WAS: What Adults are saying about Biden's governance.
Will he stay at it? Will the media care?
Mere days after suffering a dramatic flame out of his Presidential campaign, Joe Biden turned his attention to securing the release of several American prisoners long-held in Russian jails. Surely, he was still politically and emotionally limping after his party“nudged” him to pass the election-year torch to Kamala Harris. But instead of brooding, true to his pedigree, he simply went back to work and as now reported by The Washington Post, had a first hand role in the successful swap of stateside-incarcerated Russians for Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva on August 1st.
In so doing he showed a skilled hand and stout foreign policy chops—similar to the mostly right moves he’s made on tight wires in poking NATO to emphatically back Ukraine or navigating the treacherous situation in Gaza. Unlike the very full-plate he’s managed for nearly a year, this success came without over-arching consideration of his Presidential candidacy. That difficult and painful decision ending his re-election bid had already been made. The merits of the matter, singularly guided his effort where some previous success was known (think Brittney Griner).
It was an unqualified success of Oval Office governance and international diplomacy. Whelan and Gershkovich especially were long-pursued and many times their release seemed imminent. It was also a rarity in that the achievement over ran the endless “horse race” journalism headlines that dominate Presidential elections. This invites the lurking question—especially in today’s identity politics: “Why don’t media better distinguish between coverage of candidate governance from the election horse race?”
Truth be told American news media has long been piss poor in covering an election as something other than an athletic contest. Splintered media platforms, reporters who fashion themselves as news production “talent”, clickbait economics, anecdotal stories, endless polling of varying quality, broad disinformation campaigns and other things have worsened this, but it has long existed. This results in coverage focused more on the superficial (tiny variances in a new poll) than the consequential (meaningful policy differences). One of the best portrayals of this phenomenon is Timothy Crouse’s 1973 masterpiece The Boys on the Bus. Drawn from a time before satellite broadcasting, cable, 24-hour news cycles, social media and whatnot it is a brilliant portrayal of pack journalism and how the horse race is literally manufactured on the campaign trail. It is also telling, prescient and endlessly insightful into the fundamentals of how we see, consume and are affected by what is often highly duplicated election “news.”
But in this year’s race we face another rarity—an incumbent who (perhaps reluctantly) is not seeking four more years. On top of that he is living the last few months of a very long Washington career where putting a cherry on his professional legacy is surely a consideration. Should he be expected to be a benign or active leader about significant governance matters between now and January? Obviously, he won’t pursue something that will put a stone around Kamala’s neck but maybe for the first time in his career he’s simply playing out the season or on house money.
Meanwhile we are in the midst of what is easily the most critical and divisive Presidential election seen this century. It is also one of the wackiest in history—so much so that while in it—we cannot appreciate its uniqueness. It will provide endless angles for horse race coverage and personality politics journalism that features three white guys of varying ages including a felonious and multi-indicted former president, an avowed hillbilly and a biracial stepmother. Coverage elements could easily look more like Entertainment Tonight than the hard news headlines warranted. But an aged political warrior is prepping to sail into the sunset and may actively work, Jimmy Carter like, until just before high noon. If he does—especially in what he might do before November—will it matter? Will the media take notice? Stay tuned.