Biden’s Plea to Save Democracy

To a crowd you wouldn’t expect

Credit: Getty Images

Did you happen to catch President Biden’s remarks at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday? You’ll be forgiven if you missed it. The guest of honor was funny, as is the order of the day for the annual black-tie event. Then his words turned poignant and on point. Here was the president of the United States all but begging the assembled journalists not to cover this presidential campaign as they have others in the past. 

“I’m sincerely not asking of you to take sides but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment; move past the horserace numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics; and focus on what’s actually at stake. I think, in your hearts, you know what’s at stake. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

This is a night usually reserved for humor and self-deprecation. Yes, there was some of that. Unfortunately, most of the clips you’ll see are the Trump jokes and the age jokes, on repeat. But the most important part of the speech was saved for the end and specifically for Biden’s live audience.

“The defeated former president has made no secret of his attack on our democracy. He has said he wants to be a ‘dictator on day one,’ and so much more.

He tells supporters he is their ‘revenge’ and ‘retribution.’ When in God’s name have you heard another president say something like that? And he promised a ‘bloodbath’ when he loses again. We have to take this seriously. Eight years ago, you could have written off it as just Trump talk. But no longer. Not after January 6th.” 

Back in the day, the White House Correspondents Association dinner was a much more low-key affair. Certainly no celebrities attended, other than the president and a guest speaker. News organizations bought tables, and it was more or less required attendance for working journalists in D.C. It has been dubbed the nerd prom and is still an evening of schmoozing and networking over rubber chicken and bad wine. Frankly, it was painful as hell. I never liked hobnobbing with bureaucrats I also covered.

I remember President Nixon refused to attend one year, calling the humor “cruel.” As president, Trump never attended. Biden always has. And he skillfully used Saturday night to deliver a message to the very people who can and should help save democracy. Not by seemingly biased reporting or unfair coverage but by doing their jobs.

“Every single one of us has roles to play — a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures — American democracy. I have my role, but, with all due respect, so do you. In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can trust is more important than ever. And that makes you — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — it makes you more important than ever.”

The importance of a free press willing to dig deep cannot be stressed enough. News is what somebody somewhere, particularly somebody in power, doesn't want you to know. It is imperative that every journalist working in the country must find the news, find the information someone doesn’t want you to know, and report it. 

President Biden ended his remarks with a toast: “To a free press, to an informed citizenry, to an America where freedom and democracy endure. God bless America.”

Amen and once more for those in the back.

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Dan