The culture war Biden's eager to fight

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

Apr 27, 2023 View in browser   By Eli Stokols, Adam Cancryn and Lauren Egan Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Presidential campaigns often are waged on whether or not the country is ready to “turn the page.” President JOE BIDEN wants his reelection bid to hinge on whether or not there are pages to turn. The president’s team has made the issue of book banning a surprisingly central element of his campaign’s opening salvos. He referred to GOP efforts to restrict curriculum — TONI MORRISON’s The Bluest Eye was the third most banned title in America last year — in his first two campaign videos. He presents himself in each video as the defender of the country’s core values, a bulwark against an extreme Republican Party rolling back America’s freedoms. The campaign’s first TV ad, a 90-second spot running in seven states over the next two weeks as part of a seven-figure buy, warns Republicans “seek to overturn elections, ban books and eliminate a woman’s right to choose.” Biden followed up with a tweet hitting “MAGA extremists … telling you what books should be in your kids’ schools.” That followed the explicit reference to book bans in Biden’s launch announcement video Tuesday. The early focus on book banning is part of the campaign’s attempt to reinforce a broader message, said one Democratic adviser involved in the effort: Biden is the only one standing between the American people and a Republican Party determined to roll back rights and limit freedoms. “People just don’t understand why we should ban books from libraries,” said the adviser, who spoke with candor about the campaign’s strategy on the condition of anonymity. “So it’s a measure of extremism and another thing [Republicans] are trying to take away.” Biden’s message is based on mounds of research by Democratic pollsters over the last several months, as the president’s advisers and the Democratic National Committee have expanded the constellation of pollsters and data analysts tracking voter attitudes and the effectiveness of certain messages. The potency of book bans, along with issues like abortion and gun safety, is quite clear, according to multiple people familiar with the campaign’s data. “Book banning tests off the charts,” said CELINDA LAKE, one of the Democratic pollsters who tested the issue for Democrats. “People are adamantly opposed to it and, unlike some other issues that are newer, voters already have an adopted schema around book banning. They associate it with really authoritarian regimes, Nazi Germany.” The campaign’s private research aligns with public polling on the issue. A CBS News/YouGov poll in February found that more than 8 in 10 Americans opposed GOP efforts to ban books that focus on slavery, the civil rights movement and an unsanitized version of American history. And a Fox News survey this week found that 60 percent of Americans — including 48 percent of Republicans — find book bans problematic. Republicans led by Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS, who appears likely to run for president, have leaned into the culture wars by leading efforts to bar those books, and others about LGBTQ topics. They’ve framed the push as an effort to protect social indoctrination via school curriculum. Lake sees it as a political gift to Biden. “You’ll see Democrats up and down the ticket running on this,” she said. You can read the full story here. MESSAGE US — Are you LEVAR BURTON? 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!    HAPPENING NEXT WEEK! GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from May 1-4. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World, will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from reader JAMES DUFFY. Which first lady saved GEORGE WASHINGTON’s portrait? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval WHAT’S JOE WATCHING? The president isn’t a religious viewer of any one show, but he regularly catches MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” from the White House residence. And he’ll keep an eye on CNN throughout the day in the Oval Office thanks to a small, gold-framed television designed to blend in with all the family photos arranged atop the credenza behind the Resolute Desk. Eli wrote about this and other aspects of the president’s media diet for POLITICO Magazine’s media issue ahead of Biden’s appearance at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. EIGHT-YEAR-OLDS, DUDE: The kiddos (a range of ages, actually) of White House staff took over the campus Thursday as part of Bring Your Kid to Work Day. President Biden spent 24 minutes in the south driveway, taking questions ranging from his favorite color (blue) and biggest inspiration (his parents) to his favorite color rose (white), ice cream (chocolate chip) and today’s breakfast (egg, bacon and cheese on a croissant). He couldn’t quite recall where all of his grandchildren live or the country he’d traveled to last – until a child reminded him by shouting out, “Ireland.” Biden, whose trip just two weeks ago drew international press coverage, marveled at the response. “How’d you know that?” he joked. That was preceded by an on-the-record morning briefing, where the children of some White House correspondents asked press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE several questions. She was able to reveal that Biden likes spaghetti but said she would “have to look at the data” to answer what his longest motorcade had been. “It’s a good question. You actually stumped me.” [Sam here: Look, I don’t wanna be too harsh. But these kids couldn’t have come up with a follow up to the favorite ice cream question? Also, President Biden: What are you, in college? Who eats that type of breakfast?]  