As the milestone of the hundred days spent in the White House, on April 30, begins to loom, Joe Biden can only congratulate himself on his start of mandate. At the head of a tight-knit team, the President of the United States is not content to “Lower the temperature”, as he pledged to do after Donald Trump’s tumultuous tenure. Far from behaving like an obsolete managerial president, as feared by his opponents of the Democratic nomination primary, the oldest president in the history of America displays unexpected reformist inclinations.
The success of these first weeks is on many points in the continuity of a victorious presidential campaign during which the septuagenarian presented himself as the complete opposite of the outgoing Donald Trump. He had been thrifty of his word and his appearances against the backdrop of the Covid-19 epidemic, thus managing to fight preventively against one of his faults: the ability to multiply blunders.
He had also relied on an entourage made up of long-time advisers, some of whom had been at his side for three decades, such as the current White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, metronome of the new administration, or his secretary of ‘State, Tony Blinken. His campaign had thus remained perfectly watertight, limiting “leaks” in the press as much as possible.
Disciplined
This discipline has been reproduced at the White House. The president’s interactions with the media are rare and brief. The mastery of official speech goes to its spokesperson, Jen Psaki, who has returned to the practice of daily briefing in a dispassionate atmosphere. It contrasts with that of civil war that reigned in the press room during the mandate of Donald Trump, an assumed supporter of a posture of confrontation with a press defined as “The enemy of the people”, and whose successive spokespersons were tasked with defending its “Alternative facts”.
Unlike the previous administration, made up of rival clans that the president maintained while monopolizing the function of arbitrator, the current one functions for the moment without visible jolts. This discipline once again allows him to avoid the flood of anonymous confidences that had disrupted Donald Trump’s ability to master the narrative of his presidency.
Also in contrast to the latter’s team, which had promised to surround itself with “Best”, often devoid of state experience, the one currently in place, who often occupied key positions during Barack Obama’s two terms of office, displays an indisputable knowledge of federal machinery. A guarantee of effectiveness which explains the absence of major failures during the first weeks of the new administration.
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