Biden's First Year

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Transcript

Beth [00:00:00] It's a very arbitrary deadline, right? You run a campaign to be president for four years and at the end of one year, everybody's like, "Did you do all the things?"  And that's not great. At the same time, it is an important milestone especially when you're going into midterm elections. There are a lot of political realities here, so I don't think we're like dumb to think through this. But I also keep trying to remember that I think the standard is really hard to define. 

Sarah [00:00:35] This is Sarah Stewart Holland. 

Beth [00:00:36] And this is Beth Silvers. 

Sarah [00:00:38] Thank you for joining us for Pantsuit Politics.

Thank you for joining us here for another episode of Pantsuit Politics, where we take a different approach to the news. Today, as we are recording, is the one-year anniversary of Joe Biden's inauguration. So we're going to reflect on the successes and struggles of his first year in office and we're going to do it in less than two hours, which is how long it took him to do that yesterday at the press conference. It's also the one-year anniversary of the swearing in of our first female vice president, so we'll check in with Vice President Harris as well. And outside of politics, we're going to talk about Wordle y'all. Who's playing Wordle? Everybody is playing Wordle. That's who's playing Wordle. 

Beth [00:01:25] Before we get started, thank you to everyone who has read our first book. I Think You're Wrong, (But I'm Listening): A Guide To Grace-Filled Political Conversations. And thank you so much to those of you who have left reviews of that book on Amazon. I don't know how to explain this to you because the publishing industry is very strange, but it is extremely helpful to us in advance of our second book coming out in May to have a lot of reviews on our first book. And so if you have read it, we would so appreciate even a one sentence review. It makes a big difference. And thank you for sharing it with your people and reading it in your church groups and books clubs and businesses. We cannot get over the continued support for this book. It's had a much longer life than a lot of books get, and we're just really thankful for that. 

Sarah [00:02:20] On January 20th, 2021, Kamala Harris became the first female, first black and first Asian-American vice president. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:02:27] Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I Kamala Devi Harris do solemnly swear. 

Kamala Harris [00:02:36] I Kamala Devi Harris do solemnly swear. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:02:39] That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. 

Kamala Harris [00:02:47] That I will support and defend the Constitution of United States. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:02:47] Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

Kamala Harris [00:02:49] Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:02:52] That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. 

Kamala Harris [00:02:55] That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:02:58] That I take this obligation freely. 

Kamala Harris [00:03:00] That I take this obligation freely. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:03:03] Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. 

Kamala Harris [00:03:06] Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:03:09] That I will well and faithfully discharge. 

Kamala Harris [00:03:12] That I will well and faithfully discharge. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:03:14] The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

Kamala Harris [00:03:17] The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor [00:03:21] So help me God. 

Kamala Harris [00:03:22] So help me God. 

Sarah [00:03:24] So let's talk about that historic status because I think it's hard to argue it has not led to increased scrutiny. 

Beth [00:03:32] I think that has probably led to increased scrutiny in ways that we can't even comprehend. But the first guidepost to me is that we didn't talk about Mike Pence a year into the Trump administration. Now, some of that is because Trump just took up all the oxygen in the room. But I certainly have greater interest in what she's doing and how she's doing it than I've had in previous vice presidents. And there's a lot of expectation that gets wrapped up in that. So even if we took away racism, sexism, you know, media bias, whatever, of course, there would be increased scrutiny because it's something new and we're all watching it. And that comes from some good places too. 

Sarah [00:04:11] Well, I think it's two things. One is, look, the job of the vice president is just a tough one. You're supposed to be a leader, but also a follower.  At the exact same time, your job is really to prop up the president. And that is just not a position that the American public rewards in its politicians, right? They want that independent spirit and they want that feisty rhetoric. And it's just a very hard line to walk in the best of circumstances. It's particularly a fine line to walk if you are breaking all these glass ceilings. So you're the first of a long list of first. And I think it's tough because of her position in relationship to Biden. Because Biden is so old and so many people are thinking, like, is he even going to run again? Is she the standard bearer? So, I mean, from the second she got in here, I think there was not just the pressure of the historic status, but the pressure of like, what does this mean for 2024? What does this mean to 2028? I mean, I think that's true of most vice presidents, but particularly her because of Biden's age. Even in the two-hour press conference yesterday, he got a question like, will she be your running mate again? There's a lot weighing on her, in particular, as a vice president. 

Beth [00:05:25] And it's been clunky from the beginning because at first there was the question out there, is he going to run again? And now they're saying emphatically, yes, and they started saying that pretty quickly. I think that's ludicrous what we can put a pin in that. That's okay. And I think it has set her up for even more of a question of what is this role under President Biden? And then they start loading up her portfolio with seemingly impossible assignments that aren't messaged well in ways that cause her to get really bad press. I think specifically tying her to immigration in any form right out of the gate was a mistake. There is no success available. I wish that she could have gotten some quick wins. Like I thought she did a pretty nice job on one of her trips to Southeast Asia. That's the kind of thing the space council -- you know, there are places where I think she could really shine if they would limit her portfolio and maybe make it a little complex. Like not these hot-button issues that people are really interested in where she can, kind of, build some trust and get some successes under her belt, at least in the media.  

