President Biden. Illustrated Getty Images, iStock
It took several years, but the Washington press regained its favorite party in its traditional form. And that’s bad news.
Although the Biden administration waited a little over a week to confirm its presence – in part due to a recent COVID-19 outbreak stemming from a recent Gridiron dinner – it was confirmed that the president and first lady will attend a White House reporters’ dinner. .
“@WHCA is pleased to host President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, as we honor the First Amendment to our dinner on April 30,” the White House Correspondents Association said on Twitter.
Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the WHCA’s annual dinner, with the exception of Donald Trump. For him, the media are “enemies of the people.” In 2019, the Trump administration banned all its employees from attending dinner.
Dinner was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, so this marks the official return of the tradition in Washington. I understand Biden’s good intentions, but the White House reporters’ dinner is one of the traditions I hoped would die of the plague. Or at least, a dramatic change while he was gone.
Think of all the bad news in the world – some of which visitors are supposed to cover. Well, at least for the night, instead of doing their job, they walk with celebrities par excellence. Given inflation, the ongoing plague and many other problems affecting the nation, the resurgence of the prom feels untimely. Given the weather, returning to the spectacle seems like a bad idea.
The guest list points to the frivolity of the event.
Martha Stewart will be a guest on The Daily Mail. Michael Keaton will be a guest on ABC News. CBS News apparently brings Drew Barrymore and Melinda Gates as their guests to the dinner. Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson will sit at the Disney / ABC table.
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And once dinner is over, Comcast and NBC News will host their famous afterparty at the Kennedy Center with DJ Jaime Ferreira. As if that wasn’t enough, CBS will also host after-parties this year at the French ambassador’s residence.
Let me just say that I adore Martha Stewart; Michael Keaton is my favorite Batman; I own a mirror by Drew Barrymore; I watch The Kardashians on Hulu; I laughed at Pete Davidson. But what are they doing here?
And shouldn’t the press and the president spend some time together in more formal terms?
Biden held only nine official press conferences in his first year in power, half as many as Trump in his first 12 months in the White House. To be honest with Biden, I watched most of his press conferences and they were terrible, not least because of the banal questions he was asked. Most of the issues ignored other pressing issues, such as climate change, debt cancellation, the very fact that democracy itself is in jeopardy.
Oh, and the pandemic is not over, no matter what the White House Correspondents Association thinks.
Vice President Kamala Harris shared health news on Tuesday after returning from a week-long trip to California. “Today I tested positive for COVID-19. I have no symptoms and will continue to isolate myself and follow the instructions of the CDC. “I am grateful to have been vaccinated and strengthened at the same time,” Harris wrote on Twitter.
But don’t worry about the president.
“She has not been in close contact with the president or the first lady because of their recent travel schedules. She will follow the instructions of the CDC and the advice of her doctors. The vice president will return to the White House when her test is negative, “Kirsten added. Vice President Alan’s spokesman added.
Another factor to consider: the president is 79 years old. With all due respect, at this age, if Biden can’t walk in a protective balloon, he should at least avoid being in rooms with hundreds of people.
I understand that the place will be tested for presence, but if this can happen to the vice president, why not the president?
And yet, everyone is here, partying all night with celebrity guests – while the world falls apart in the middle of a pandemic. I hope everyone has a good night, but I feel like the wrong time for this kind of party.
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