Why Does Biden/Harris Website Say ‘Biden-Harris?’ The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly From Biden Spox Jen Psaki’s Briefings

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Principal Deputy Karine Jean-Pierre had a busy week briefing reporters, and in case you missed them, here are  the good, bad, and ugly moments that even resulted in a few #PsakiBombs.

#PsakiBomb is the term coined by Psaki Pstans for the politely cutting way the press secretary dispenses with bad faith or false questions and other assorted clownery, and there was plenty of that this week.

This week, a reporter tried to make an issue out of the “rebranding” of the administration, but Psaki used it as an opportunity to highlight the close partnership that President Joe Biden shares with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Q Yeah, is there anything to be read into, sort of, the rebranding of the Biden administration’s — the Biden-Harris administration? Has —

MS. PSAKI: Is it a rebranding?

Q Well, when you look on the website, it’s, you know, not — it’s “Biden-Harris,” and that’s not been necessarily the norm in the past. Is there any message being sent by that? Or what’s meant to be — what can be extrapolated from it?

MS. PSAKI: I would take from it that Vice President Harris is an important partner. She’s the first in the room and the last in the room on most occasions, if she’s in town and not traveling around the country. It’s a reflection of the important role that she will play moving forward.

One reporter tried to make a point by asking if video of two children being dropped over the border wall in New Mexico was a sign that additional security is needed. Psaki pointed out that the children were rescued by personnel at the border, and asked a pointed question: “Are you concerned about the kids’ safety? Or are you concerned about kids getting in?”

Despite the fact that most reporters agitating for the White House to call this a “crisis” are also openly advocating for unaccompanied children to be turned away back into the desert, this reporter responded the latter.

“Well, of course it is,” Psaki said. “Which is why I’m often surprised by some of the lines of questioning here, but, I will say that our concern and our focus is on sending a clear message to the region that this is not the time to come. You should not send your kids on this treacherous journey. That these smugglers are praying on vulnerabilities in these communities.”

And yet another reporter decided to try and make a dollar out of fifteen cents when he zeroed in on a Washington Post fact-check in order to ask if the White House would change its “tone” on voter suppression efforts by Republicans in the states. President Biden got over his skis when condemning one provision of Georgia’s laws, but GOP legislatures across the country have been trying to pass hundreds of bills to make it more difficult to vote. And Georgia was scared off of much worse provisions by an activist pressure campaign on companies in the state.

While President Biden ought to move on from this particular data point, the media have focused on this single provision as a way to undermine opposition to these suppression efforts, as did The Washington Post.

But Psaki did not seem open to the reporter’s proposed change in “tone” one little bit, nor was she impressed by the citation of “what the governor of Georgia has said.”

Q On — on one other subject. In Georgia — talking about the voting bill that was just signed from the governor — community organizers have threatened boycotts on big companies like Delta, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, in part from some of the information that’s come from the President.

In his last news conference, he said that the bill requires voting to end early, at 5:00 p.m. And you’ve said, and some others have said, that words matter. The bill actually standardizes voting hours by counties and adds Saturdays and Sundays voting, and it also allows the extended hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. So is there going to be a correction issued for —

MS. PSAKI: It standardizes the ending of voting every day at five, right? It just gives options?

Q Seven — seven to seven is what it —

MS. PSAKI: It gives options to expand it — right? — but it standardized it at five. It also makes it so that outside groups can’t provide water or food to people in line. Right?

Q Yeah, but the —

MS. PSAKI: It makes it more difficult to absentee vote. Are those things all correct?

Q The voting on the day of is seven to seven, and early voting — it can standardize adding Saturday and Sunday. So my question is: Is the tone going to change out of the White House? Or —

MS. PSAKI: The tone for a bill that limits voting access and makes it more difficult for people to engage in voting in Georgia?

Q No, that’s actually not what the governor of Georgia has said.

MS. PSAKI: Well, I think that is not based in fact what the governor of Georgia has said.

So, no, our tone is not changing. We have concerns about the specific components of the package, including the fact that it makes it harder and more difficult for people to vote by limiting absentee options; by making it not viable, not possible for people to provide water to people who are in line; by not standardizing longer hours.

So, if you’re making it harder to vote, no, we don’t support that.

Then, there was the back-row attempt to attack the president over his Easter plans. Psaki handled it.

One reporter asked Psaki, again, if President Biden and Vice President Harris would be curtailing their travel based on CDC guidelines that clearly don’t apply to presidential travel, causing the press secretary to explain, for the fourth or fifth time, that presidential travel differs significantly from that of superspreading spring breakers or Texans escaping to Cancun for a vacation.

Well, I would say the President travels, as does the Vice President, on a private plane. That is the purview of every President and Vice President throughout American history. That is, of course, different than traveling on a commercial flight and going to mass events. As you know, we don’t — the President is not hosting rallies, nor is the Vice President. We take the role of sending — being models quite seriously. But I think most Americans would recognize the difference.

Another reporter tried to press the point, and got more of the same, as well as yet another reminder that President Biden lives in Deaware.

what I’m conveying is that the President — and as any President does — travels on Air Force One, whether he is traveling to visit a community in this country or whether he is traveling to go to his home state of Delaware. And I think most people recognize that as being a difference.

But moment after being asked if VP Harris would please stop traveling, another reporter asked Psaki when Harris would start traveling to the border and/or to Central America.

Q Okay. And one more: Do you have an update on whether the Vice President plans to travel to Central America or to the border as part of her looking into the root causes of the immigration problem?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have an update on her travel. But since you gave me the opportunity, it’s important to understand and know that she is focused on addressing root causes in the region. And so, travel, I would expect, would be there. The border and expediting processing at the border, opening shelters, ensuring we’re moving kids out of Border Patrol facilities — that is really under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security and HHS. And they will all work together, but the Vice President’s focus is on the region, root causes, and engaging with governments directly.

Q So if she were to travel, it would be to Central America or something like that?

MS. PSAKI: That would be my expectation, but I don’t have any travel to preview at this point in time.

And on the very bright side, Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre became the first Black woman to hold a briefing in a generation, and the first one ever to do so streaming live aboard Air Force One — and while the plane was landing, to boot!

Finally, a word of congratulations to the White House press, who somehow managed to avoid asking about not just one, but two dog-related stories this week. Congratulations!

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.