Sarah [00:06:33] Well, and what I hadn't really thought about is that she is the tie breaking vote in the Senate. I mean, it's not like I didn't know that, but we only really pay attention when it matters. But the truth is she has to be there a lot. Over there breaking ties on judicial nominations. So she is really at the mercy of the Senate. It's very unpredictable schedule. She's cast 15 tie-breaking vote so far more than any modern vice president. It limits her ability to do that, sort of, very rewarding press-friendly diplomatic travel. And I think that that's just like one more layer of complexity on this role. All these first, having such an old president, having a president that's been vice president and a successful vice president before, as well as being the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. When you start to put all those things together you're like, well, dang, no wonder it's been clunky. 

Beth [00:07:22] I struggle with stories about her lack of preparation for meetings because I don't know if they're being fairly written or not. But that's not what I want to read. I want to see her as someone who is very competent, who's very prepared, who's taking it very seriously. I also don't see anybody playing to her strengths. So if she's going to have to often be the tie breaking role in the Senate, embrace that fully. She was a Senator. She's prepared for that. She built her national profile on being a very sharp questioner in hearings. And on her experience as a prosecutor, I don't understand why they aren't playing to her strengths like loading her up on domestic issues, issues related to the Department of Justice, issues related to the Senate. There's like a randomness to the things that she has been tasked with, and to the times that they have put her in the public light versus the times that they've seemed to hide her weirdly. I don't know. I just feel like she's not being set up for success. And then I feel like there's some dysfunction within her office that is further hindering her ability to shine in this role. 

Sarah [00:08:31] You can see Joe Biden applying his own life experience, particularly as vice president here. He got tasked with difficult topics, right? He got the economic crisis, and negotiating with the car dealers. I think that that was one of the big thing he did. Did he do like some of the sexual assaults on campus? And so like you can see like, well, this is what they did for me at work, so I'll do it to her. But they're different. It's not the same thing. And, you know, I have not read the reports of her not being prepared, but honestly it makes a lot of sense in the gaffes that she makes, particularly in interviews, because she panics and just talks. I don't need to depend on reporting. I've seen it happen enough. She gets in touch. She gets tough questions. She panics and she reacts a certain way that is bad and she needs to stop. 

[00:09:13] But if she will not acknowledge that it's bad and then do the prep to avoid it, then that's on her. And I think that there is some stuff that is on her. I don't think that there's like any way to avoid the staffing issues, that she's not supported by the right staff or she's not managing the staff or somebody is not managing. Something's going wrong there, but at the end of the day, it's her office and it's all going to come down on her if it's not being run well. And that's something that she's got to address. And I think that that's hard to avoid no matter the sort of bent of the reporting at this point. She had a mass exodus over the last few months of staff leaving, including some outstanders who we both really like. There's always individual reasons for staffing changes, but it's just hard not to see that overall as an issue. 

Beth [00:09:56] I think all of that is right. I'm rooting for her. I really want this to be successful for her. I don't know that she can make the leap from this office to the next, and I don't know if she could do that under any circumstance because as you said this, this role is ill-defined. Once you actually have a record and when it's not really your record, that's tricky for anybody to deal with in today's media environment. I think some of those old assumptions don't apply anymore. So my wish for her, if I could just put into the universe a wish for her, it's not to do this scared. Like, don't approach this as a four-year long presidential campaign or especially an eight-year long presidential campaign. Just play to your strengths. Do your thing. Approach it like it's the last office you're ever going to hold and make it count because it is historic. No matter what happens next in her career, it's good for the country no matter what happens next in her career. And I just want her to, like, seize this moment. 

Sarah [00:10:52] All right. Next up, we're going to talk about how the President's first year has gone. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:14] Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear. 

Joe Biden [00:11:21] I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:24] That I will faithfully execute. 

Joe Biden [00:11:27] That I will faithfully execute. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:29] The office of President of the United States. 

Joe Biden [00:11:31] Office of President of the United States. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:34] And will to the best of my ability. 

Joe Biden [00:11:36] And will to the best of my ability. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:38] Preserve, protect and defend. 

Joe Biden [00:11:40] Preserve, protect and defend. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:42] The Constitution of the United States. 

Joe Biden [00:11:45] The Constitution of the United States. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:46] So help you God. 

Joe Biden [00:11:47] So help me God. 

Justice John Roberts [00:11:48] Congratulations, Mr. President. 

Sarah [00:11:52] So the first question is, how are we even going to measure this. How are we going to measure the first year in whether it's been successful? So PolitiFact does this thing where they track all the campaign promises. And so they're tracking 99 of his campaign promises. What I thought was interesting is that, with Obama they were tracking over five hundred promises. Hope and change builds on a lot of promises. He's kept 16 percent of them so far and 46 percent are in the works, 24 percent are stalled. His success is a little bit lower than Obama's. But he also has fewer failures in stalls. I think that is one way to track it. I don't feel like that's like the most successful or interesting way. It's just this real numbers percentage game, but that's how PolitiFact is doing it. 

