OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden is reportedly furious with his aides for running to the media to explain his comments again and again and finds it undermining.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said to The Daily Wire that the reports of his frustrations are untrue and that “As we’ve said before, no clarifications of the President’s remarks are ever issued without his direct approval.”
But NBC originally reported:
Faced with a worsening political predicament, President Joe Biden is pressing aides for a more compelling message and a sharper strategy while bristling at how they’ve tried to stifle the plain-speaking persona that has long been one of his most potent assets.
Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say.
Crises have piled up in ways that have at times made the Biden White House look flat-footed: record inflation, high gas prices, a rise in Covid case numbers — and now a Texas school massacre that is one more horrific reminder that he has been unable to get Congress to pass legislation to curb gun violence. Democratic leaders are at a loss about how he can revive his prospects by November, when midterm elections may cost his party control of Congress.
“I don’t know what’s required here,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose endorsement in the 2020 Democratic primaries helped rescue Biden’s struggling candidacy. “But I do know the poll numbers have been stuck where they are for far too long.”
Last week the White House walked back comments President Biden made about the United States defending Taiwan with military if China decided to invade.
At a news conference during a visit to Japan the president suggested that he would defend Taiwan with the United States military if it was needed.
“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons,” a reporter said to the president. “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”
“Yes,” the president said.
“You are?” the reporter responded.
“That’s the commitment we made,” the president responded.
“The idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate,” the president said. “It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so it’s a burden that is even stronger.”
But the White House walked back those comments quickly.
“As the president said, our policy has not changed,” the White House said quickly. “He reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said something similar when he said, “I think the president was clear on the fact that the policy has not changed.”
A similar walk back happened months ago when the president said he wanted Putin out of power in Russia.
“We will have a different future—a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle; hope and light, decency and dignity; of freedom of possibilities,” the president said in March. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” the statement said. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
But after that Biden contradicted his own White House.
“He shouldn’t be in power,” he said. “People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do, in fact. They do. But, doesn’t mean I can’t express my outrage about it.”
