Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina Is JOE BIDEN weak or savvy? A master legislator or a mere subordinate to the likes of Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.)? Even his allies aren’t sure. But we’re about to find out. Biden has made a bet that legislating doesn’t require being an “action-hero president”— the bully-pulpit doesn’t need to be a cudgel, red lines can be drawn in pencil if drawn at all, and it’s better to be conflict-averse than a bully or bomb-thrower. On Capitol Hill, his legislative team is known more for listening than dictating. At times, Biden himself can appear more like the 101st senator rather than the president. Most members of Congress like him but few, if any, fear him. That’s by design. Biden has built his brand on being a reconciliator. He defended his ability to work with and talk to southern segregationists during the 2020 Democratic primary. He ran his campaign on toning down the temperature in D.C.; on building bridges with his opponents. Biden won the election, but the public has been souring on the approach. A recent poll had just 36 percent of Americans approving of how he’s handled the negotiations. Still, within the White House, there is hope that Biden’s grip-and-grin, low-key style could deliver him historic legislative victories that a Democratic president hasn’t had in a generation. The introduction of the framework of the Build Back Better agenda on Thursday morning could be a preamble to that moment, the first act to a set of bills that would make massive investments in fighting climate change, child care, health coverage, affordable housing, transportation and early education. It could also be another memorable step in a truly monumental presidential face-plant. There is not much in between. Biden’s approach to Congress is distinct from many of his predecessors. Each approached Congress in their own way with varying levels of success. BARACK OBAMA liked to speechify and message around the country to drum up support among voters and legislators would (in theory) respond. He wasn’t a schmoozer and his team mocked those who thought it was important. LYNDON JOHNSON preferred intimidation and wheeling-dealing. “I think [Biden’s] entire approach to this is entirely senatorial — let’s keep open lines of communications, assume everyone’s best intentions, don’t get impatient,” said MATT HOUSE, a former long-time aide to Sen. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.). “It may not be the style the 24-hour news and Twitter is used to, but it is the style that he came of age in and that might just work.” In 1973, Biden entered a Senate that was anti-LBJ, in many ways. Having tired of Johnson’s strong-arm tactics, the Senate became a more benevolent arena under the leadership of Majority Leader MIKE MANSFIELD , whom Biden considers a mentor and often cited on the campaign trail. “Your job here is to find the good things in your colleagues — the things their state saw — and not focus on the bad,” Biden frequently recalls Mansfield telling him. The nice guy routine, however, has also emboldened members to issue demands at every turn. On Thursday after Biden’s second trip down to the Capitol, Democrats again had to delay a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package because of demands by progressive legislators. And some Republicans believe such incidents have turned the process into a toxic smorgasbord. “I’ve never seen a legislative process — and I use that word loosely — like this,” said ANTONIA FERRIER, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL. “It’s just chaotic policy-making. This [reconciliation] bill — if we can even call it that — tries to be all things to all people.” Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you AISHA SHAH, partnerships manager? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: westwingtips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here. Or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098. | 