Beth [00:12:36] I mean, here we are participating in this problem. But it's a very arbitrary deadline, right? You run a campaign to be president for four years and at the end of one year, everybody's like, "Did you do all the things?" And that's not great. At the same time, it is an important milestone especially when you're going into midterm elections. There are a lot of political realities here. So I don't think we're like dumb to think through this. But I also keep trying to remember that I think the standard is really hard to define, and I'm even struggling with what is a constructive way for me to assess my feelings about things one year in. 

Sarah [00:13:15] The only reason I think it's helpful is because it is the time most presidents get their major thing accomplished. You have this momentum, you have your newlywed period, you often have a Congress that matches your party and then you get the midterms and everything changes. So to me, it's like arbitrary but not really because I do think there is this political reality that the first year is when they get a lot of stuff done. And I think as I look back over his promises, particularly in his inauguration, I think that if we're going to tick off the promises, I think the inauguration speech and, like, I'm not running of one and here's what I think we can do, is a much more helpful standard. And in his inauguration speech, he laid out COVID and climate, racial justice and the economy as his sort of four major areas of focus. And I think, you know, when you look at that and you look at his particularly his legislative achievements, I mean, he had two major pieces of legislation get through, one of which was bipartisan. Trump can't say the same, neither can Obama. And so I think that, you know, that he deserves credit for that. He deserves the credit for getting the American Rescue Plan through and getting a bipartisan infrastructure investment through. I think that those are major, major, accomplishment. So we'll start with the positive things before we get into many critiques. But I mean, I just don't think you can downplay that that is a major achievement. 

Beth [00:14:50] I've been thinking a lot about expectations and how expectations influence how I feel about lots of things. I was saying to Sarah before we started recording, "I'm a little down today because I expected to just magically feel totally better from COVID and  I don't" 

Sarah [00:15:02] Oh, there's a theme there for Biden first year for show. [laughs]

Beth [00:15:06] And there is a theme, right? And so I think what makes it so difficult to hold on to those successes is that the expectations were so high for what would happen legislatively. Because, truly, if in his four years they got the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that will change this country forever. That is a monumental achievement that every person who had a piece in it should feel so proud of, and that will have a lasting legacy. And so to say, I wish every Democrat were walking around in the country saying, "In the first year we got the biggest thing. We did the biggest thing we could possibly do in the first year. How amazing is that? How many jobs are going to come from that? How much investment in our economy is going to come from that?" How much are you 10 years from now going to be walking through an airport or something and saying, "Look at what we did, you know, back in 2021 in the middle of a pandemic and a terrible economic situation, we made this happen." I wish that that were like the bragging point because it really is phenomenal. 

Sarah [00:16:12] Well, they were supposed to do that. There was a plan to do that. We're going to go through, we're going to barnstorm. And I think the reality is you had a delta surge, you had an Omicron surge, it disrupts those plans. You have other things that come to the president's desk that disrupts those plans. And I think as much as I appreciate we have had another president dealing with this pandemic, a president dealing with a pandemic in his fourth year and a president dealing with the pandemic in his first year, to me, are two very different things. And I think, yeah, it's interesting to compare him to Trump or Obama and past presidents, but this is a pandemic. It changes everything. And I think that's what the Biden administration has had to learn over and over and over again. I think that they, you know, came in strong with this. We're going to have Independence Day in July. 

[00:17:06] Now, I don't think it's as simple as we got the Delta Surge and his polling numbers dropped, I think the Afghanistan withdrawal is a huge part of why people's perception of him changed so dramatically last summer. But I do think, you know, they took a pretty singular political even approach to the pandemic in many ways. How many times do we have to learn it doesn't work that way in our own lives and state government and local government and school districts, and particularly in the federal government? The name of the day is adaptation, not we stick to the strategy, not we set a goal. And I think that COVID and beyond what's happened with Biden too is he sets aggressive goals and good for him. But they can really bite you when you don't achieve everything you want to. 

Beth [00:17:56] I don't disagree with you at all about the impact of COVID. I do think legislatively, the reason that we aren't having a celebration of the infrastructure package is because members of the House and Senate from the Democratic Party aren't allowing that celebration. They are so focused on other giant legislative achievements that they'd like to get on the board that the story is down in the dumps about what we haven't done instead of enthusiasm about what we have done. And I also get that the average person isn't like, "Infrastructure, woo!". But I think that you can make it real for people if you really brought it to your states and towns, which Republicans are doing a better job of. Republicans are blasting out these emails. Look at all this money we're bringing right here in Iowa. I voted against it, but I'm taking credit for what it's going to do here in this community and that's smart. 

Sarah [00:18:49] Biden administration shouldn't wait around for the Democrats in Congress to get in line. They can be out there talking about that which they were supposed to do and then sort of stopped, I think, probably because of the surges. But they don't have to wait on them. They don't have to wait for the squad to get on board, which they should --  I'm not mad at the squad or the progressive caucus for being like, "I'm not going to tout this because they've gotten screwed. They were promised their end of the bargain and they didn't get it." And I'd be mad too, but the Biden administration doesn't have to wait for that. 

