According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the most important thing about speaking on Biden’s behalf is getting the tone right.
It’s a summer Friday. President Biden is at his Delaware beach house, where he delivered a brief speech about that morning’s encouraging jobs numbers. Washington, D.C., is quiet—some might say eerily so. There is still news to be reckoned with. Reporters have questions about the president’s infrastructure negotiations with Senate Republicans, his upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, and the rising threat of ransomware attacks.
According to Psaki, the most important thing about speaking on Biden’s behalf is getting the tone right. “The first thing he said to me was ‘We need to be aligned on tone,’ or, really, he needs me to be aligned with him,” she tells me. “He said, ‘We are healing a country whose nerves have been frayed. It’s just a little bit frantic. We need to be projecting calm, openness to engagement, governing for all people.
Underlings file in and out, delivering “toppers,” or updates on various Biden projects. Psaki makes notes in colored Sharpie, peppering them with queries and little interjections. First, immigration. Psaki asks a young staffer about Vice President Kamala Harris’s trip to Guatemala and Mexico.
Psaki joined the Obama campaign before the 2008 Democratic primaries, after working at the DCCC, where she met her husband, Gregory Mecher, now a Democratic political aide. That had been a high-intensity experience, but a presidential campaign is something else. She was assigned to manage the “press bus”—the giant caravan of reporters trailing the superstar candidate across the country. The assignment was supposed to be one month long, but it turned into six.
Psaki’s State Department years turned out to be good preparation for the current political environment. One lesson: Propaganda is not personal. You just have to “be a big girl,” she says, recognize the strategic objectives behind it, and address misinformation head-on. “By the end of my time at State, I started to have fun with it,” she recalls. She would mock the rumors herself and tease the RT reporters when they needled her during press briefings.
That night, Psaki leaves the White House a few hours earlier than usual and drives home for pizza night, a weekly ritual with her family and her middle sister, Stephanie, a senior adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services. Stephanie is married to Adam Frankel, a former Obama speechwriter, and their two children are the same ages as Psaki’s.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Ben and Jen Continue L.A. Love Outings with a Walk on the BeachBennifer goes on a romantic, sandy stroll to cap off their weekend.
Leer más »
White House: Tesla not invited to EV event because it's focused on 3 biggest employers of UAW membersWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday addressed Tesla undefined CEO Elon Musk's tweet that it was 'odd' his company wasn't invited to a White...
Leer más »
Hawley's Aide Lashed For Her 'Concern' About Too Many MasksPeople are masking to 'avoid the Hawley variant spread by ignorant staffers,' said a Twitter critic slamming Hawley's press secretary Abigail Marone.
Leer más »
Bob Odenkirk Says He's 'Doing Great' After Surviving a Heart AttackThe 'Better Call Saul' actor collapsed on the show's set last month.
Leer más »