Democrat President Joe Biden’s White House “abandoned using” the powerful visual backdrop of the Oval Office for press events “because it can’t be permanently equipped with a teleprompter,” according to a new leak.
The information was buried toward the end of a Politico report on the prospects of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden having an epic rematch in 2024.
The report claims that an insider from Biden’s White House leaked the real reason why the president hasn’t held press events in the Oval Office as his predecessors have done in the past.
“Everything is frozen until after the midterms,” said Paul Begala, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton.
“I expect Biden to run, I hope he runs.
“And I think if there is a credible primary challenger against Biden there is almost a certain Trump victory.”
Incumbent presidents who get primaried lose elections, as Begala knows.
Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H.W. Bush in 1992 all won contested primaries but lost the general election.
“I always said that he would run if Biden is under 44 or 43 percent but if Biden is at 46, 47, he will pass,” said GOP strategist Bryan Lanza, a former Trump campaign official.
“Right now he is at 41 so I have to say yes right now — there has to be a dramatic turning out in Biden numbers for him to pass.”
But many do not think Biden is up to the task and that fear will only grow given his shaky performance on the job so far.
“Biden is not popular.
“His team is incompetent and using Kamala can only make it worse.”
How embarrassing 🤦🏻👉Biden’s Oval Office Press Events Abandoned Due to Lack of Teleprompter, Per Report https://t.co/N5xYtyggiY
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) May 5, 2022
Reading off of his teleprompter, Biden says “Hungarian” instead of Ukrainian pic.twitter.com/DmZzsfKe8O
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) May 4, 2022
Interesting tidbit from @JonLemire + @meridithmcgraw: The White House has largely abandoned using the Oval Office for press events in part because it can’t be permanently equipped with a teleprompter. https://t.co/AK5gJTLzHj
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 5, 2022
From Politico:
Still, some allies and Democrats privately worry that Biden may not be able to handle the rigors of another campaign.
A bone he broke in his foot while playing with his dog in late November 2020 still occasionally bothers Biden, resulting in a slower and shorter gait.
And the White House has largely abandoned using the Oval Office for press events in part because it can’t be permanently equipped with a teleprompter; Biden aides prefer the fake White House stage built in the Old Executive Office Building next door for events, sacrificing some of the power of the historic backdrop in favor of an otherwise sterile room that was outfitted with an easily read teleprompter screen.
And if Biden were to run again in 2024, it almost certainly would be a more rigorous campaign than the one he previously mounted.
The outbreak of Covid kept Biden in his Delaware home for much of the 2020 general election campaign, sparing him the wear and tear of relentless travel.
