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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t mince words this week when defending her boss.
When asked by a reporter about Biden’s adeptness at handling different communication settings, Jean-Pierre stated matter-of-factly, “I would tell you this: the president is the best communicator that we have in the White House.”
President Biden rarely communicates with the press corps or with the American public. The old man yells at his teleprompter about McDonald’s WiFi, talks to ghosts and constantly calls people by the wrong name. Just this week, he claimed that he had traveled one million miles a day on Amtrak — not a joke. In the same speech, the great communicator referred to Maryland’s first black governor Wes Moore as “boy.”
But is Karine Jean-Pierre’s assessment wrong?
Maybe not. It is a scary thought, but as bad as Biden is at communicating, his minions might be worse.
Karine Jean-Pierre: Miss Malapropism
As White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre is supposed to be the president’s spokesperson. But all she seems to relay to the American people are vague, incoherent notes directly from her binder.
On one occasion, after a reporter asked KJP about the primary schedule, she launched into a response involving the Hatch Act.
A few sentences in, Jean-Pierre finally realized that she had read the wrong answer from her handy dandy script. “Oops, sorry,” she told the reporter. “I think I got ahead of myself here.”
Speaking of “oops,” she gives her boss a run for his money when it comes to misspeaking. She has referred to the Nord Stream Pipeline as the “Nordstrom pipeline,” Canada as “Canadia” and the “Nobel” Peace Prize as the “Noble” Peace Prize.
While it is nice that Jean-Pierre has such a high opinion of Joe’s communication abilities, the president should consider the source.
Pete Buttigieg: the Buzzword Phony
Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg recently complained that the administration’s “accomplishments” don’t often translate for the public: “I will say that there have been so many accomplishments under this administration, it can be difficult to list them in a distilled way,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd.
But Pete isn’t helping in the distillation department. His Obama-esque gesticulations mixed with his sesquipedalian non-answers make the Harvard man seem out of touch.
To make matters worse, Pete goes MIA at the worst times. It’s hard to get the message out if you don’t show up.
There are certain times when Pete makes an appearance. For example, on Monday, he discussed racism at the National Association of Counties Conference. This time, he wasn’t delving into how racism was physically built into our highways. He was tackling another important issue: racism with regard to construction workers!
“Often a neighborhood of color, that finally sees the project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good paying jobs, don’t look like they came from anywhere near the neighborhood,” he told the crowd.
Keep in mind that while Pete waxed eloquent about the race of construction workers, he steered clear of addressing the horrific train derailment in Ohio. He saved his “concerns” over that environmental disaster for a Twitter thread, days after the crash.
Buttigieg’s communication skills only exist inside his academia-filled echo chamber. When it comes to real Americans, he’s hopeless.
Kamala Harris: the Rambler
Whether she’s talking about electric school buses or craters on the moon, Vice President Kamala Harris is the Word Salad Czar.
Her communication style is unpredictable and off-putting. She fluctuates between fits of laughter and artificial thoughtfulness. Her words of wisdom are so nonsensical that they often make waves on social media.
“The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time.”
“We will assist Jamaica in Covid recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica.”
“It is time for us to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day.”
The worst part? The Veep thinks she is spouting off Socratic gems. Kamala is like the tipsy person at a Christmas party who corners you and thinks they are saying something really deep and meaningful. In reality, they are just talking in circles and spilling their drink on your shoes.
Dr. Jill: the Linguist
The first lady might be in charge of keeping her hubby in line and helping him duck reporters, but behind the mic she isn’t any more articulate than Joe.
She made waves last summer when she compared the Latino community to breakfast tacos. Her attempts to show off her Spanish speaking skills always fall flat. Just look up Jill Biden “Sí sepwaud-way,” and you can hear for yourself.
To be fair, Jill’s body language does communicate a clear message: she is absolutely terrified every time her husband gets close to a reporter. Beyond that? Nada.
The contrast is working in Biden’s favor. As absurd as it might seem, he might actually be the best communicator in the White House. Unfortunately that isn’t saying much.