Beth [00:19:17] This gets back to the question, though, of what are you evaluating? How much are you evaluating the Biden administration versus Democratic leadership in Congress versus a Democratically controlled Congress by narrow majorities versus what's happening in your state around COVID and business and supply chain? I mean, I think overall,  we can break these things apart. And the truth is that when we all vote in the midterms, it's going to be like, how am I feeling about things? And that's a soup of all those factors, not just Biden. 

Sarah [00:19:51] Well, I mean, I think what's unique to Biden and he named this in what I thought was one of the most insightful parts of his press conference yesterday which is, there are benefits of having such an experienced president. There is also downsides of having such an experienced president who spent decades as a senator, which is that's a hard road to get out of. And he said, "I think I've learned that people don't want a senator president, they want a president." And the part of the reason we're wrapped up in Joe mentioning Kyrsten Sinema in the congressional side of is he doing a good job, it's because he's made it that way. And he likes the negotiation and he likes the the horse trading. And he liked being a senator and he was good at it. And I think part of what can be laid at the administration's feet is not pivoting from the legislative branch to the executive branches and using the power of the executive branch to push a different narrative beyond just "I'm out here being bipartisan and negotiating with people," which I think people like and I think people value. But that cannot be the only thing that's being talked about. And I think when Joe Manchin seems more powerful than you do, that's going to hurt your polling. Is just is.

Beth [00:20:55] What do you want us to talk about next?

Sarah [00:20:57] I think the part of this with COVID in particular, where you can't pull Congress out of the equation and really talk about the Biden administration's job, is this focus on vaccination and really dropping the ball when it came to testing and masking. Now, there are countries that do testing and masking great and they still had an Omicron surge, right? So I don't ever want to lose the fact of  we're not doing this in a bubble, and we certainly don't have to evaluate it in a bubble because we have other countries that are dealing with pandemics and we can see what's working and what isn't. And there's not a country short of  Port Tonga who's like, don't even help us recover from a volcano because you'll bring COVID here. We only had one case that can really secluded itself and, you know, step back from the global economy in a way that will prevent every spread. But I think it's in fair criticism to say that the Biden administration, along with many governors including our own, just said it's not worth the political capital to shut down or use mask mandates. I mean, to the point where they were discouraging states from taking mask mandates up again to say, Look, we can't do this. 

[00:22:03] There's definitely been sort of a political bent to both their pressure on the CDC, which I think was fair and well done for what it's worth around the booster shots. But also led to confusing messaging like everything's open, vaccinated people don't have to wear masks. Oh, here we go with Delta. So, I mean, I think that they've made mistakes.  I don't think it's some fundamental failure. This is an impossibly hard task to manage a country like ours at the federal level through a pandemic. I don't want to also say like it's so hard. That doesn't mean we can't learn lessons and do things differently the next time. And I hope they've learned those lessons. I hope they learn that like picking one strategy is not going to work. I hope they've learned that in an effort to encourage vaccination using any other sort of regulatory framework to push masking or testing is still the right thing. This idea that it might discourage vaccination, that's bananas. We know that's no. And I hope they've learned from that too. 

Beth [00:23:03] I think that I don't yet have enough perspective to fairly critique the COVID response of just the administration because I am stuck in just how do I feel overall about it. When I think about how I feel overall, I am frustrated everywhere with an absence of honest conversation about trade- offs. In my mind, something that we as American citizens, not all of us, but enough of us for it to be really impactful in terms of how this thing has has proceeded, we have shown with our behavior that we will accept a certain amount of transmission, hospitalization and death because we want our lives to feel pretty normal. We didn't take a ballot on that, but that is how people have shown up in their behavior that we will accept a certain amount of transmission, hospitalization and death. And I'm not judging that as right or wrong. I think that there are some really difficult moral and ethical questions embedded in every aspect of what we do to mitigate a pandemic. But knowing that seeing we've got a certain percentage of this population that is not going to get a vaccine in time for us to have vaccinated to the point where we can not worry so much about variants, right? There was a timing element to the vaccines. There's a continued life to being vaccinated that is helpful as a personal protective device. 

[00:24:34] But as a public health tool, there was a timing element, right? And once we passed that moment, whenever it might have been or some range of moments, and we saw, hey, the American public is not getting this thing fast enough to do this, then we needed to bring in some other tools. I would like even in our state to have some conversations. The school conversation is so stark right now. We're still assessing should schools be open or closed as though we're talking about transmission. We're past that. It's a logistical conversation now. We have so many people who are sick. Can we operate the school? Our kids actually are better off at school. If you've got a teacher who on her planning period has three classes in a gym just to have someone supervising the children, that's a different discussion. And I just feel like from a leadership perspective, we're talking always in tactics about COVID and not enough about strategy. At this stage of the pandemic, what's the strategy? What numbers do we care about? Maybe we don't care about transmission anymore. Maybe what we care about is hospitalization. What is the strategy and things like the four rapid tests? I mean, I signed up to get some things but like that to me is just a bad tactic at this point in the pandemic that is for political show. And that disappoints me. 

