1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,280
Speaker 1: Live from the East Room of the White House in

2
00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:07,280
Speaker 1: a wide ranging news conference approaching two hours in length.

3
00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:11,200
Speaker 1: At times went far off script as the President tries

4
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,360
Speaker 1: to take control of the narrative on the eve of

5
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,599
Speaker 1: his first anniversary at the White House. I'm Joe Matthew

6
00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,720
Speaker 1: in Washington. Welcome to a rather truncated edition of Bloomberg

7
00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 1: Sound On. We're gonna get instant analysis from the panel

8
00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:28,639
Speaker 1: with Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano and Rick Davis, and

9
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,120
Speaker 1: we'll keep you posted throughout the evening on voting rights

10
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,120
Speaker 1: debate and and voting for that matter in the U. S. Senate.

11
00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,519
Speaker 1: The President speaking from the podium, as I mentioned, for

12
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,519
Speaker 1: almost two hours, backed by the iconic gold drapes in

13
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,720
Speaker 1: the East Room, where he faced a group of reporters

14
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 1: downsized by COVID but certainly pent up with a lot

15
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,800
Speaker 1: of questions. As you might expect, the President opened with

16
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,360
Speaker 1: the good stuff from a year of challenges, as he

17
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:57,080
Speaker 1: put it, but also a year of enormous progress. Three

18
00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,560
Speaker 1: child poverty dropped by nearly the biggest drop ever in

19
00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:09,000
Speaker 1: American history. New business applications grew by the biggest increase ever,

20
00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:11,839
Speaker 1: and for the first time a long time, this country

21
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:17,000
Speaker 1: is working. People actually got a raise, but with persistent

22
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,959
Speaker 1: challenges like inflation, failure to pass the rest of his

23
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,640
Speaker 1: economic agenda build back better. The first question in this

24
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,320
Speaker 1: marathon session was whether the president overpromised on what he

25
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,720
Speaker 1: could accomplish in his first year. I did not anticipate

26
00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,639
Speaker 1: that there'd be such a stalwart effort to make sure

27
00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,640
Speaker 1: that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't

28
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 1: get anything done. Think about this, What are Republicans for?

29
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:49,720
Speaker 1: What are they for? They be one thing? Therefore, and

30
00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,920
Speaker 1: so the problem here is that I think, which happens?

31
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 1: What I have to do in the in the change

32
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,640
Speaker 1: in the tactic, if you will, I have to make

33
00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,200
Speaker 1: clear to the American people what we are for. We

34
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,280
Speaker 1: passed a lot and to that, and he says, I'm

35
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 1: gonna get out of this place more often. Let's get

36
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,280
Speaker 1: to the panel. I've been looking forward to this. Bloomberg

37
00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,640
Speaker 1: Politics contributors Jeannie Sheanzano and Rick Davis have been listening

38
00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:13,920
Speaker 1: along with us and are here now to help us

39
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,760
Speaker 1: unpack what we heard today. Jeannie, one hour and fifty

40
00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,640
Speaker 1: two minutes later, did the President help himself today? Or

41
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,639
Speaker 1: did he hurt himself. Well, I thought he started out

42
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,280
Speaker 1: very strong. I thought it could have gone a little

43
00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,040
Speaker 1: bit shorter. Um. I think he started out strong, as

44
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: you mentioned, talking about what he thinks he has achieved,

45
00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,400
Speaker 1: and I did think I learned something some things, particularly

46
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,239
Speaker 1: early on. He's going to run again, Kamala Harris will

47
00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,320
Speaker 1: be his running mate, he said. He also talked about

48
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 1: the fact that he seems willing to try to push

49
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: for things like build back better and voting rights in

50
00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,400
Speaker 1: smaller chunks, so maybe taking a lesson from Bill Clinton

51
00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,560
Speaker 1: after he had a difficult midterm and trying to do

52
00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,079
Speaker 1: some smaller things. He mentioned the Electoral Count Act for instance,

53
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,680
Speaker 1: And I also thought it was fascinating how he previewed

54
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,280
Speaker 1: what I think we're going to hear going into the

55
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,480
Speaker 1: mid term, that his big question about the GOP is

56
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 1: going to be what do they stand for? Absolutely nothing?

57
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,680
Speaker 1: So you know, I thought those things were very interesting.

