At one point early in the event, he said, "Am I giving too long an answer?" I thought: Yes, you are and not only that, you are failing to answer the specific question! When he did stay on point, his answers were usually too long. During the 70 minute press conference, he only had time to call on 10 reporters from the 30 reporters who were there.
Some of the things he said were ridiculous. He said that people leave Honduras to come to the USA because Honduras has a lot of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods and that there is a lot of crime there because there is not enough lighting in the streets. But he has appointed the VP to remake the country into such a paradise that Hondurans will no longer want to emigrate to the USA.
He promised that reporters would be allowed to see the overcrowded, unhealthy conditions in the U.S. border facilities-but only after things have been improved and made to look better and he doesn't know when that will be. So much for the "most transparent administration ever."
At one point he did suffer a true senior moment while trying to say something that he hoped would sound inspiring or eloquent and he just stopped and said something similar to "You know the thing." That probably was not in his prepared notes that his staff had told him to stick to.
All in all he passed the test but I would give him a grade of
C- (and that's being generous). He barely passed. But the good thing for Biden is that the next test probably won't happen for another 3-6 months.