Now that the Biden administration has sworn in and Trump left the White House, it’s the right time to look at the challenges the nation faces. Biden was as sober as a judge in a court of law in his inauguration speech, which is a good sign that our new president knows what his challenges are and are in the right mindset to tackle them.
An Interesting Incidence
President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions on Wednesday hours after he was sworn into office, many aimed at sweeping away former President Donald Trump’s policies, including mandating masks on federal property. But this interesting little incidence occurred during the first WH Press briefing yesterday, when a reporter from the Fox News asked a question to the new Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
I’ll just quote the conversation below from the Yahoo! News, which has the complete transcript, making my life easier to write this blog. I will use Q to represent the Fox News reporter below and use Psaki for the Press Secretary.
Q: Why weren’t President Biden and all members of the Biden family masked at all times on federal lands last night, if he signed an executive order that mandates masks on federal lands at all times.
PSAKI: At the inaugural–
Q: At the Lincoln Memorial, yes.
PSAKI: I think, Steve, he was celebrating an evening of a historic day in our country, and certainly he signed the mask mandate because it’s a way to send a message to the American public about the importance of wearing masks, how it can save tens of thousands of lives. We take a number of COVID precautions, as you know here, in terms of testing, social distancing, mask wearing ourselves, as– as we do every single day. But I don’t know that I have more for you on it than that.
Q: But as Joe Biden often talks about, it is not just important the example of power but the power of our example. Was that a good example for people who are watching and might not pay attention normally?
PSAKI: Well, Steve, I think the power of his example is also the message he sends by signing 25 executive orders, including almost half of them related to COVID, the requirements that we’re all under every single day here to ensure we’re sending that message to the public. Yesterday was a historic moment in our history. He was inaugurated as President of the United States. He was surrounded by his family. We take a number of precautions, but I don’t think– I think we have bigger issues to worry about at this moment in time.
Biden & the Chinese Emperor
I was smiling when I was reading the news. My thoughts jumped back to the ancient China, when every emperor’s every word and deed will be recorded as the raw materials for the official history books of the dynasty. We can call it “Emperor’s Diaries,” except they were recorded not by the emperor himself — he would be too busy with state affairs or with all the ladies he officially owned as empress and concubines — but by one of the eunuchs and later handed over to the historians, the full-blown males and thus not allowed to enter the emperor’s inner court where all his ladies lived.
Anyway, Joe Biden would be like the emperor in the US today — only an analogy, of course — in the sense that his every word and deed will be closely watched just like the emperor, except not by eunuchs of course but by people and especially the reporters. Also, we will have press briefing on a daily basis, and can ask questions and expect answers right away, most of the time. This you can’t get, not even imagine, in ancient China from the emperors.
Oh, The Human Nature!
What can we learn from the conversation from the very first news briefing? First of all, it reminds me of the human nature that was at play yesterday. We human naturally say things to defend ourselves, especially when we felt threats by a stranger, a potential enemy, an apparently less friendly individual, or even just an average someone. Furthermore, that human nature will play a role even with the best intention we have. Jen Psaki has shown herself being a very nice, friendly and transparent person, and received a round of applause when she promised to hold briefing everyday. She totally deserves that. Yet what makes human nature unique is that it comes without even conscious reckoning.
What The Right Answer Should Be
I respectively disagree with Jen Psaki when she stated that “I think we have bigger issues to worry about at this moment in time.” Of course, I will only say this in my blog and never to her face — assuming we would meet in person, which is as likely as I was chosen as the first human to fly to the Mars. Anyway, I tend to compliment others, in a believable way, to make the conversation pleasant and smooth.
Anyway, back to the topic: No, Biden not wearing a mask in public, while on the federal properties, is not a small thing. It’s a big deal because he has an executive order to that effect and because he wants to act differently from Trump. On the other hand, Biden is just a human and we constant forget something — even in the limelight or facing cameras.
It would really be nice to hear Jen saying this: Steve, thanks for the excellent question! I will make sure to pass that observation to the president himself. Thank you again!
Who says a press briefing only goes one way? It should provide feedbacks to the president about what the public, at least the press, thinks of him. President can learn from those feedbacks and do his job better in the future. This kind of things is not possible in China, at least not yet, which they should have to train citizens for democracy and hold officials accountable. While we have it, make good use of it anyway we can.