Sarah [00:25:54] It feels off. And, I mean, with the Biden administration, the CDC, the FDA, even state policies that we decide what we can successfully communicate and make the public health policy fit that when it feels very much like it should be the opposite. It should be what public health policy will be most successful? And then we will communicate that the best we can. I heard in [00:26:15][Inuadible]  [0.9s] Ezra Klein's podcast describe pandemics as communication emergencies, and I thought, oh, that's it. That is it. That's exactly what this is. And, look, that's enough thinking about that, just those two things, what policy will be most successful and how do we communicate that, that's enough. When you put a layer of politics over top of it, then it's going to get really hard. And I think that layer of politics on top of it is where some of the Biden administration's biggest missteps have come. It's also not what they promised the American people. We're going to take politics out of it. We're going to follow the science. We're going to do this thing, but they haven't. And, look, I'm not even necessarily mad at them. And I think that's also would be a very hard task to to really remove politics from all of it because the pandemic has become political. But I expected them to try a little harder than they have.

[00:27:11] You know, the irony is, I think there was a lot of economic factors that they were taking into account. And, look, the things they focused on, getting Americans vaccinated and keeping the economy successful, they did well. They went from like two million vaccinated Americans to like 200 million vaccinated Americans. And the economy is doing well. We added more jobs than we ever have. Wages are up nearly five percent. Unemployment has fallen. So the things that they were focusing on, they succeeded at. The brutal part of that is, it's exactly what you said. Well, yeah, but if people still feel like COVID is never ending, you're not going to get credit for that. And if people still feel like inflation is too high, you're not going to get credit for that either. And so it really it's a do it all or do it all well, which again is hard, if not impossible. But I think there's a lot in Biden's first year of sort of overpromising, under-delivering. And some of that is just has to be laid at the pandemic's feet I think because it's just this behemoth that he's dragging around all the time. That is that is very difficult and impossible. He can't control it, right? That's what we're all learning. We can all want the pandemic to be over all we want, but it just that's not how it's going to happen. 

Beth [00:28:28] My problem, and I argued with Chad a little bit about this this morning because he was saying the same thing, they have not taken the politics out of it. I don't think you should take the politics out of it because so much of what's happening is about human behavior and it's about prioritization. There are policy judgments to be made here around what are we willing to accept in terms of transmission? There are policy judgments. I mean, I don't think we should -- whatever the scientists have to tell us which I respect and care about and I think should be very important in our equation, we should be managing Omicron differently than Delta. We should, right? it should feel different. We need to decide as a society what over means to us. Because as you and I have talked about a million times, we're not going to have a day  when Anthony Fauci comes to a microphone and says, "Congratulations, SARS-CoV-2 is gone from the planet." It's not going to happen that way.  It's a political decision what over means. And that's that missing strategy that I'm talking about. I kind of want to hear from the Biden administration. You know, when can we get things mostly back to normal? Well, here are the factors that we're looking for. And from where I sit, a lot of those factors are about infrastructure. It's about the fact that our hospitals are overwhelmed right now that we have a lot of stuff out because people are getting sick. So let's talk. That's not to follow the science question. That's a public policy question. How do we deal with the fact that we got a lot of transmission going even if it's milder transmission? 

Sarah [00:30:01] Yeah, but I'm not talking about that sort of politics. I'm talking about people will be mad if we put mask mandates in again and we don't want to make people mad and we don't want to spend that political capital. That's a different sort of political calculus than where are we at? What are our policy goals? And I think they were doing a little too much of the former and not enough of the latter. But, look, the other really important factor here is they had a aggressive misinformation campaign coming from the other party. Just purposeful misinformation. You know, Fox News fully vaccinated anchors out there spreading crap, criticizing every single thing, ginning up fear. You know, it would be hard to talk about shutting down when they're on there saying, "See, we told you this". I mean, I remember vividly a Facebook post from friends of mine. They were like, It's here. The Democratic president, he's going to shut us all down and this is the first of many attacks on your liberty. So I get it. And I don't want to say, like, just ignore them because it was a focused effort to undermine him. Now, I don't know why he was surprised by that, which he talked about in the press conference. I was surprised by their level of opposition. Really? At this point? Okay. But I think that was -- you know, you can't underemphasize the impact of all of that effort. 

Beth [00:31:27] Yeah. Two things about that. I think, unquestionably, this is like the worst time to be the President. It's a horrible time to be the President. And I don't mean for any of my comments to come across like I'm giving him a failing grade. I'm not even trying to grade them. I can't step back from my own emotions enough to fairly assess this administration. I want to be honest about that. I watched that scene with Louisa from Encanto. I am sure that that's how Joe Biden feels, that pressure like a drip, drip, drip. I understand how awful this is. I understand that. I can't comprehend how awful it is every day to have to do this job. And the second thing I want to say is, as I have critiques of this administration, even real disappointments and frustrations, they are normal. And that's a relief. 