58
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,440
Speaker 1: And then to your last point, he talked about what

59
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,200
Speaker 1: he's going to do differently, get out of d C,

60
00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,639
Speaker 1: which makes sense, although I don't know how effective it

61
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,359
Speaker 1: will be, solicit input, and focus on the bid term elections.

62
00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:23,280
Speaker 1: That's those are the three things he said. He's going

63
00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,160
Speaker 1: to do. Rick Davis, what's your take on this? You

64
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,639
Speaker 1: help to advise politicians for a lot of years. Would

65
00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,360
Speaker 1: you have told anyone to go out there for almost

66
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,800
Speaker 1: two hours and take every question on every topic under

67
00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,839
Speaker 1: the sun. Yeah, Well, I mean I've I've seen a lot.

68
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,720
Speaker 1: I mean my years of going to press conferences with

69
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,560
Speaker 1: John McCain. He you know, he didn't like anybody to

70
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,120
Speaker 1: get between him and a microphone. But this set a

71
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,680
Speaker 1: whole new standard. Uh, it didn't. Yeah, in fact, I'm

72
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,080
Speaker 1: a little surprised, and just invite the reporters up and

73
00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,440
Speaker 1: you know, have him, have them come up to the

74
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,920
Speaker 1: podium and have a little conversation. Um. Look, I think

75
00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:00,920
Speaker 1: I think Jenny's riot and that Like, I think he

76
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,880
Speaker 1: made a good pitch for his program, all of them,

77
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,760
Speaker 1: I think, not just the ones that were important and uh,

78
00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,320
Speaker 1: but I would say I thought the foreign policy pieces

79
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,520
Speaker 1: to this were really disturbing. I mean, like, did he

80
00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,760
Speaker 1: just give Vladimir Putin a pass on only going into

81
00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:24,360
Speaker 1: Ukraine and so far? Um? You know, did he wishwah

82
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:29,040
Speaker 1: about uh NATO countries that border Ukraine? Uh, not having

83
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,800
Speaker 1: a security interest in what Russia? Does? I mean like

84
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,040
Speaker 1: did did he actually talked to President Chee in China

85
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:43,239
Speaker 1: about the origins of the uh covid um uh disease?

86
00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,000
Speaker 1: Because nobody seemed to know that at the time. So,

87
00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,560
Speaker 1: I mean, like, there are a lot of unanswered questions.

88
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,480
Speaker 1: I think when we see the morning papers, as if

89
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,039
Speaker 1: anybody will wait that long as shows my age, I

90
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,640
Speaker 1: think you're gonna see that the real question marks are

91
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,119
Speaker 1: going to be uh where he went on the foreign

92
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,960
Speaker 1: policy questions, supposedly his strong suit, Uh, not so much

93
00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,560
Speaker 1: on the domestic plans that everyone actually thought were going

94
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 1: to be the hotspots. Indeed, what's the purpose of this exercise, though,

95
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,599
Speaker 1: I'll ask both of you here. Is it to have

96
00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:21,240
Speaker 1: a digestible sort of narrative that people could watch on television,

97
00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,160
Speaker 1: listen to on the radio, feed headlines tomorrow morning, Rick

98
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,160
Speaker 1: to your point? Or was this some sort of abstract

99
00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,400
Speaker 1: exercise that you know what they were gonna be grabbing

100
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,880
Speaker 1: headlines all over the place. We're in an online world now,

101
00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,520
Speaker 1: nothing matters, Genie. Nobody watches these things in their entirety anyway,

102
00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,520
Speaker 1: Why go for two hours and more questions than we

103
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,640
Speaker 1: can count? At a certain point, don't you reach the

104
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,880
Speaker 1: point of diminishing returns. Well, I thought it was fascinating.

105
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,479
Speaker 1: At one point he actually said, you know, sarcastically, something

106
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 1: to the effect of, my press team is doing a

107
00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 1: great job here, and you know, I sort of thought that,

108
00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,400
Speaker 1: you know, I sort of was empathetic with the president

109
00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,599
Speaker 1: that you know, he can't be both answering the questions,

110
00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,880
Speaker 1: you know, calling on reporter and controlling the clock there.

111
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,159
Speaker 1: So I was a little curious as to where his

112
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,760
Speaker 1: team was and why they let him go on and on. Well,

113
00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,839
Speaker 1: they start with a list, right, There was a list

114
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,560
Speaker 1: at some point I'm assuming which he exhausted that list

115
00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,600
Speaker 1: and just started going through the rest of the room.

