On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) urged the White House and President Joe Biden to “tell us a little bit more about how you’re doing.”
Beshear said, “I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with asking the President to talk to the American people a little bit more about his health or that debate performance. In many ways, and in our terms, it’s like seeing somebody that you haven’t seen in a while and they seem a little off and you asking how they’re doing and then listening to their answer is both showing concern for them, but also just trying to make sure that things are okay.”
Host Pamela Brown then asked, “Then on that note, do you think the White House should have been more forthcoming, not just before the debate, so it wasn’t such a surprise when he showed up on that debate stage, but also even after? As you know, it’s sticking to the, it was just a bad night, he had a cold. So, the before and then the after, do you want to see the White House be more forthcoming right now, including President Biden?”
Beshear responded, “Well, Pamela, as you know, we’re from Kentucky, we’re from the South. When you see somebody, one of the first things you ask is, how are you doing? And, oftentimes, we get way too much information in that response. It’s something that we are used to talking about, that’s part of our culture. So, I don’t think it’s an attack on the White House or an attack on the President, who is a good man and a nice man, to just say, tell us a little bit more about how you’re doing. I think the American people would respond positively to it and the President has formed a relationship of empathy and of direct communication to the American people. So, I think it would be a wise decision, in whatever way they would choose, to just address it directly and straightforward. He’s the President of the United States. If people have those questions, it’d be great for him to answer them directly.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
