Axios has a piece this morning on President Joe Biden’s propensity to yell at his aides. One thing I like about Axios pieces is that they actually have a portion called “why it matters” which tells you why they think it matters.
Why it matters: The private eruptions paint a more complicated picture of Biden as a manager and president than his carefully cultivated image as a kindly uncle who loves Aviator sunglasses and ice cream.
Okay, so the reason this is in the news today is because Axios believes it’s important to know that Biden is more complicated than he might appear and that his “kindly uncle” image might be a manufactured ruse. Right?
Except, here’s the second part of the “why it matters” section.
- Some Biden aides think the president would be better off occasionally displaying his temper in public as a way to assuage voter concerns that the 80-year-old president is disengaged and too old for the office.
Now it’s beginning to look like this article is appearing with the complicity and connivance of Biden reelection officials who want to give their candidate a bit more of an alpha male edge. After all, your aging uncle may be friendly but that doesn’t mean he can necessarily remember what happened five minutes ago. There’s a downside to having Uncle Joe come off as too affable. The other side of him, shaped by his aviator sunglasses and muscle car collection is more of the shit-kicker persona we expect in a leader.
Most of the sources for the article are actually complimentary of Biden and forgiving of his temper. Some even welcome it as a sign that they are respected. For example, there’s this quote from former White House press secretary Jen Psaki: “I said to [Biden] multiple times, ‘I’ll know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time.'”
- He’ll grill aides on topics until it’s clear they don’t know the answer to a question — a routine that some see as meticulous and others call “stump the chump” or “stump the dummy.”
- Being yelled at by the president has become an internal initiation ceremony in this White House, aides say — if Biden doesn’t yell at you, it could be a sign he doesn’t respect you.
Doesn’t sound like his private anger is much of a problem for his staff.
Ted Kaufman, Biden’s longtime chief of staff when the future president represented Delaware in the Senate, told Axios that Biden’s process is policy-driven, and has made him a strong executive.
- “If there is something that’s not in the brief, he’s going to find it,” he said. “It’s not to embarrass people, it’s because he wants to get to the right decision. Most people who have worked for him like the fact that he challenges them and gets them to a better decision.”
So, most people “like” being yelled at by Biden.
- Biden’s defenders acknowledge he can be tough. But they also say he can be more generous and compassionate than many powerful politicians and can make them feel like family. That’s partly why so many aides have worked with Biden for decades, and go in and out of his orbit, they say.
Yet, Axios also reports, “Behind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast.” There’s also an incident from when he was a senator when he allegedly told an aide to “get the fuck out of the car” after they suggested he make some fundraising calls.
And who can forget that a hot mic captured him calling Fox News’ Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch”?
This stupid article is probably welcome to the Biden administration even if it isn’t complimentary throughout. They want to toughen up Biden’s image a bit while taking care to assure us that he’s engaged and meticulous and not really a bad or phony guy at all.
The real reason why the article matters is that it probably shows us what the president’s reelect team’s internal polling has found as a weakness in the public perception of the president.
Brings to mind stories told about “Easy Ed” Muskie who, when Biden was first elected, was one of the giants of the Senate. Muskie had two qualities that made him a great legislator: an iron ass and a volcanic temper.
1) The iron ass: Muskie could sit in hearing rooms and committee conferences all day and half the night if need be. Meanwhile, other senators would drift in (especially when the TV cameras were on) and out (when the cameras were off) to conduct other business—meeting with constituents, shmoozing big donors, etc. At the end of the session Muskie invariably was in the room holding the chits of several of his colleagues. Not surprisingly, the fine details of the proposed legislation reflected Muskie’s interests more than anyone else’s.
2) The volcanic temper: at conference tables negotiating legislation Muskie would regularly (but not so regularly you could predict it) explode with fury at whoever he was negotiating with. One major environmental bill went through 44 conference committee sessions to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions. By the 3rd week, according to aides who were there, the House negotiators slunk into the windowless room as if they’d rather be anywhere else than where they were, because they knew they’d get yelled at by Muskie. (Also not surprisingly, major environmental legislation of that era tended to be closer to the Senate bill than the House bill.)