116
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,200
Speaker 1: It sounded like, yeah, I think the janitor actually asked

117
00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,159
Speaker 1: a question. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that

118
00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,839
Speaker 1: did not happen. By the way, Rick Davis talking about

119
00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:27,000
Speaker 1: foreign policy and specifically Russia Vladimir Putin, Uh, this did

120
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,960
Speaker 1: spark a bunch of headlines terminal and beyond when he

121
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,280
Speaker 1: said this that he expects Vladimir Putin to move in.

122
00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,479
Speaker 1: This is how he termed it. He is trying to

123
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,560
Speaker 1: find his place in the world between China in the West,

124
00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:47,200
Speaker 1: and so I'm not so sure that he has. David,

125
00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,600
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure he has is certain what he's

126
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,360
Speaker 1: going to do. I guess is he will move in.

127
00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,400
Speaker 1: He has to do something. My guess is he will

128
00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,919
Speaker 1: move in. Genie, who's he talking to there? I was

129
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,920
Speaker 1: stunned by that. And then a reporter followed up and

130
00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,200
Speaker 1: and asked, I think a really important question about whether

131
00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,560
Speaker 1: the sanctions that he was talking about that would be

132
00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,160
Speaker 1: so tough if they were going to be, you know,

133
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: not quite as tough. If he was giving sort of

134
00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: put In a pass, if you will on some of

135
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,480
Speaker 1: this for a smaller incursion. Yeah, he suggested there might

136
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 1: be degrees uh yes, or degrees of invasion, you know,

137
00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:25,640
Speaker 1: if they're going a little bit, we might do this.

138
00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,080
Speaker 1: But he tried to walk that back, Gene. He did

139
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,040
Speaker 1: try to walk that back in response to the second

140
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 1: question or the third question on Russia. But I think

141
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 1: it was a little bit too late, and I think

142
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,280
Speaker 1: it's something the White House is going to have to

143
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:40,040
Speaker 1: clarify again. I found it problematic when Saki was predicting

144
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,520
Speaker 1: that Putin, when Putin would go in with a timeline.

145
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,680
Speaker 1: Here he didn't quite give a timeline, but he said

146
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,640
Speaker 1: he expects it's going to happen. If he expects that,

147
00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 1: it would be good if we heard where what evidence

148
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,080
Speaker 1: he's using to make that statement. And you know, we

149
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,280
Speaker 1: should then all be prepared, I think a little bit

150
00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,280
Speaker 1: better than we are, and we should know what the

151
00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,720
Speaker 1: response is going to be. Brick these news conferences, this

152
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,000
Speaker 1: is all the second one we've seen like this, the formal,

153
00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,360
Speaker 1: the formal solo news conference east room, the whole bit

154
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,920
Speaker 1: that we got today. They're not just for voters there

155
00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:09,960
Speaker 1: for the world, right, these are for world leaders to

156
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: be watching as well. Vladimir Putin watched him answer that question.

157
00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,120
Speaker 1: Every world leader, Vladimir Putin President she I mean, these

158
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,640
Speaker 1: these are hotly watched because they don't get that much

159
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,400
Speaker 1: direct access to a president of the United States. And

160
00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 1: and right now this president is immensely powerful because the

161
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 1: lack of leadership on the world stage, and he feels

162
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,960
Speaker 1: a lot of that vacuum. So this was really critical

163
00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,400
Speaker 1: to sending a message to the world. And and if anything,

164
00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,600
Speaker 1: I mean, he's got such a everyman's style, you know,

165
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:42,840
Speaker 1: where he sort of talks it through before you know,

166
00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,280
Speaker 1: while he's trying to find an answer that that I'm

167
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 1: not sure anybody got clear signals today, and when you're

168
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,480
Speaker 1: dealing with foreign policy, uh, signals and how clear they

169
00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,680
Speaker 1: are are really critical to the outcomes. If Vladimir Putin

170
00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:00,080
Speaker 1: was watching a press conference today, I'm I'm thinking he

171
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,280
Speaker 1: goes back to his advisors and said, yeah, did he

172
00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,400
Speaker 1: just give me permission to roll across the border? I mean, like,

173
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,679
Speaker 1: I'm really not sure what his takes on this is

174
00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:09,720
Speaker 1: gonna be. So I think you'll see a lot of

