‘Never underestimate Joe Biden’: Former Obama official reacts to Pres. Biden’s speech

It is the morning after the White House Correspondents Dinner, the annual event that celebrates the Free Press and where journalists mingle with administration officials, DC power players and a few celebrities. SNL star Colin Jones headlined the event, throwing more than a few jabs at Donald Trump into his set. Of course, President Biden also let loose on his opponent. Take a listen. Trump’s so desperate he started reading those Bibles he’s selling. Then he got to the First Commandment. You should have no other gods before me. That’s when he put it down and said this book’s not for me. Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually endorses me. I was about to say. The reaction, Sean from Vice President Harris, the whole thing joining us now. Former White House Social Secretary for the Obama White House Disha Dyer. She is the author of the brand new book Undiplomatic How my attitude Created the Best Kind of Trouble. Well, it’s giving. And I mean a book that the former first lady Mrs. Obama even posted on Instagram. So yeah. So not mad about it. Disha, what did you think of last night’s White House Correspondents Dinner? What would have, what you’ve seen, what you’ve heard been around these. I’ve been around these a lot. And I think, you know the thing about it was is that it was entertaining to me because I wasn’t there. I got to sit at home and judge everybody and look at everybody’s talking to folks and listen to Colin and and the vice president. See Eugene. It was really great to see him up there. So I loved it because I was sitting at home relaxing, getting ready for a party. So while y’all were there. So it was great. It was great. Let me ask you first of all, congratulations to the two of you all for making first in a hotel lobby. So David Jolly, even though I was skeptical this morning, I will admit I I know I’m the rookie guy here. But they said you have to show up Sunday morning in case we have. Let me ask you though, so you are the the social secretary for the White House. I was Your job is to kind of insist on an exacting standard for every movement, every event, every moment. The power of the White House Correspondents Dinner, though, inverts that a little bit. It’s about the vulnerability of the president. You see a president kind of humble themselves, be self deprecating. You see them throw some lines that they couldn’t throw in another place right when he calls Donald Trump a six year old, that’s unpresidential in another format, but it works there. There’s got to be an anxiety piece to that. Yeah. I mean, of course there is. I mean, it’s the one time because we’re in a time where people make fun of, you know, both presidential candidates. But President Biden, you know, people make fun of him and they say things. And so it’s a chance for him to also make fun of himself. Right. And to at the expense of everyone. Right. And that kind of to me shows that, like, he’s willing, like, to not take yourself so seriously when it comes to, you know, being in that kind of environment. And then kind of makes them, humanizes them a little bit. But there definitely is a vulnerability and anxiety because you also don’t know what everybody else going to say. And they may not be that good. They may not be that good at it, and they could. You could see it, you could see a script, but it may change on the fly. You know, last night. Never underestimate Joe Biden. Never underestimate Joe Biden now. And you know what it was this year? The past couple of White House correspondents, dinners, I feel like are a little more weighty and serious than others. This year obviously folks coming out to have a good time but the dinner raises money for scholarships for young journalists but but also thinking about just the threat to democracy that we’re all living under the importance of the 4th estate journalists like Evan Gershevich who are still detained wrongfully detained in other countries. It is literally dangerous to for to go out and report do the job. The journalists have been killed in Gaza. And I was wondering how the White House Correspondents Association and also the president, we’re going to, you know, address the gravity of the moment. And the president talks about the press, where he he’s, you know, he alludes to, you know, some refer to you all as the enemy of the people. I want to play this off for people who maybe didn’t hear it. There are some who call you the enemy of the people. That’s wrong and it’s dangerous. You literally risk your lives doing your job. You do, covering everything from natural disasters to pandemics to wars and so much more than some of your colleagues have given their lives and many have suffered grievous injuries. Other reporters have lost their freedom. There’s something that happens in that room, which is it is a hard room to play to because it is a big room. It is a loud room. And so you have a dual audience. You have the people who are actually in the room and you have what I would argue is the more important audience, which is the Americans who are watching at home, we’re going to watch this in clips. And so as much there as President Biden is speaking to us as journalists about the importance of the 4th Estate, I would argue that really what he’s doing is saying to the American people, there is currently an attack on this institution. You know where that attack is coming from. And I want you, the American people, to remember just how important the role of the fair and free process. Yeah, 100%. I think even using the word enemy, I think that because that that resonates with people at home being like that’s that’s that’s a major word to use. That’s a heavy word to use. I think, you know, really gets people thinking how serious that it is, not just, you know, what we’re seeing right now, but also disinformation, also just AI, there’s all types of things. And so I think that when I heard that, even I