American Gothic

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Dec 16, 2022 View in browser   By Alex Thompson, Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.   Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Alex | Email Eli | Email Lauren Some of JOE BIDEN's friends refer to him as both the luckiest and unluckiest man they know. This weekend, the president and his family will be contemplating the unlucky side. Sunday will mark 50 years since the car crash that killed Biden's first wife and their daughter and injured both of their sons. Among aides and family, the tragedy is simply called "the accident." Biden's sister VALERIE recalled in her book, "Growing Up Biden," that her brother's "rage was incandescent, horrible, and I could tell that he was nearly breaking under its weight." Ahead of this black anniversary, Biden spoke Friday in Delaware at the National Guard/Reserve Center named after his son, BEAU, who died in 2015 of brain cancer. The spot has been a place that prompts the president to openly grieve. The day before his inauguration in 2021, Biden gave a speech there and wept as he said the country "should be introducing [Beau] as president" instead of him. On Friday, the president said when he sees the Reserve Center from Air Force One, "it always leads into a little bit of a lump in my throat." This weekend reinforces how Biden is a figure of both triumph and tragedy. After becoming one of the youngest people in history to be elected to the U.S. Senate, he lost his wife and daughter. The same fall he was elected as vice president, Beau was deployed to Iraq — a mission Biden believes contributed to Beau's death because of his exposure to "burn pits" that incinerate waste near military facilities. FINTAN O'TOOLE wrote in The New York Review of Books in 2020 that Biden "is the most gothic figure in American politics. He is haunted by death, not just by the private tragedies his family has endured, but by a larger and more public sense of loss." Such losses are often on the president's mind. "I think of Iraq because that's where my son died," Biden said last month, after he mixed up Ukraine and Iraq in a speech. Some suggested the 80-year-old president had misremembered since Beau died six years after returning from Iraq. But the remarks reflect how Biden believes the Iraq War — a conflict he voted for — ultimately caused his son's death. It is also why Biden made it such a priority to help other veterans with past exposure to burn pits. That impulse culminated in him signing the PACT Act this past summer to provide benefits to victims, at an estimated cost of $280 billion over the next decade. Biden revealed Friday that the bill was a personal cause as much as it was a political one. "I made it real clear to the United States Congress, if they didn't pass this damn burn pit bill, I was going to go on holy war. Not a joke. And I mean that," he told the crowd. This upcoming weekend of solemn contemplation over his past may also affect Biden's thinking about the future — and whether to go ahead with his intended plans to run for reelection or be content with a consequential single term. As NBC's MIKE MEMOLI poignantly wrote Friday, Biden's past tragedies have given him "perspective on what really matters, and an appreciation for what one can't control." MESSAGE US — Did you work or serve with BEAU BIDEN? We want to hear from you. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.   A NEW POLITICO PODCAST: POLITICO Tech is an authoritative insider briefing on the politics and policy of technology. From crypto and the metaverse to cybersecurity and AI, we explore the who, what and how of policy shaping future industries. We're kicking off with a series exploring darknet market places, the virtual platforms that enable actors from all corners of the online world to traffic illicit goods. As malware and cybercrime attacks become increasingly frequent, regulators and law enforcement agencies work different angles to shut these platforms down, but new, often more unassailable marketplaces pop up. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from Allie. Which two future presidents took a trip together to SHAKESPEARE's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon in England, and cut wood from a chair where the playwright used to sit? (Answer at the bottom.) Cartoon of the Week Cartoon by Bill Day | Courtesy It's that time of the week where we feature a cartoon! This one's by BILL DAY. Our very own MATT WUERKER publishes a selection of cartoons from all over the country. View the cartoon carousel here. The Oval MORE GRAY LADY DRAMA: The rancor within the New York Times deepened Friday following an email to the newsroom from deputy managing editor CLIFFORD LEVY, asking the guild to bring in an outside mediator to resolve a dozen contract matters still in dispute. "The process obviously isn't working," Levy wrote. West Wing Playbook heard from a number of irritated staffers, upset the guild wasn't notified in advance about the email, who called it "disingenuous," "not a serious proposal" and an "effort to divide the newsroom." While Levy complained the guild had not signed off on recently agreed to "revisions to an exciting new sabbatical proposal," he made no mention of the central issue: wages. The guild wants a 10 percent raise upon signing the new contract, followed by 5.5 percent raises in 2023 and 2024. The company has offered only a 5.5 percent raise initially and 3 percent raises the following two years. According to a recent guild bulletin updating members on stalled negotiations, the compensation of NYT's CEO MEREDITH KOPIT LEVIEN increased by 31.6 percent last year. It didn't take long for the guild to dash off a written response that articulated much of the frustrations shared privately with us, blasting management for "withholding" key "counter-offers" on wages, health care and return to office policy, among other things. The email's subject line was blunt — "Guild to Management: Do Your Jobs" — as was the rest of it. "The only thing that appears to be 'stuck' is the company," the guild writes. "Any obstacle to bargaining is of the company's own making at this point and it is unclear how a mediator would assist without a willing, good-faith participant across the table." STATE DEPT. RESHUFFLE: The Biden administration on Friday launched "China House," a State Department-based unit aimed at strengthening its diplomatic heft in its global rivalry with Beijing, our NAHAL TOOSI and PHELIM KINE report. WILLOW'S FIRST "WHITE" CHRISTMAS: Biden's family cat, WILLOW, seems to be excited to be celebrating her first Christmas at the White House. The Dodo posted a compilation of Willow galavanting around the decorations on Instagram, and the West Wing Playbook team recommends you take a second to watch! BG'S INSTA: In a lengthy post on Instagram, WNBA star BRITTNEY GRINER expressed her relief and gratitude for support she received through her 10-month captivity in Russia – including from President Biden, who she addressed directly. "You brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all other Americans home," she wrote. Griner promised to use her platform "to do whatever I can to help you." A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: NBC News' CAROL E. LEE, COURTNEY KUBE and DAN DE LUCE report that "a Biden administration official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to retake Crimea, but some officials are concerned any large-scale offensive that threatens Russia's hold on the peninsula could push VLADIMIR PUTIN to use nuclear weapons." WHERE'S @NEERA?: Senior adviser to the president NEERA TANDEN is on Post, the social media platform some see as an alternative to Twitter. Her username there is @neeratanden. THE BUREAUCRATS FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: NED SHELL is now counselor to the under secretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department, where he will work on climate issues, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. Shell most recently was global head of climate finance policy at Bloomberg LP and is a Biden campaign alum. MORE MOVES: JULIAN GEWIRTZ at the NSC is moving to the State Department where he will be deputy coordinator for China Global Affairs and helping lead the new Office of China Coordination ("China House"). Read our earlier profile of Gewirtz and his China-centric poetry here. WHAT THE DOJ WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo's DAVID NAKAMURA that was tweeted out by a DOJ spokesperson, about Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND working to reverse policies that "critics say disproportionately targeted Black communities by treating crack users more punitively." IT'S HAPPENING: Biden intends to nominate former Rep. JOE KENNEDY III (D-Mass.) to serve as the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, WSJ's CATHERINE LUCEY reports.  AND ANOTHER ONE: The State Department on Friday announced its appointment of JAMES P.  RUBIN to serve as the special envoy and coordinator of the agency's Global Engagement Center. BIDEN ALLY EXITS: With Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair RICHARD GLICK 's departure from the agency, the president lost a key ally in helping achieve his climate goals. Glick spent years arguing for better assessments of how pipeline projects would affect the nation's greenhouse gas output, initiatives that boosted the administration's efforts, E&E News' MIRANDA WILSON reports. What We're Reading Energy Dept. vacates 1950s decision revoking security clearance for 'father of the atomic bomb' J. Robert Oppenheimer (The Hill's Rachel Frazin) Biden plans big promotion for Cindy McCain (Axios' Hans Nichols) Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to visit sub-Saharan Africa (AP's Fatima Hussein) The Oppo Book We previously highlighted Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN's preparedness at all times, so naturally she practiced her signature before it was bestowed upon American currency. The signatures of the Treasury Secretary and the Treasurer of the United States are featured on dollar bills printed during their tenure. "I had heard stories — two of my predecessors. President [BARACK] OBAMA's Treasury Secretaries — TIMOTHY GEITHNER and JACK LEW — signed the currency and their signatures were so illegible that people made fun of them," she said on "The Late Show with STEPHEN COLBERT." "Secretary Lew signed something that looked like eight circles that were connected." "For both of them it was decided that they should redo it, so I knew this was something that you could really screw up and I wanted to get it right and I practiced and I practiced," she admitted. "You'll see what you think, but I think you'll be able to read the letters." Her signature was unveiled just last week, and it looks legible to us!   POLITICO AT CES 2023 : We are bringing a special edition of our Digital Future Daily newsletter to Las Vegas to cover CES 2023. The newsletter will take you inside the largest and most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the event. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of CES 2023.     POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER THOMAS JEFFERSON and JOHN ADAMS took a trip to Shakespeare's birthplace in 1786 and cut off some wood from a chair inside the house he was born in. According to the National Archives, Adams wrote this in a diary entry: "Stratford upon Avon is interesting as it is the Scaene of the Birth, Death and Sepulture of Shakespear. Three Doors from the Inn, is the House where he was born, as small and mean, as you can conceive. They shew Us an old Wooden Chair in the Chimney Corner, where He sat. We cutt off a Chip according to the Custom." A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Follow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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