[00:32:12]  I would probably disagree -- if I think about people I voted for to be the president, I'm certain I would disagree with how a President Romney handled the pandemic. I'm certain I would have disagreement with how a President McCain would have handled the pandemic. You know, when you're the president, everybody is going to have problems with what you do because it is an impossibly difficult job, right? And there is such a relief to just be able to say, like, "Yeah, I don't really like the policy around this," instead of, "He said what? Oh my god, that's so embarrassing. That's so harmful to people there." You know, the callousness of the previous four years being gone has helped me settle tremendously. It's nice to be able to say how they handled this well instead of are we going to make it to tomorrow? I'm not sure. 

Sarah [00:33:02] Well, and I think Trump just put us in this very like simplistic binary frame of mind. And it's almost like I feel the Biden administration started their term like that, too. Well, we're not him, so everything's got to be better. Everything's got to be simple. You see it with their approach to COVID, we'll just vaccinate our way to independence in July. You see it with the economy where we can't shut down because it's overspending on goods and inflation's not that bad. You see it with the Afghanistan withdrawal, we're going to get out no matter what and it won't be that bad. You see it with the approach to China. Well, we're going to build up our alliances here with almost no sort of anticipation that that could complicate our alliances in Europe. Like this very simple like, well, the good guys are back in charge. People who care and are paying attention are back in charge and so things will just go our way. And, look, knowing what I know about Joe Biden, that's not a particularly surprising perspective from him. And it's fine. 

[00:33:58] Again, better than Trump, I don't care. But I hope that he's learning from it. I think it's hard to take a curious, open-minded sort of adaptable posture at 78 years old. I think the fact that he did stand up for two hours and take questions is a good sign that he's like, okay, well, we got to keep working on things and I'm up for critique and I'm up for, like, where do I need to change the voices in the room? Sounds like he's doing. I'd be a little worried about my job. He emphasized so much about new voices in the room and getting out and traveling and all that. And, again, that sort of self-awareness of I'm not a senator anymore. So I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that this exercise isn't just beneficial for all of us, but beneficial for him. If for no other reason than that, maybe that's why we should do this one-year exercise. So it puts a little pressure on, you know, a job where the urgent can always and forever overwhelm the important to take a beat and think what's working and what's not. 

Beth [00:34:56] I really respect that he took all the questions. He made such a mess on Ukraine. It is difficult to continue to hold out hope for the level of competence that we expected from this administration. And competence is too low a bar. I think that I -- and again, this is all expectations. I was holding out hope for a professionalism around foreign policy. And when he talked about Russia perhaps doing a minor incursion -- I mean,  he said way too much about this, right? Because this press conference wasn't just for American media, even though that's probably principally who it was for. Everybody overseas is listening. And I feel, oh, it's just like a gut punch that he made such a mess of his remarks about Ukraine. 

Sarah [00:35:47] I think those those gaffes are so reflective of being a senator where you could be in the meetings and you could hear those perspectives. He just was repeating something he'd heard. To me, they'd had that conversation because that's the level of detail you have in national security conversation. Okay, well, what if it's this? Are we gonna do anything by that? Probably not. That, to me, sounds exactly like something that was happening in the national security conversation. As a senator, you don't need to be as careful about not repeating that stuff because he's like the straight shooter. So he's been straight about what he heard in the national security meeting and what the actual approach is. You can't do that when you're the president. And he'll have to learn that 16 different ways. 

Beth [00:36:26] To be fair, I did not give that kind of grace to Donald Trump when he was just like shooting off the hip the way a businessman would about foreign policy stuff. Like you got to learn fast. And he was the vice president. He does know diplomatically what a big deal those kinds of remarks are. He is 78. This is a thing that he should not do. And it is a problem. And I know that the average American doesn't give a crap about what's going on yet with Ukraine. I totally understand that that is not at the top of people's priority list. That could become a thing, very, very, quickly. I also have no particular feeling about what the right way to handle this situation is because, again, what I'm hearing from this administration is all tactics. If they do this we'll respond this way, instead of, here's our strategy. We have heard him talk about his presidency as a autocracy versus democracy. Okay, cool. That's the vision. What's the strategy that supports that vision when you actively have someone seeking to add territory to their empire, right? Like these are really hard questions that I would interpret a lot of responses from the administration as perfectly reasonable responses. But you can not shoot off at the mouth like that. It's just so unprofessional from him. And it's a big problem, I think. 

Sarah [00:37:57] The other two things he mentioned in his inauguration speech were climate, which I think is a sort of good adjacent topic to Ukraine because it's just so dependent on the posture of the rest of the world. And I think there was a lot of competence within the administration, probably some rightfully to be laid at the feet of John Kerry who took this on and got us back in the Paris Accords and made real progress at the last global summit. And then, of course, the fourth topic is racial justice. And I think the fact that we haven't spent a lot of time on it because our conversation has been taken up by COVID and the economy and Afghanistan withdrawal and all these other challenges, not to mention the two huge legislative packages that went through Congress is why that it didn't get a lot of time from the administration is because other things are just taking up a massive amount of oxygen in the room. And it feels very like well we got through all this other stuff now, so now we'll pay attention to voting rights. I think you you feel that frustration with activists on the ground and with lots of people who care deeply about these issues. And I think it's just that it's hard. Four was an aggressive number. Let's put it that way.  

