Whose line is it anyway

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

Feb 27, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan and Eli Stokols 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 Eli | Email Lauren Throughout his career, JOE BIDEN has been known as loquacious and gaffe prone. The man doesn’t stick to a script, which makes operating his teleprompter one of the trickier tasks in national politics. Indeed, the president has a reputation in the event production business as one of the most difficult speakers to work with, according to six people with decades of experience in the industry who have run teleprompter for Biden and other well known public figures. Biden has dealt with a stutter since childhood; it’s an issue he opened up about while on the trail in 2020. Some stutterers see his extemporaneous speaking style as an effort to manage or obscure his stuttering, to avoid certain words where he has “blocks.” But Biden aides also acknowledge he loves to go on tangents, giving him a type of relatability that has served him well throughout his career — an average Joe persona telling hokey stories and offering up deeply personal vignettes. For voters, those tangents are often great. For teleprompter operators, less so. One operator described working with Biden during the 2008 election cycle as “chaos," because of his propensity to jump around from item to item, some of them not even in the script. Another teleprompter operator, who has worked with dozens of political candidates, government officials and corporate executives over a 30-year career, called Biden “the hardest client I have ever had to prompt for.” Invented in the late 1940s to help actors with their lines, the teleprompter quickly became a hit for any televised event requiring script reading. During the 1952 presidential campaign, both Democrats and Republicans used it at their nominating conventions. It’s been a mainstay in American politics ever since — allowing politicians to engage more with their audiences rather than looking down at a piece of paper. The actual teleprompter operator never meets face-to-face with the speaker, instead relying on the script and the politician’s cadence to keep the words flowing. Still, it’s an intimate relationship. Operators learn the speaker’s style and quirks and anticipate how he or she might respond to different crowds and settings. The speakers, in return, are entirely reliant on the operator to keep up with them — no matter how out of order they get — to avoid awkward moments, blank stares, and revealing pauses while on live TV or appearing at a campaign event. Politicians have earned their own reputations within the production business. Former President GEORGE W. BUSH struggled to look natural and moved his eyes so much that it was obvious he was reading from a teleprompter (one teleprompter operator said they show new speakers videos of Bush as an example of what not to do). Former Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO is known to completely ignore the prepared script and do his own thing, much to his staff’s frustration. Former President DONALD TRUMP is a demanding client: he knows exactly what height he wants the teleprompter and has specific font size requests. The former president is also known to go on lengthy tangents wildly off script, leaving the operator wondering when he will drift back to the prepared text. But Biden takes the cake. “[Biden is] the most stressful speaker,” said LAURI PLESCO, the owner of Peachtree Prompters in Georgia. “He would go off topic and ad lib and then he’d jump to something eight pages ahead and I would have to search and go to that topic, and then he would go back to something six pages prior,” she said. Plesco thought he could benefit from professional teleprompter training. “I know from operating for him that there’s no practicing with the teleprompter before a live speech,” she said. “It's a whole other animal than just speaking because you have to be aware of what’s on the script but also be in the moment and communicate with the audience.” Still, whatever anxiety Biden might cause, most teleprompter operators agreed that it was better to get a call from his team than Trump’s. “Biden won’t break your equipment,” said the owner of a Florida-based production company, who also asked to speak on condition of anonymity to protect business relationships. They pointed to a 2016 campaign speech Trump gave in North Carolina when he, claiming that the teleprompter wasn’t working, knocked over one of the glass plates used to display the speech. “That could put you back $8,000, easily,” the person said. MESSAGE US — Are you A TELEPROMPTER OPERATOR WHO WASN’T STRESSED WHEN WORKING WITH BIDEN? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!     JOIN POLITICO ON 3/1 TO DISCUSS AMERICAN PRIVACY LAWS: Americans have fewer privacy rights than Europeans, and companies continue to face a minefield of competing state and foreign legislation. There is strong bipartisan support for a federal privacy bill, but it has yet to materialize. Join POLITICO on 3/1 to discuss what it will take to get a federal privacy law on the books, potential designs for how this type of legislation could protect consumers and innovators, and more. REGISTER HERE.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from Allie. Which president established the first presidential library? (Answer at the bottom.) The Oval THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO, HMMM…: Vox’s DYLAN MATTHEWS highlighted a passage on Twitter today from an NYT story that noted the president has inexplicably gotten taller over the years — at least according to results from his physicals. At the end of 2021, the president stood at 5 feet 11.65 inches, but earlier this month, his height was measured at 6 feet. What’s your trick, Joe? MO’ MONEY, MO’ PROBLEMS: As Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG traveled Monday to Kansas to break ground on a new Panasonic lithium battery plant, he touted the $4 billion facility, expected to employ 4,000 people, as evidence of a manufacturing “renaissance.” But as our ZACK COLMAN reports, “the booming labor market… is creating a hiring bottleneck” for clean energy companies looking to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $369 billion in tax credits. “Having the technicians and the engineers and skilled mechanics, that is going to be a challenge,” Gov. JAY INSLEE, (D-Wash.) told Zack. It’s not the only story spotlighting hiccups from the investment boom following the law’s passage last year. The NYT’s BRAD PLUMER wrote last week about how the volume of new wind and solar projects “has overwhelmed the nation’s antiquated systems to connect new sources of electricity to homes and businesses.” Obviously, these are good problems to have, but they’re also a reminder that the projected emissions reductions aren’t guaranteed. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by NYT’s JIM TANKERSLEY about the administration’s latest push for affordable child care. This week, “the Commerce Department will announce that any semiconductor manufacturer seeking a slice of nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies will need to essentially guarantee affordable, high-quality child care for workers who build or operate a plant.” Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO tweeted out the piece Monday. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This Atlantic piece by MARK LEIBOVICH, advocating for a Democratic challenger to the president should he run for reelection. “Democrats today have a strong craving for someone other than the sitting president. (Also obvious: That someone is not the current vice president.) Many voters viewed Biden’s candidacy in 2020 as a one-term proposition. He suggested as much. ‘Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,’ Biden said nearly three years ago at a campaign event in Michigan… Some mischief-maker should give Democrats a path to that future starting now. Voters bought the bridge in 2020. But when does it become a bridge too far?” AND, ON THAT NOTE, HERE’S ANOTHER TAKE: GREG CRAIG, a lawyer who worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations, has an NYT opinion piece about how Biden should handle his 2024 reelection. Because of the concerns about his age, the president should “not dictate who will be his running mate but instead leave it up to the delegates to pick the person who is best equipped to take on that task,” Craig writes. “Giving voters a chance to participate in selecting Mr. Biden’s running mate in 2024 would address the issue of age and succession. It would show him to be confident, engaged, unafraid, farsighted and even vital.” Let’s just say that not everyone was persuaded by this one. JOE ROSPARS, formerly the "chief strategist" for ELIZABETH WARREN’s 2020 presidential campaign, shared some concise feedback here. THE BUREAUCRATS STICKING AROUND: JOHN KERRY, Biden’s special climate envoy, plans to stay in the role at least through the United Nations climate talks scheduled for December, Zack Colman reports. Kerry told The Boston Globe he informed the president of his intent to stay. “There’s sufficient unfinished business that I felt it would be inappropriate to walk away from that at this point in time,” Kerry said. QUICKLY BECOMING THE HOTTEST TRAVEL SPOT FOR BIDEN OFFICIALS: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN made a surprise trip to Kyiv Monday to reaffirm the U.S.’s support for the nation, our KELLY GARRITY reports. In a meeting with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Yellen said she brings “a clear message from President Biden and the American people: We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Tweet by Janet Yellen | Twitter In an interview with CNN’s ALICIA WALLACE, Yellen also spoke about inflation in the U.S., saying the Fed’s efforts to keep it at bay look “so far, so good.” More on that here. AIR PETE: The inspector general will look into Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s “use of Federal Aviation Administration jets for official trips,” WaPo’s IAN DUNCAN reports. “The Transportation Department said Buttigieg made 18 flights on FAA planes over seven trips. In all but one trip, it was less expensive to use FAA aircraft than to fly commercially, Buttigieg’s office said. The cost of the flights for Buttigieg and accompanying staff was $41,905.20.” Buttigieg tweeted out the story saying he welcomed the audit “so misleading narratives can be put to rest.” Filling the Ranks DEAR PUBLIC, MEET YOUR NEW ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR: Biden on Monday announced that former Columbia, S.C. Mayor STEVEN BENJAMIN will serve as the White House senior adviser for public engagement, replacing the outgoing director, KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS. In a statement, the president praised Benjamin’s work as mayor and said his “deep relationships with communities across the country will serve our administration and the American public well.” Bottoms is set to leave her post at the end of March. Axios’s SOPHIA CAI has more. NOMINEES ON NOMINEES: The president also announced two ambassador nominees — VERNELLE TRIM FITZPATRICK to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Gabon and WILLIAM W. POPP to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Uganda. What We're Reading Facing a long war, Ukraine needs Western fighter jets (WaPo Editorial Board) Has Bernie Sanders really helped Joe Biden move further left? (The Guardian’s David Smith) US calls on Russia to stay with nuclear weapons treaty (AP’s Jamey Keaten and Jim Heintz)   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     The Oppo Book As a kid, Buttigieg took a major interest in the Kennedy family. He even asked for a copy of JOHN F. KENNEDY’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” for his 11th or 12th birthday, according to the AP. JOE GEGLIO, a childhood friend of Buttigieg, bought him the book, though he “had no idea what that was.” Another friend, JAMES MUELLER, recalled Buttigieg reciting memorized passages of Kennedy speeches, too. He specifically remembered Buttigieg saying part of a Kennedy speech about his administration’s moon landing mission in 1962: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Is that nerdy? Lol. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT established the FDR Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y., the first ever presidential library. It opened to the public in 1941. According to the National Archives, Roosevelt’s predecessor, HERBERT HOOVER, followed suit and later established the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa. Hoover’s presidential library opened to the public in 1962. 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 Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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