Unrestrained Biden partakes in more spontaneous public engagements, promoting Harris's agenda as his advocacy.
On a Wednesday, that implies he's having some leisure time to watch "The View".
This transition indicates a change for a president who conducted two high-stakes network interviews in July, defending his capability to serve while battling for his political survival. Now, freed from the burdens of campaigning, particularly the constant scrutiny of his age and verbal blunders, the president is intensifying his unscripted interactions and focusing on activities aimed at reinforcing his legacy.
A former Biden aide commented, "Joe Biden is back to being the carefree, true-to-self person we all recognized."
There's an underlying assumption that Biden's policy legacy's fate is intrinsically linked to Harris' success in November. The president's strategy in the days leading up to the election, as stated by a White House official, is to "exert as much effort as possible in the remaining days of his tenure to aid his partner, Vice President Harris, in getting elected and reaching out to people to convey what we're achieving for them."
Biden is expected to focus more on his accomplishments – implementation of essential laws; his long-term support for the “Violence Against Women Act”; and his broader "unity agenda" encompassing mental health access, veteran care, and efforts to eradicate cancer, among other topics – during his appearance on "The View", according to another source.
This focus could serve to establish a certain strategic distance between the president and his former running mate. In a recent NBC News poll, 40% of the respondents "expressed greater concern that Harris will continue with the same approach as Biden."
He's also scheduled to appear on the "A Bit of Optimism" podcast for a discussion on leadership with host Simon Sinek.
Biden will face tough questions from the hosts of "The View", whose political viewpoints span a wide spectrum. His 10th appearance on the show, where he conducted his first interview after announcing his 2020 campaign, will take place on Wednesday.
According to a source, it's "an extremely bright move of his to appear, and I'm taken aback he didn't do so earlier, specifically during his campaign. ‘The View’ is the most popular daytime show, reaches millions of households, and the audience is predominantly female."
The source continued, "It's an excellent platform for him to promote his legacy initiatives and attempt to bolster Kamala Harris's campaign."
White House officials maintain that the communication strategy remains unchanged – but one official admitted that a directive to revamp tactics is coming directly from Biden.
"The president wants to be visible a lot and mix things up. The president's instructions to his team have been to vigorously execute on his agenda, tour various locations to highlight the Biden-Harris record, and interact directly with Americans to explain the impact of this agenda," the official said.
In the two months since Biden declared his withdrawal from the race, he has displayed a marked willingness to engage with journalists in less formal settings, including Marine One departures and arrivals, and other White House events. He has answered reporters' questions 22 times since his July 21 announcement.
Comparatively, Biden answered reporters' questions in less formal settings seven times in the two-month period preceding that, as well as three formal news conferences.
During his presidency, former President Donald Trump redefined the informal Q&A pattern with his frequent "chopper talk" encounters with journalists. Biden has generally adhered to this pattern with a substantial, yet somewhat reduced, number of informal engagements, according to data collected by Martha Joynt Kumar, a scholar specializing in White House communications and presidential transitions.
However, the president has made few media appearances in this period. He spoke to "CBS Sunday Morning" about his decision to step aside and his concerns about democracy's future in mid-August. He was the first president to grant an interview to an LGBTQ+ publication, "The Blade", earlier this month. And he praised Vice President Kamala Harris during a syndicated "DeDe in the Morning" radio show.
The podcast with Sinek will offer a glimpse into Biden's thoughts on his career, sharing his views on leadership and hope.
Sources say his appearances on "The View" and "A Bit of Optimism" align with the White House's long-held media goal: to connect with Americans – and voters – where they are, on both traditional platforms like evening newscasts and late-night shows, and digital platforms, including engagement on social media.
For his part, Biden appears to be truly unrestrained in this new, less scripted period, cracking jokes and speaking off-the-cuff on the road and at the White House.
He travelled to Philadelphia last week for a conference of historically Black colleges and universities, dividing his time between addressing the event attendees through a teleprompter and interacting with the crowd in an overflow room with personal stories from his past.
He donned a red Trump hat while visiting families at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department on September 11, adding a humorous touch to an otherwise solemn day of commemorations.
And when he attended a White House conference for digital creators recently, he joked, "I invited you all because I'm looking for a job. You are the source of news, and more people want to get into your business than the other these days. When I retire, where do you think I'm going? I have contacts."
He laughed, "You are the ones who popularize news, and nowadays, more people want to get into your industry than other professions. So, when I retire, I'll be in touch with you."
The president's strategy to focus on his accomplishments and promotional appearances, such as on "The View" and "A Bit of Optimism", can be seen as an attempt to distance himself strategically from Vice President Harris' campaign. This shift in communication strategy, led by the president himself, is an indication of a more unrestricted and unscripted period in his politics.