HE DROVE HIS CHEVY TO THE LEVEE… At Wednesday night’s state dinner, South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL surprised the crowd by singing DON MCLEAN’s 1971 hit “American Pie.” Bloomberg’s JORDAN FABIAN notes that Biden said, "I had no damn idea you could sing.” Here’s a video of the rendition, courtesy of C-SPAN’s HOWARD MORTMAN. Biden also tweeted the performance and his presentation afterward of a guitar signed by McLean as a gift to Yoon. PASSION FOR (NOT DISCLOSING) FASHION: Speaking of Wednesday night’s affair, first lady JILL BIDEN didn’t disclose what she was wearing to it, “overtly rejecting that tradition, especially given how clearly her staff thought through every aspect of the state dinner,” NYT’s VANESSA FRIEDMAN reports. “In that context, not to include the details of her dress — who made it, its color or design or material — seems a deliberate decision. … It’s the statement of no statement.” (Alternate theory: why announce details that KATE BENNETT will just tweet out?) WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: If you’re going to read about Biden’s reelection bid in the context of his questions over his age, they’d probably point you to this report by the WSJ’s KEN THOMAS and CATHERINE LUCEY, “Why Joe Biden Decided to Run Again.” It offers the rationale for his candidacy from some of his closest friends and advisers. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: RUY TEIXEIRA’s reasons why the president could lose reelection in Thursday’s edition of “The Liberal Patriot” newsletter. Teixeira writes that Biden is “an extraordinarily weak candidate,” and goes into detail about how “Trump may be a stronger opponent than Democrats expect.” IT COULD BE WORSE: Sure, Biden is an older president, and his age is a concern for voters, but POLITICO Europe’s WILHELMINE PREUSSEN and NICOLAS CAMUT have a roundup of other world leaders who worked into their octogenarian years. THE BUREAUCRATS DOUG FIGHTS BACK: Former Alabama senator and longtime Biden ally DOUG JONES called out Republican presidential candidate NIKKI HALEY after she said in a Fox News interview that Biden will likely die within five years. The remarks “are more than disrespectful, they are disgusting, appalling and unbefitting a candidate for the highest office in the land,” Jones said. PERSONNEL MOVES: RACHEL WALLACE, the chief of staff to White House budget director SHALANDA YOUNG, is leaving her post, and Capitol Hill alum KAREN DE LOS SANTOS will be her replacement starting Monday, CAITLIN EMMA and DANIEL LIPPMAN report for Pro subscribers. In a rare on-the-record statement, STEVE RICHETTI praised Wallace, an alum of Biden’s campaign and transition: “When you look at her track record — leading Women for Biden, being essential to this administration making history with a staff that looks like America, and then managing the team that is the nerve center of the Federal government — it speaks to her loyalty to this President and his agenda, her commitment to public service, and her ability to get the job done.” KLAIN SPEAKS: Former White House chief of staff RON KLAIN spoke about the criticism Vice President KAMALA HARRIS has received on an episode of the podcast, “On With Kara Swisher.” “Sexism and racism are part of the problem. … I think she was not as well known in national politics before she became vice president. And I think that she hasn’t gotten the credit for all that she’s done,” he said. Our KIERRA FRAZIER has more. WHOOPSIE: Fed Chair JEROME POWELL “spoke on the phone early this year with someone posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Fed confirmed — an embarrassing episode for the central bank chief,” our VICTORIA GUIDA reports. A Fed spokesperson said in a statement that Powell had a conversation in January with “someone who misrepresented himself as the Ukrainian president. It was a friendly conversation and took place in a context of our standing in support of the Ukrainian people in this challenging time. No sensitive or confidential information was discussed.” [Sam here again: Eli, try this trick on Biden] Agenda Setting HANDLING THIS ELSEWHERE: Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS on Thursday unveiled “plans to establish immigration processing centers throughout Latin America to help slow down the number of migrants coming to the U.S.,” our MYAH WARD reports. Processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia should be up and running in the next few weeks, and additional details are yet to come about centers in other countries as negotiations remain underway. TANK ANGST: Senators on both sides of the aisle are calling on the Pentagon to hurry the sending of U.S. tanks to Ukraine, saying Kyiv needs the capability now, our CONNOR O’BRIEN reports. Lawmakers expressed their frustration to top defense officials in a Senate Armed Service committee hearing Thursday. Sen. ANGUS KING (I-Maine) said that if the “tanks don't get there until August or September, it may well be too late.”   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.     What We're Reading Why Biden may have to forfeit the first contest in his re-election bid to Marianne Williamson or RFK Jr. (NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald) U.S.-China Ties Are Spiraling. The Cabinet’s Stuck in a Turf War. (Bob Davis for Politico Magazine) The dirty little secret of White House news conferences (WaPo’s Paul Farhi) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER During the burning of Washington, D.C. on Aug. 24, 1814, DOLLEY MADISON sought to save GEORGE WASHINGTON’s portrait from the fire, according to the Mount Vernon website. She wrote in a letter Aug. 23, 1814 that she didn’t want to flee the scene until “the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found to be too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvas taken out it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe keeping.” A CALL OUT — Thanks to James for this question! Do you think you have a harder one? 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

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.