175
00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,000
Speaker 1: backfill with with um, you know, Anthony blinkoln uh In

176
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,719
Speaker 1: in full shuttle mode to try and stop of an

177
00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,760
Speaker 1: incursion into Ukraine. I'm not sure he was benefited by

178
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 1: the President United States saying he actually expects one. So

179
00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:27,559
Speaker 1: we're not going to be surprised if B. Lincoln is

180
00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,960
Speaker 1: doing all the morning shows tomorrow, is what you're saying. Well, uh,

181
00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,160
Speaker 1: you know, I think B. Lincoln probably will not be

182
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,000
Speaker 1: doing morning shows because he's sitting there with trying to

183
00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:41,520
Speaker 1: convince him. You know, he's spending Jennie, let's get into

184
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,000
Speaker 1: the domestic stuff for for a moment. There was quite

185
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,439
Speaker 1: a bit of time spent on the agenda, build back better,

186
00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,720
Speaker 1: what's left, voting rights of course, and the President was

187
00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,000
Speaker 1: asked early on and quite directly, Uh, what he can

188
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,320
Speaker 1: get done this year? Is there anything that you are

189
00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,560
Speaker 1: confident you can get signed into law before the midterm elections. Yes,

190
00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:04,240
Speaker 1: I'm confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the

191
00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,000
Speaker 1: billback better Law signed in the law. And I'm confident

192
00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:10,200
Speaker 1: that we can take the case to the American people

193
00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,480
Speaker 1: that the people they should be voting for, we're going

194
00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,320
Speaker 1: to oversee whether elections in fact are legit or not,

195
00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:17,840
Speaker 1: should not be those who are being put up by

196
00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,319
Speaker 1: the Republicans to to determine that they're going to be

197
00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,440
Speaker 1: able to change the outcome the election. And this is

198
00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 1: while debate is actually going on in the Senate. In fact,

199
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: Joe Manchin was was holding forth on the floor describing

200
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,760
Speaker 1: at almost that very moment, Genie, why he would not

201
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,920
Speaker 1: vote to end the filibuster. What do you think about

202
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 1: the agenda for two? And what a split screen that is?

203
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: You know, the major one of the major issues the

204
00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,080
Speaker 1: President ran not it is dying a sort of expected

205
00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,240
Speaker 1: slow death in the Senate at this point. And he

206
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,040
Speaker 1: I think was very clear in the press conference on

207
00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,120
Speaker 1: one thing that he is still going to pursue a

208
00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: voting rights agenda, but it is going to be much

209
00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,280
Speaker 1: more limited than he initially talked about. He's talking now

210
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,000
Speaker 1: about this Electoral Count Act, which is something that has

211
00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:07,680
Speaker 1: bipartisan support, but that is not nearly going to make

212
00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,360
Speaker 1: anybody in the Democratic base happy, and that is going

213
00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:13,160
Speaker 1: to be I think a problem. But he was very

214
00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,600
Speaker 1: clear when he said chunks of the Build Back Better Law,

215
00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,360
Speaker 1: the Electoral Count Act, he is talking about being something

216
00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,640
Speaker 1: of an incrementalist. And I also thought it was interesting

217
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,680
Speaker 1: that he sort of critiqued Barack Obama, saying I told

218
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,240
Speaker 1: him to take a victory lapped after the Affordable Care Act.

219
00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,640
Speaker 1: He didn't, But I'm going to take my own advice

220
00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,880
Speaker 1: and do that on the BIFF, the bipartisan infrastructure. Well,

221
00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,000
Speaker 1: you know, it maybe a little late to do that

222
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,600
Speaker 1: as well. But I thought that critique of Barack Obama

223
00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:43,800
Speaker 1: in light of the voting rights issue was something I

224
00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,080
Speaker 1: found may have been a little bit misplaced. I think

225
00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,280
Speaker 1: his point is well taken, but the critique of a

226
00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,680
Speaker 1: very popular former Democratic president, I thought, speaking of lessons

227
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,960
Speaker 1: learned from Barack Obama, Rick, when we crossed the hour

228
00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,800
Speaker 1: mark and and started going off the script, it reminded

229
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,720
Speaker 1: me quite a bit of a lesson that Barack Obama

230
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,920
Speaker 1: taught all future presidents when he decided in a in

231
00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,080
Speaker 1: a primetime news conference one night in that same room

232
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:13,760
Speaker 1: at the White House, and I was in the room

233
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,120
Speaker 1: for it, he decided to go for one extra question.