was like, I perked up being like, oh, he actually said that. And he said it in this room and with people watching, you know, and I think all types of people watch the correspondence center, you know, So I think that it was a chance to really say that it was, it was interesting to me also the the sort of 1-2 punch of the president having done Howard Stern, his, his team having made that decision that, you know, given that there’s this critique of the president not having ample accessibility to the press, that they won, chose a venue like that. And then you had this as the second piece of it. And I thought one of the most powerful parts of the president’s speech last night, to your point about the weightiness of this moment, was the way in which he set the stakes and almost issued a challenge to the press to consider the the way that they cover this forthcoming election. Take a listen. He promised a bloodbath. When he loses again, we have to take this seriously. Eight years ago you could have written off as just Trump talk, but no longer. Not after January 6th. I’m sincerely not asking of you to take sides, but asking to rise up to the seriousness of the moment, move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our sensationalize our politics and focus on what’s actually at stake. It’s norm setting, right? It’s saying, I know y’all want to talk about poll numbers and who’s up, who’s down, but please don’t get distracted from the fundamental stakes of this election. This was an incredible moment, I think, because Simone said the context this year is so different than past years, right? There’s always a context. What we saw from Joe Biden is talking about attacks on the press as an example of attacks on democracy. And yeah, look, the American experiment is not guaranteed. We’re custodians of it. And if there were bulwarks that were built in, you would look at the courts. And now people are questioning, could the courts really protect democracy in this moment? We have legitimate questions. They put in the Congress to protect democracy. But this was a Senate that failed to to convict Donald Trump after J6 and disqualify him from office. They put in a vote of the people, right? And even that now looks like maybe the people want to bring in a strong man. And I think what Joe Biden said to the press is you might be the last bulwark like your job this cycle to the media is to ensure that you are protecting the Constitution. You don’t have to choose sides, as he said. But the guiding light has to be what are the constitutional protections that ensure this American experiment continues? It’s a powerful night. Last night it was powerful. And what I don’t, I don’t know if folks saw this on television. But prior to that Kelly O’Donnell, our colleague who is the current White House Correspondents Association President Eugene, will take over after this summer. She in her remarks did a kind of a scene setter and a call out to the president and and say like we we, it’s our job to tell the story. We are saying they too are custodians of democracy and they are the journalists who cover the White House are the public record and we want to interview. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I actually heard that. We definitely we heard that. Yeah. I mean, and when I, when I, when she said that I was just like, OK, girl, you know, I think it’s one of these things where she had to communicate that that’s her job. You know, that’s what she that’s her responsibility. And this is the platform to do it when you have all of these people in a room And not only shows that she is part of and sticking up for the press, you know, it shows that like, we hear you but now you’re right in front of us. Like you’re right here. You have to hear us like and and you have to act and you have to make sure that like we have access and we are protected. And so yeah, but no, we heard. No, we heard that at home. We don’t have a lot of time left. And so I want to make sure that we get to talk about you and your your book for just a minute. I’ve heard you say of your time during the Obama White House that you were thick with impostor syndrome. I was. I was. And it’s interesting because even with the White House Correspondents Dinner, I think how how the first time I went, you know, I ran out of there fast, fast. I didn’t think I belong there. I I got on the bus on the street and went home and you know I was just like it was one of these things where I just felt like I didn’t know anybody in the room. I didn’t understand what the correspondent dinner was and it was it was, you know, just really eating away at me. But the thing was is I did belong there, right? I am. I am a regular person. I am the American people. And so that is the whole, you know, dream about my story about going to the White House as a 31 year old who had dropped out of college and was in Community College. It was like I needed to go there to represent people and to bring the community there and to tell truth and so but I suffered from impostor syndrome because we’re in Washington and everyone has this law degree and this, that and 3rd. And I’m like I don’t have any of that. Right. But it turns out that I didn’t need any of that because what I did have is the qualities to be social secretary. Well, come on then. OK Have my resume. Yes. The resume from impostor to impact. Yeah. Come on to all those words. I’m trying that part of the book review. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Because I thought that I was just not qualified. And it turns out, you know, being a hip hop journalist back in the day, which I thought was just this random thing, eight years later, I’m booking hip hop artists at the white else and using hip hop for education and criminal justice reform. So yeah, So everything I thought was maybe an impostor had impact. Deja. Dyer, we wanted to have you on what a perfect day to have you join us again. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Right.