[00:39:05] Four was an aggressive number in the inauguration in the middle of a pandemic. And so I think the results of this first year show that. But I hope it's just one of four. I hope that these continue to be his priorities, and I hope that voting rights in particular. I'm so frustrated to read that there was this bipartisan effort around the Electoral Voting Act and people were like, oh, it's a trap, the Republicans, it's a trap. And I'm like, no, just  do it, guys. I was like, no, get a win. Take a win where you can. I mean, that's definitely probably going to be the reality of at least the next couple years of the Biden presidency because for all our complaining about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema looked a lot different if Georgia had not gone democratic. We wouldn't be talking about legislative wins. We would've spent a lot more time, I think, on just congressional deadlock. And I think that could be the reality post midterm that he'll have to deal with. There's even less room to negotiate and maneuver and prioritize these issues. 

Beth [00:40:08] There's a lot more to say about voting rights. That's a conversation that I think we'll get into in a lot more depth here on Tuesday. I don't want to give short shrift to those issues of racial justice either. And I think that's an area like many of the issues the Biden administration has been dealing with. The biggest lifts aren't really within their scope. The biggest lifts around racial justice are mostly at the state level in the private sector. You know, there are things that they can do, but they can't do everything that I'm sure that they would like to do. I do think that they, especially through this first day executive orders, communicated a tone and an intent that was needed in terms of greater respect for people. And I'm grateful for that. 

Sarah [00:40:53] So like I said, I hope they take this first year mark for what it is. You know, a moment to say what worked and what didn't, what needs to be changed. It sounds like he's going to do that. I don't expect perfection on that. There were things that will continue to be weaknesses of him and struggles of the administration. But I still think, you know, it's valuable to take a moment and assess how he did for this first year. 

[00:41:29] Beth, there's this new game, it's called Wordle, have you heard of it? 

Beth [00:41:32] I love it. I'm addicted. It's my favorite. It's such a treat in the morning. 

Sarah [00:41:35] But you can't really be addicted. That's what's so beautiful about it. People be saying to me like, oh, here's the backlog, or here's another game where you can play as many as you want. No, people, I don't want to do that. I like that there's just one a day. 

Beth [00:41:45] Well, that's what I think is so beautiful about it. I can't get tired of it because it's just that little thing to look forward to you in the morning. I get to do a new Wordle. It's so fun. 

Sarah [00:41:55] So, for you who don't know, Josh Wardle with an A created this game for his partner who loves word games. I love the New York Times headline. It was like, Wordle is a love story. So Sweet. So he created this game for just her to play. I think he's like a software engineer. And then they open it up to the public and everybody plays it. If you see those weird grids in your Facebook feed with like the black, yellow and green boxes, it's Wordle. It's just a URL. It is not an app. You just have to go to the website. You get six chances to guess a five letter word. A yellow tile means the letter is in there somewhere, but not in the right place. A green tile means that the word or the letter is in the right place. Now, Beth, do you guess the same -- do you start with the same word every day, same five-letter word?

Beth [00:42:37] No. Somebody had a great tweet about how they're starting word is like a five letter mood ring. And that's exactly how I operate. I totally get what just I'm feeling. 

Sarah [00:42:45] Well, you told me Chad uses [00:42:46]Neus [0.0s] and I thought, oh, that's good. 

Beth [00:42:49] He uses rents, R-E-N-T.  

Sarah [00:42:51] Oh, rents. Well, I was using [00:42:51]Neus, [0.0s] and [00:42:52]Neus [0.0s] was working pretty good. Nicholas, though, started using Audio because then you get A,U,I and O which I think is a very strong choice. I'm going to try audio for a while. I do like using the same word just to sort of see how it plays. Here's another strategy I've taken. Sometimes I put a yellow tile in the same place knowing it's the wrong placement, or I use a letter I know is not in the word just to eliminate a grouping. And it served me pretty well. Like, to not just kill myself never to use the same thing twice. Or like to not use an incorrect tile, basically. And sometimes I think that's helpful. 

Beth [00:43:25] I think any time you can get consonant blends checked off, that helps a lot. 

Sarah [00:43:30] Yeah, right. Like, P,H,G,H? 

Beth [00:43:32] Right. 

Sarah [00:43:32] No, I totally agree. That's what I'm using that for. Anne Helen Petersen had a post where she was like, why does this make me feel so much better, like a crossword than candy Crush? Now, do you do crossword puzzles? 

Beth [00:43:43] Mh-mh. 

Sarah [00:43:44] Well, I love crossword puzzles. I like the easy New York Times crossword puzzle. I'm trying to do the Sunday. I'm not here for that life, but I love Monday through Wednesday. But I also spent a significant portion of my college career playing Candy Crush. I thought maybe I could become a professional Candy Crush player and then Nicholas told me that wasn't a thing. But I think she's right. One feels like life giving and one feels life sucking. And I think it's the, like, it's not just repetitive guessing. There is definitely a guessing aspect of Wordle, but there's also a part of strategy, and it just feels like you're -- maybe it's just like feeding all our inner SAT test junkies. You're like, you're trying to build your vocabulary. Here it is. 

