She has since become one of the best allies of the Resistance, acknowledging her mistakes and her failings, and saying straight out that she got some of it very wrong when she was so very Pro-GOP.
To the point: recently, there's been a a bit of a manufactured dustup regarding the absence of Biden Press Conferences.
For myself, I don't really care about that. I think it's understood that a president does those things as a way to peddle his wares directly - look at the gob-smacking backyard circus act that Qult45 put on with all the self-awareness of a flatworm.
The real exchange happens at the the daily briefing with the the White House Press Sec'y (Jen Psaki as of now), and at any of the department-level pressers when there's news at hand and things we need to know about.
So anyway, Jennifer Rubin, WaPo: (pay wall)
Opinion: Want a formal presidential news conference? Reporters need better questions.
Many media outlets have been pestering the White House for a formal presidential news conference. The premise that such a setting is the only one that can fully inform the public — as opposed to questions at other presidential appearances or during one-on-one interviews — is weak at best.
If daily briefings with the White House press secretary are any clue, collective questioning from the White House press corps can be replete with dumb, repetitive or superficial questions. In light of the utterly ineffective news conferences during the last administration (assuming the goal was truth-telling) and the inability of reporters to follow up on one another’s questions, I fail to see what is so special about a group news conference as opposed to a tough interview (e.g., the interviews the former president had with Fox News’s Chris Wallace or Axios’s Jonathan Swan).
Badgering the White House to use the word “crisis” rather than finding out what is happening at the border does not constitute serious journalism, nor does expressing incredulity when they are told President Biden does not want to respond to his disgraced predecessor. The job of a tough reporters is not to try to get the president to say a magic word or to confess that he is lying about not paying attention to something. Such behavior is performance art.
That said, the president should answer questions (in whatever format) on a regular basis. And the media should ask probing questions designed to elicit information and hold him accountable for rhetoric and actions. They might try some of the following:
- Had the Republicans made a counteroffer to your rescue plan in the $1 trillion range, would you have been willing to negotiate? Could the package have been $1.5 trillion and have the same result?
- How much debt is too much debt?
- How much of an infrastructure bill should be “paid for”?
- Should we raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations for the sake of tax fairness?
- What are you going to do about the attempt by Republicans to roll back voting rights? Will you support a modification of the filibuster if there is no other way to protect voting rights?
- How do you work with governors who refuse to follow basic guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, thereby risking more lives?
- Does the U.S. exit from the Iran nuclear deal and imposition of China sanctions give you leverage? If so, how do you intend to use it?
- How do you reach tens of millions of Americans who are fed a daily diet of conspiracies and propaganda?
- What guarantees can you give workers in carbon-based occupations that a shift to a green-energy economy will not leave them worse off?
- Did you consider personal sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? Why did you not sanction him directly?
- You are trailing other presidents in the number of confirmed nominees. Should we cut back on the number of political appointees or the number requiring Senate confirmation?
- What reforms for the federal judiciary would you consider?
- What will you do to address the situation at the border? Can we work in the home countries of migrants to keep unaccompanied minors from setting out on a journey to the United States?
- Is student debt forgiveness a subsidy for wealthier Americans?
- What role can the federal government play in reducing polarization and creating a common sense of purpose?
- Republican politicians resist the idea of “implicit bias” and deny “systemic racism.” How would you explain these concepts to the American people?
Real journalism, as practiced by real journalists - what a concept.
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