234
00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,040
Speaker 1: These were typically very buttoned up, well choreographed events, but

235
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:26,040
Speaker 1: he he called on Lynn Sweet from Chicago, who asked

236
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,040
Speaker 1: him a question that he was probably not prepared for,

237
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:31,280
Speaker 1: and it had to do with well, of course, it

238
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:33,679
Speaker 1: all led to the beer summit. Rick Davis had had

239
00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:38,400
Speaker 1: to do with the arrest of Skip Gates in in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

240
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,640
Speaker 1: and he said the police acted stupidly. If he had

241
00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,000
Speaker 1: ended the news conference the question before that, there would

242
00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,000
Speaker 1: have been no controversy the next day. Should Joe Biden

243
00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,680
Speaker 1: have learned that lesson from Barack Obama? Sure? I think

244
00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,800
Speaker 1: this wasn't a scripted press conference. Uh, And so much

245
00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,360
Speaker 1: of my friends and the press have always opined for

246
00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,480
Speaker 1: the day of Wow, couldn't it just a present go

247
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,760
Speaker 1: in there, you wail it, uh and answer our questions? Well,

248
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,720
Speaker 1: you just saw that happen, and Uh, I'm not sure

249
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:07,800
Speaker 1: you know what the message was. I was actually kind

250
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,520
Speaker 1: of expecting this, you know, pivot back to the center.

251
00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,280
Speaker 1: You know, he he gained the presidency by creating this

252
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,480
Speaker 1: coalition that is vanishing in front of him. The center

253
00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,280
Speaker 1: is bailing after you know, a few series of losses

254
00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,800
Speaker 1: on these big progressive programs, and I thought you'd see

255
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,839
Speaker 1: this sort of artful pivot to the center. And and

256
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,440
Speaker 1: and and and I honestly I can't. I really don't

257
00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,319
Speaker 1: understand if there's any ideological underpinnings to most of the questions.

258
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,040
Speaker 1: He answered after the first hour, we're talking voting rights.

259
00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:38,800
Speaker 1: I'll key off of that because there was a question,

260
00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,600
Speaker 1: a tougher question to the president's credit on voting rights

261
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,000
Speaker 1: towards the end of all of this. But I want

262
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:45,920
Speaker 1: to ask you both before we wrap this up about

263
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 1: his demeanor, the way he conducted himself, the way he

264
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,320
Speaker 1: interacted with reporters, because he did get angry here. This

265
00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:52,920
Speaker 1: also would not have happened if it had been an

266
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,559
Speaker 1: hour long news conference. As he got the question about

267
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,320
Speaker 1: his speech recently on voting rights in Atlanta. Know that

268
00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: you dispute the characterization that you called folks who would

269
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,480
Speaker 1: oppose those wedding bills um as being bull Connor or

270
00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,000
Speaker 1: George Wallace. But you said that they would be sort

271
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,040
Speaker 1: of in the same camp. No, I didn't say that.

272
00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,640
Speaker 1: Look what I said. Go back and read what I said,

273
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,200
Speaker 1: and tell me if you think I called anyone who

274
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,000
Speaker 1: voted on the side of the position taken by bull

275
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:31,000
Speaker 1: Connor that they were bull Connor. And that is an

276
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,800
Speaker 1: interesting reading in English. You know, I assume you got

277
00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,600
Speaker 1: into into journals because you like to write. So did

278
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:42,240
Speaker 1: you expect that that would work with Senators Manchen or Cinema? Um,

279
00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,680
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. There's certain things that are so consequential.

280
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,120
Speaker 1: You have to speak from your heart as well as

281
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,360
Speaker 1: your head. I'll give it to the reporter for coming

282
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,320
Speaker 1: back with a follow up and and and keeping it

283
00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,480
Speaker 1: together there. Uh, I mean, Rick, When when you have

284
00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,600
Speaker 1: the president starting to raise his voice like that, what

285
00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,200
Speaker 1: does it tell you? Yeah, it's it's time to call it.

