On the day she was named the first black and first openly gay White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre said she hoped her appointment could inspire other people who, like her, never imagined having a prominent role in of political communication.
“I think it’s important for them to see that,” she said in May 2022.
Americans are seeing them less lately.
Since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, Ms. Jean-Pierre has deferred attention to a lower-level official, John F. Kirby. For months, Mr. Kirby has been a regular co-host of her daily briefings, often answering more questions from journalists than she does and appearing more frequently on major political news programs as a government spokesman.
Mr. Kirby, 60, a retired Navy admiral who previously worked at the Pentagon and the State Department, is more knowledgeable about foreign policy at a time of war in Ukraine and the Middle East. At the lectern, he exudes a clarity and comfort that can sometimes escape Ms. Jean-Pierre, 49, a more experienced speaker with less experience in dealing with an opposing press.
The White House attributes Mr. Kirby’s increased role to the deluge of international news and says he will report less frequently once the crisis in the Middle East subsides. But the perception in Washington that President Biden has allowed Mr. Kirby, who is white, to parade a black woman as the face of his White House has made their double-crossing a third-tier issue.
“I can’t think of many issues that I would take less of a stand on,” said a Biden supporter and Democratic strategist, who considered the issue too politically and culturally sensitive to discuss without mentioning his name.
Many of the White House staffers, Biden’s political allies and White House reporters interviewed for this article requested anonymity to navigate the difficult balancing act between Ms. Jean-Pierre and Mr. Kirby. Some said they did so in part to avoid giving ammunition to their vitriolic critics, such as the right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson, who has explicitly linked criticism of Ms. Jean-Pierre to her race.
Through a spokesman, Ms. Jean-Pierre and Mr. Kirby declined to be interviewed. Each made a statement praising the other. (Mr. Kirby: “It is a privilege to be in her company, to watch her work and to learn from her.”) Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, said that Mr. Kirby was “very much appreciated” and that Woman . Jean-Pierre “skillfully represents the president and his agenda every day.”
Administration officials emphasized that Ms. Jean-Pierre appeared in a variety of media outlets, including regional television networks, Black and Latino-focused platforms, print magazines and talk shows such as “The View.”
“Many reporters in the briefing room are focused on who had how much time in the briefing,” said Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director. “I just don’t think the country consumes information that way. I think they see Karine, they recognize her and they know her, and they are happy that the president has her on his side.”
Still, there are inescapable signs that Mr. Biden — who faces a tough re-election campaign, low approval ratings and voter concerns about his age and health — is increasingly relying on people outside of Ms. Jean-Pierre to sell his message a skeptical citizenry.
While Mr. Kirby previously only traveled internationally with Mr. Biden, he has recently begun accompanying the president on domestic flights, ensuring he can brief reporters even when they are not in Washington.
On Friday, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, Ian Sams, was at the center of a high-profile, televised news conference after a special counsel report cast doubt on Mr. Biden’s memory. Mr. Sams answered difficult questions for 40 minutes; Ms. Jean-Pierre, who spoke next, spent about half of that time at the lectern. Previous press secretaries have deferred to specialist spokespersons on niche topics such as investigations and national security; Typically, however, they did not become fixtures at the White House lectern.
And Mr. Kirby’s responsibilities grow. On Sunday, he was promoted to White House national security communications adviser, making him responsible for communications for all executive agencies involved in national security. Ms. Jean-Pierre will remain press secretary, although Mr. Kirby will now rank alongside her as “assistant to the president,” the highest staff title in the West Wing.
Before his appointment, Mr. Kirby had admitted privately when asked that he would one day like to be named press secretary, and according to several reports, he expressed frustration that Ms. Jean-Pierre had chosen the reporters to ask him questions at briefings for people interviewed for this article. Ms Jean-Pierre said she had no plans to quit her job before the election. Some details of her private comments were previously reported by Axios.
The situation was unpleasant from the start.
When Mr. Biden chose Ms. Jean-Pierre to succeed Jen Psaki, his first press secretary, in early 2022, he did so despite concerns from some senior aides who believed she needed more seasoning for the job, according to three people with knowledge of the dynamics West Wing.
