When Biden ‘speaking from his heart’ doesn’t speak for US

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s no such thing as a purely personal opinion from the Oval Office on policies that matter. Armchair quarterbacking when you’re the president is fraught when you’re the one with the ball.

That has not stopped President Joe Biden from viscerally weighing in on the Ukraine war.

It was Donald Trump who jettisoned the idea of a scripted presidency every way he could, with his multitude of tweets leading the way. Some reflected policy. Some just mirrored what was in his head at the moment.

“We made a dramatic transition during the Trump presidency” in coming to realize that a president may not be speaking for the government or the country at times, but only for himself, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She credits the Biden White House with being quick to set the record straight when that happens.

In Jamieson’s academic world of political rhetoric, some public figures like Barack Obama are considered self-monitors — they hear what they are saying as they say it and catch themselves in progress when they go adrift. Biden, she says, lacks this filter.

“Obama was a high self monitor,” she said. “Biden is not. The distance between thought and expression for Biden is not very wide.”

To David Axelrod, former adviser to the ever-cautious Obama, Biden’s remark that Putin “cannot remain in power” illustrated the Washington adage that “everyone’s strength is their weakness.”

Biden’s strength is his empathy and authenticity, Axelrod said on his recent podcast, and that can also be a weakness when a president says the wrong thing in a time of crisis.

...some public figures like Barack Obama are considered self-monitors:

“…I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” — Barack Obama

“Let’s not play games. I was suggesting – you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.” — Barack Obama

“Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.” — Barack Obama

“Making products we sell around the world, stamped with three proud words, ‘Made in the USA!’” — Barack Obama

“It’s here that companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future.” — Barack Obama

“It’s very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth- or sixth-most interesting person.” — Barack Obama

“My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” — Barack Obama

“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.” — Barack Obama

“No, no. I have been practicing…I bowled a 129. It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something.” — Barack Obama

“I had learned not to care. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. …” — Barack Obama

“Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower….” — Barack Obama

“R-S-P-E-C-T.” — Barack Obama

“The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and inefficiencies to our health care system.” — Barack Obama

“Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions.” — Barack Obama

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