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 | Email Max President JOE BIDEN is not a punctual man. If you are a Biden aide, a waiting guest, or a reporter covering him, 20 minutes late is standard, but it’s wise to allow for up to an hour. “On the red lines schedulers put down, he is a habitual line stepper,” said one former aide. Other aides call it “Biden Standard Time” (or BST, if you prefer). In June in Switzerland, he arrived over two hours late to a press conference. In December, Biden was so late for a stop-by of a meeting with the country’s mayors that then-New York City Mayor-elect ERIC ADAMS had already left. In October at the G-20 press conference, he apologized for being over 20 minutes late by explaining "We were playing with elevators. Long story, anyway." Some of it is Biden’s self-acknowledged verbosity that can make meetings go on and on. Over the course of the day, those longer-than-expected meetings add up. And it’s also partly due to Biden’s well-documented desire to talk to every person he sees, which has, in the past, led some aides to try to artificially shorten his ropelines. But there are other reasons for Biden’s perpetual tardiness, according to six current and former aides. Biden is a notorious “over-prepper,” sources say. His meetings to help him prepare for other meetings or remarks can take an hour or more. Often joined by communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD or press secretary JEN PSAKI and subject area experts, Biden will go into Socratic seminar mode–pushing and prodding those briefing him with follow-up question after follow-up question. Sometimes the follow-ups then require another meeting before a decision can be made. And he is known to tinker with speeches up to the last moment. At times, the lines of questioning leave people wondering if Biden is missing the forest for the trees, but it’s also the president’s method of making sure people are prepared beyond bullet points. Some aides say it’s also a product of the chip Biden has on his shoulder stemming from taunts about his intelligence he endured thanks to a childhood stutter, the feeling that he was a light-weight in the Ivy League-filled halls of Washington, and the “Uncle Joe” meme. Another problem is that Biden feels guilty about his tardiness, which can create a domino effect that ruins his schedule for the rest of the day. If Biden is late for one meeting, for example, he will often stay longer to make up for it. That results in him being even later for the next meeting, which he also feels bad about and then stays longer. It’s a vicious cycle. Biden has also been known to get held up thanks to his personal rule to almost always take any call he gets from a family member—a habit cemented after members of his family died. He’s in such constant communication with relatives that one of his granddaughters, NAOMI, recently tweeted that she had missed calls from the commander in chief. “I could be better at answering my phone but I do wear a mask in public,” she explained in a recently deleted tweet. Other presidents have handled their time and schedules differently. GEORGE W. BUSH was a “if you’re not five minutes early, you’re late” president. When LAWRENCE LINDSEY, his chief economic adviser, arrived on time for a meeting in 2001, Lindsey discovered the meeting had already begun and was later gently scolded by Bush, who said "Lawrence, we're the on-time administration," The New York Times’ RICK BERKE reported. In a similar vein, former General DWIGHT EISENHOWER was so regimented in his decision-making process that business writers even promoted a version of it they called the “Eisenhower Method.” BILL CLINTON, by contrast, was often up late into the night hobnobbing and calling people, which led to late mornings. He would get into the weeds on White House decision making to the point of micromanaging. The schedule was often shot before noon. At one point, his aides brought in an efficiency expert to try to help. BARACK OBAMA was often late for press events but had very regimented meetings during the day and tried to mitigate “decision fatigue” by only wearing certain color suits. And DONALD TRUMP was, uh, unique, in having lots of free “executive time.” The White House did not respond to emails about this story, but aides told us not to expect the 79-year-old Biden to change now. Said one: “He’s always late and he hates being late. It’s a cycle he’s probably been in since he was 11.” (Editor's note: The writer of this newsletter can speak authoritatively about this topic, with his copy known to arrive late on a deadline or two.) Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you LINA VOLIN, special assistant to the director of the Gender Policy Council? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098. | 
