A Biden White House "adrift"

And facing claims of mistreating black staffers

From almost the day Donald Trump took office, the mainstream media ran stories about chaos in the White House. By contrast, Joe Biden, who has made a hash out of his presidency, was largely exempt from such stories for almost a year and a half.

Biden has been helped by the dysfunctionality of Kamala Harris’ operation, which diverts media attention from his. But the main reason why Biden’s White House operation has escaped criticism is that mainstream media outlets favor Biden — not as much as they disfavored Trump, but enough to insulate Biden to a considerable degree.

But with the president’s approval ratings stubbornly remaining at around 40 percent and with his party seemingly headed for disaster in November, the gloves have finally come off. Today, brings two unfavorable stories about the White House from the mainstream media.

The first is by Daniel Lippman of Politico. It’s called “Biden sees exodus of Black staffers and some frustration among those who remain.” The second, by four NBC News reporters, is called “Inside a Biden White House adrift.”

I think there’s less than meets the eye to the Politico piece. Ed Morrissey effectively questions whether there really is a “Blaxit” from the Biden White House:

If 14% of the current staff “identify as Black,” as Politico reports, then that would calculate to 93 staffers. A departure of 16 over as many months would be significant but hardly a “Blaxit” or an “exodus,” or even a “Blaxodus,” if you will.

One piece missing from this report is the overall turnover rate, which would give us a look as to whether the 17% turnover rate among black staffers is statistically significant. It might just be that White House employees in general are looking for greener pastures for reasons unrelated to race.

In fact, Politico’s reporting suggests that this may be true of many departures. It states that “some departures were for graduate school opportunities; others went to different cabinet departments; several said they were leaving because of family matters.”

Politico did find some disgruntled black White House staffers. One said:

We’re here and we’re doing a lot of work but we’re not decision-makers and there’s no real path towards becoming decision-makers. There is no real feedback and there’s no clear path to any kind of promotions.

Another complained:

Think about any workplace. Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.

In evaluating these grievances, it’s important to remember that Team Biden has avowedly tried to fill White House jobs with a percentage of blacks that equals or exceeds black representation in the population. When an employer takes identity into account in this way, it’s likely to hire some people who aren’t up to the job. A few of these less-than-fully-satisfactory employees are likely to complain about their treatment, and cite their identity in doing so.

We should also remember that the White House is an extremely intense place in which to work. No doubt, some mentoring goes on, but I suspect that, generally speaking, staffers are expected to swim on their own.

If, instead, they are sinking or just treading water, they shouldn’t expect much sympathy from their bosses — much less a “path to any kind of promotion.” That’s true at this level even if the staffers are black.

The NBC News story is much more substantial and has the ring of truth throughout. Reportedly, Biden is highly annoyed at having staff walk back his statements on key matters. According to NBC:

Biden is unhappy about a pattern that has developed inside the West Wing. He makes a clear and succinct statement — only to have aides rush to explain that he actually meant something else. The so-called clean-up campaign, he has told advisers, undermines him and smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise. Worse, it feeds a Republican talking point that he’s not fully in command.

Biden isn’t known for clear and succinct statements, but he has made some about Russia (Putin can’t remain in power) and China (we will defend Taiwan). The problem is that, for better or for worse, these statements don’t reflect stated U.S. policy.

As president, Biden can reverse U.S. policy on these and other matters with a “clear and succinct statement,” whether off-the cuff or not. However if he allows his statement to be is walked backed, existing policy stands and Biden just looks bad.

That’s what’s happening. According to the White House, in its response to the NBC News report, his communications team hasn’t said anything Biden didn’t want said.

Indeed, Biden himself cleaned up the off-the-cuff remarks about Russia and China mentioned above. At that point, the remarks officially became gaffes.

Americans could respect a president who strays from the party line and then sticks to his guns. We could also respect a president who understands existing policy and adheres to it in his public pronouncements.

But Biden does neither. No wonder he’s not respected.

According to the NBC report, Biden isn’t just complaining about being “walked back” by his staff The president moans that he just can’t catch a break and that “if it’s not one thing, it’s another,”

Biden whines that he’s not getting credit from Americans or the news media for the low unemployment rate; that Republicans aren’t getting their share of blame for legislative gridlock in Congress; that not enough Democrats go on television to defend him. And so on.

His blame-everyone-else mindset is that of a loser. In Biden’s case, all things considered, it may be the mindset of a president who is losing his appetite for the office, and might leave it voluntarily after one term.