Beth [00:44:22] Well, it's got a little bit of that sense of, like, Sally does not sit beside Robert, but she does sit beside Timothy. Like, there's that logical game in it that is kind of fun. For me, what's so great about it is that it's just that. It's bite sized.  I think. crossword puzzles are fun if I've got an afternoon to kill, but I don't fold them into my day. 

Sarah [00:44:44] Listen, that's why the Monday through Wednesday's so great. They don't take that long. 

Beth [00:44:47] And any game on my phone that is trying to get me to keep playing starts to feel life sucking. Even I love Duolingo, but I am so tired of like, you're falling out of the diamond league you need to get... I mean, no, thank you. I just want to do five minutes a day of some Spanish, and I'll be back tomorrow. If I do it every day that's pretty amazing, you know. And I think Wordle just gets that we are all depleted by things that are saying, please give me more of your attention.  

Sarah [00:45:15] Well, I think the social aspect is fun. It's fun seeing everybody on Facebook. It's fun seeing all those people who are so proud of themselves on the second guess. Are you competitive with Chad about Wordle? Because I'm very competitive with Nicholas. 

Beth [00:45:26] We do it at the same time, but it doesn't feel like a competition to me, maybe because I just don't really have that instinct. I just think it's kind of fun to see how we both -- I love hearing the words that he worked through -- 

Sarah [00:45:37] Yeah, I think that's very fun.

Beth [00:45:38] And the insight into his mind that that gives me. 

Sarah [00:45:41] I know they can't tell us that because it would ruin the word for everybody, but it is fun to see like when people share it publicly. But now I'm very competitive. He broke his, I've not broken my streak. Have you got a day where you didn't get the word? 

Beth [00:45:53] Not yet. 

Sarah [00:45:53] Me neither. He doesn't get the word regular. I'm like, "You're not trying hard enough." But he often gets it in two. So it bounces off and that makes me feel better when he doesn't, when he breaks his streak. I feel like super smart and better than him, which is a feeling I enjoy. But yeah, I just love it. I think it's so, so, fun. 

Beth [00:46:09] I'm almost always like a four or five to get the word and that's fine with me. 

[00:46:12] I had a run there. [00:46:12]Neus [0.0s] was serving me well where I got like two guesses or three guesses like three or four days in a row. But, man, it's fun. The last few days I thought have been pretty hard. 

Beth [00:46:23] I think a group project just feels good, and that's what's so nice. It's nice to see something positive on social media. I'm not mad about it. I love all the clever takes on it. You know, the kind of art projects that people are creating out of this blocks. It is nice to have something connective.  I can't think of a negative. You're not served an ad. Like there's just nothing negative about this right now. 

Sarah [00:46:49] I do want to give Josh Wardle some money. How do I do that? I need like a donate button on there. I want him to be rich from this gift to humanity. 

Beth [00:46:56] Josh, allow us to Venmo you.  

Sarah [00:46:58] Yeah. Josh, come on, man. We want to give you some money for this gift that you've given to humanity. That seems to have very little, if no negative sides. I mean, that's hard to do. It's hard to create a viral thing that doesn't really have any negative. And I swear to God, if somebody goes through that man's tweets and finds something, I will be livid. 

Beth [00:47:15] Just don't. Just don't. 

Sarah [00:47:17] Leave it. Just leave it alone. 

Beth [00:47:18] People need to be allowed to create within the scope of their genius and otherwise be human. We've got to stop expecting that everything flows together. Like just let this be one good thing. 

Sarah [00:47:29] A  love story. This love story that's viral and making us all a little bit happier as we serve the end of this Omicron  wave. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Pantsuit Politics. We are always so happy to be here with all of you. We will be back in your ears on a regular schedule next Tuesday, and until then, keep it nuanced y'all. 

Beth [00:47:58] Pantsuit Politics is produced by Studio D Podcast Production. Alise Napp is our managing director. 

Sarah [00:48:03] Maggie Penton is our community engagement manager. Dante Lima is the composer and performer of our theme music. 

Beth [00:48:09] Our show is listener-supported. Special thanks to our executive producers. 

Executive Producer (Read their own names) [00:48:14] Martha Bronitsky, Ali Edwards, Janice Elliot, Sarah Greenup, Julie Haller, Helen Handley, Tiffany Hassler, Emily Holladay, Katie Johnson, Katrina Zuganelis Kasling, Barry Kaufman, Molly Kohrs, Buckley. 

[00:48:31] The Kriebs, Laurie LaDow, Lilly McClure, Jared Minson, Emily Neesley, The Pentons, Tawni Peterson, Tracy Puthoff, Sara Ralph, Jeremy Sequoia, Katy Stigers, Karin True, Onica Ulveling, Nick and Alysa Vilelli, Amy Whitehed, 

Beth [00:48:48] Jeff Davis, Melinda Johnston, Ashley Thompson, Michelle Wood, Joshua Allen, Morgan McHugh, Nichole Berklas, Paula Bremer, and Tim Miller. 

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