“I suspect that they are of the understandable view of, ‘What difference does it make?’” Mr. Carville said of the Biden team’s cautious approach. “‘Why do I have to sit there and be interrogated for 20 minutes when all I can do is make a mistake, and I can’t move a Popsicle in terms of poll numbers?’”
How a president meets the media is just as often determined by personality as politics.
Mr. Obama was less enthused about facing gaggles of reporters, preferring one-on-ones where he could sidestep “topic of the day” lightning rounds and delve into a subject of his choice. Mr. Trump relished his jousts with journalists, even as he vilified the news media in increasingly menacing ways.
There is little doubt that Mr. Biden takes a brighter view than his predecessor of the news media and its role in the democratic process. Mr. Trump revoked White House press passes, labeled the media as the “enemy of the people” and increasingly restricted his appearances to Fox News opinion shows and other sympathetic stages. His administration also withheld press briefings for months on end. By contrast, Ms. Psaki holds extensive briefings nearly every day.
Still, Mr. Biden — who built his appeal on a colloquial, off-the-cuff style that leaves him vulnerable to gaffes — has never been especially chatty with reporters. One of his key advisers, Anita Dunn, was opposed to Mr. Biden regularly opening himself up to queries, an exercise that Ms. Dunn believed offered little upside and lots of downside.
Mr. Biden’s reluctant media habits set off a minor revolt from his press corps last week: After he broke precedent by skipping a news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, the White House Correspondents’ Association formally complained. “Is the worry that you don’t want the president taking questions?” one reporter asked a Biden press aide. (Reply: “The president often takes questions throughout the course of the day.”)
“A calculation is made about the risk versus benefits of talking extemporaneously,” said Jonathan Lemire, the host of “Way Too Early” on MSNBC and Politico’s White House bureau chief. “But you sacrifice part of the megaphone by not having the president do these interviews.”