286
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 1: Quit the question before exactly as you pointed out, at

287
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,960
Speaker 1: some point you do get your guard down and you

288
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,560
Speaker 1: get fatigued, and I think it's a classic example. And

289
00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,480
Speaker 1: and then you have an angry response, which is the

290
00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:16,240
Speaker 1: one thing. The press is always talking his press staff

291
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,080
Speaker 1: is always talking to him. About tone is important, and

292
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:20,800
Speaker 1: up until that point in time, I thought he had

293
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,280
Speaker 1: a nice conversational tone. I thought, actually it was a

294
00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,640
Speaker 1: good way to connect with the American public who might

295
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,920
Speaker 1: be looking in for some portion of the two hour

296
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,800
Speaker 1: press conference. But that definitely crossed the line, and he

297
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,120
Speaker 1: looked angry, and presidents who look angry to the American

298
00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,200
Speaker 1: public are not as accessible as those who are not.

299
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,920
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton had an enormous capacity to give back snappy

300
00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:47,720
Speaker 1: answers to questions he didn't like, but he did it in

301
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,080
Speaker 1: in a way that you wanted to go out and

302
00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,960
Speaker 1: have a beer with him right afterwards. Nobody was asking

303
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,360
Speaker 1: for a six pack at this press conference. Well, ask

304
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,480
Speaker 1: the Press office Jennie. I. I don't know how I would.

305
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:00,720
Speaker 1: I can't imagine how I would sound or how I

306
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:02,840
Speaker 1: would be dealing with people after two hours of you know,

307
00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,000
Speaker 1: some difficult questions being thrown at me. But I'm also

308
00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,520
Speaker 1: not the president. How did his demeanor strike you in

309
00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,680
Speaker 1: and did he help himself tonight? You know, I thought

310
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,840
Speaker 1: initially in the first hour, I thought he handled himself

311
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,640
Speaker 1: pretty well. To Urine Rick's point, the longer this went,

312
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,680
Speaker 1: you had questions that you know, we're not ones that

313
00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,200
Speaker 1: that he wanted to answer. And he did something that

314
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:29,280
Speaker 1: really stunned me when he got so angry at this reporter,

315
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,960
Speaker 1: because this is exactly what he did his last press

316
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,960
Speaker 1: conference with Caitlin Collins from CNN, and and he had

317
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,480
Speaker 1: to come back after that and apologize. If you remember,

318
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,360
Speaker 1: and Collins is a great reporter, she asked a fair question,

319
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,040
Speaker 1: he got angry. He did the same thing here. And

320
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,160
Speaker 1: while I did think there were some questions that went

321
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,680
Speaker 1: over the top, I'm not sure this was one of them.

322
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,040
Speaker 1: He did run on restoring civility. Maybe the question could

323
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,920
Speaker 1: have been phrased differently, but it's a fair question. What

324
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,840
Speaker 1: did you mean and referencing Bull Connor and these people

325
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,440
Speaker 1: in your in your statements in a Atlanta and you know,

326
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,960
Speaker 1: do you think that's an effective sort of way to

327
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,520
Speaker 1: try to entice mansion in cinema to change their mind?

328
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,439
Speaker 1: And he could have answered that in a calm manner.

329
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,600
Speaker 1: He didn't, and I think it's something that he's going

330
00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,520
Speaker 1: to regret. And I'm just surprised. Either his team prepped

331
00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,560
Speaker 1: him and he didn't follow their they're they're prepping, or

332
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:20,800
Speaker 1: they didn't prep him, and then it's shame on them.

333
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,280
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a lot more to talk about. Tomorrow

334
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:28,000
Speaker 1: is the actual anniversary one year with a President Joe

335
00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:32,200
Speaker 1: Biden in the White House. Many thanks to Bloomberg Politics

336
00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,160
Speaker 1: contributors Jeanie Schanzano and Rick Davis, our signature panel, as

337
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,880
Speaker 1: we bring you live coverage here of the president's news conference,

338
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,560
Speaker 1: I do want to mention breaking news quickly. Supreme Court

339
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,119
Speaker 1: rejects Trump. The headline on the terminal Supreme Court clearing

340
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,320
Speaker 1: the way for some of Donald Trump's White House papers

341
00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,480
Speaker 1: to be turned over to a Congressional panel investigating the

342
00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,960
Speaker 1: January six capital attack. Bloomberg's Greg store Rights the order

343
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,400
Speaker 1: gives a major legal and political victory to the House

344
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,160
Speaker 1: Select Committee and it's Democratic chairman Rep. Benning's humpson of Mississippi.

345
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:03,760
Speaker 1: A lot more on that throughout the evening here as

346
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,399
Speaker 1: well on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Joe Matthew