Ms. Jean-Pierre, a daughter of Caribbean immigrants who grew up in Queens, was the Obama White House’s Northeast political director, Kamala Harris’s chief of staff in the 2020 election, a spokesperson for MoveOn.org and a political analyst on MSNBC. A White House spokesman said her experiences were “widely viewed as unique and important qualifications” for the role of press secretary.
None of these positions, however, involved daily on-camera barrages from combative journalists, a challenge that requires mastery of a dizzying range of topics and the verbal reflexes of an auctioneer.
To complement Ms. Jean-Pierre, Mr. Biden appointed Mr. Kirby, his Pentagon spokesman at the time, to a newly created position: National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. The opaque title obscured the fact that Mr. Kirby, who impressed Mr. Biden during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021, would share some duties with Ms. Jean-Pierre, such as briefing reporters on foreign affairs.
At a May 2022 reception on the Truman Balcony held in honor of Ms. Psaki’s departure, Mr. Biden spoke to a group of aides as he sought to reassure Ms. Jean-Pierre that she had nothing to worry about following in her footsteps by Ms. Psaki to address two people with direct knowledge of their exchange.
Finally, Mr. Biden told her, “You’re going to have an admiral looking over your shoulder.” The president’s tone suggested he wanted to be encouraging, the people said, but the comment ended with a thud. (A White House spokesman said the president did not make that remark.)
In the meeting room, Ms. Jean-Pierre was experiencing growing pains. She often relied on talking points from her briefing folder, and some reporters complained that she occasionally gave the impression that she was out of the loop; An NPR journalist questioned whether she had lost some credibility after falsely declaring that no classified documents had been found during a search of Mr. Biden’s Delaware home.
Mr. Kirby began playing a more prominent role in early 2023 when authorities identified a Chinese spy balloon floating over the Midwest and he became the face of the White House response.
Many journalists who cover the White House say Mr. Kirby can be more insightful and accessible behind the scenes. He has worked in the military and government since the 1980s and maintains close relationships with reporters. When traveling abroad, he often ends the day with journalists at the hotel bar. (Administration officials said Ms. Jean-Pierre meets with various journalists in her office daily.) At a recent briefing aboard Air Force One, Mr. Kirby finished his portion and was returning to the presidential cabin when a reporter called after him.
“He goes?” the reporter asked. “Admiral! Admiral!” Ms. Jean-Pierre called Mr. Kirby back to inquire about Elon Musk’s reported drug use, a topic typically handled by a press secretary.
Brian Karem, a columnist for Salon who covers the White House, called it “unusual to have two people working for an administration’s press department.” You can’t have covered presidents since Reagan like I did and not have noticed that this was strange is.”
Still, Mr. Karem said he much prefers the current situation to the years under former President Donald J. Trump, whose press secretary attacked reporters and occasionally withdrew their access. A Trump press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, did not hold a single briefing during her time in office. The Biden White House restored the tradition of holding multiple briefings each week.
“It’s definitely nice to have two people talking to us who are actually informing us,” Mr. Karem said, “and not one person up at the podium insulting us like we had in the last administration.”
April Ryan, a correspondent for The Grio who has covered presidents since the Clinton administration, said she found the gossip about Ms. Jean-Pierre and Mr. Kirby sharing the spotlight “disrespectful,” citing long-standing ones Lack of diversity in government meeting rooms.
“This is a white male-dominated space, and I have seen some stupidity in this building,” said Ms. Ryan, who is black. “I’m hypersensitive to disrespect toward black women because I know what it feels and smells like.”
Ms. Ryan, who said she was friends with both speakers, joked that she saw some irony in the White House relying on him at the lectern. “Biden’s poll numbers have fallen in part because of foreign policy,” she said.
For her part, Ms. Jean-Pierre was candid about the pressure that comes with the groundbreaking nature of her role. When she was appointed to the job, she told reporters that the significance of her promotion “was not lost on me.”
“I understand how important it is for so many people out there, so many different communities, that I stand on their shoulders,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “I just appreciate this time and this moment and hope I can make people proud.”
Source link
2024-02-13 14:00:09
www.nytimes.com