Biden’s not so shining moment

By Lauren Egan and Allie Bice

Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices

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When JOE BIDEN took office, he got to work reinstating many of the presidential traditions that his predecessor DONALD TRUMP did away with.

He held a bipartisan unveiling ceremony at the White House for official presidential portraits. He showed up to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. And he even brought multiple pets with him to Washington after Trump became the first president in 100 years not to have one in the White House.

But one custom that Biden seems only somewhat committed to reviving is presidential participation in the hype around March Madness.

After skipping out on a bracket in 2021 (there was a lot going on that year), Biden filled one out in 2022 and 2023. In doing so, he went further than Trump, who declined to fill out a bracket entirely. But he fell far short of the splashy White House interviews that BARACK OBAMA used to do every year, when he unveiled his bracket selection with ESPN’s ANDY KATZ.

That may be a small stakes decision. But it’s not entirely without cost. Former advisers to Obama said the March Madness interviews with ESPN provided an annual opportunity for the president to participate in an event outside of the political sphere that millions of other Americans also engaged in. It was also a way to reach a different audience that might not be turning on cable news every night.

“You’re dying for this coverage that shows people who the person is behind the leader, coverage that you think is different that will break through,” said ROBERT GIBBS, Obama’s first White House press secretary. “For Obama, team sports and basketball in particular was a big part of growing up and a defining part of who he is. And so it allowed him to be able to talk about that and to also have a foothold in the discussion that everybody at that point is having that isn’t political.”

The annual tradition started after Katz asked the basketball-obsessed Obama in October 2008 to host him at the White House to fill out brackets together if he won the election. Obama agreed. A few months later, the White House made good on that promise. For the next eight years, Katz and Obama met in the Map Room on the Tuesday after Selection Sunday in front of a big bracket board, where Obama made his picks.

Part of the reason the March Madness interviews worked so well for Obama was that he was a genuine fan.

“I always believed when I walked out of there in 2016 that that was it. It worked because he cared,” Katz told West Wing Playbook. “It's got to be with the right person.”

DAVID AXELROD, a former senior adviser to Obama, agreed that the ESPN interviews were uniquely tailored for Obama. “Lots of Americans love March Madness so being a part of that is good, it’s relatable,” he said. “For us it was good and very authentic to who [Obama] is.”

Biden is into sports. He played football on his freshman team in college and golfs now. He routinely references the first lady’s love affair with the Philly sports teams, including taking a recent swipe at the Toronto Maple Leafs for beating the Philadelphia Flyers. But it’s unclear if he’s a basketball guy.

The White House did not say whether Biden had considered reviving the ESPN interview. They also did not respond to West Wing Playbook’s email about whether Biden considered himself to be a college basketball fan. The president’s choices don’t give too many hints either. He played it safe last year, selecting his home state team of the University of Delaware to win both the men and womens’ tournaments. This year, he went with Villanova University to win the women’s tournament and picked the University of Arizona (swing state!) to win the men’s tournament.

The selections ended up being busts. Nova lost in the Sweet 16. Zona suffered a first-round loss to No. 15 Princeton. Indeed, three of his Final Four picks (Purdue, Kansas, and Marquette) didn’t make it out of the tournament’s first weekend. Only one of Biden’s Final Four picks for the women’s tournament (overwhelming favorite South Carolina) is still in the tournament today. Then again, whose bracket is actually intact?

Indeed, even Obama has struggled this cycle, with both Gibbs and Axelrod expressing some confusion as to why their former boss, who usually has a pretty strong bracket, went with Duke to win it all. Perhaps REGGIE LOVE, his former “body man,” had some sway on that one.

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Despite strong bipartisan support for Medicare Advantage, the Administration is considering harmful cuts to the program that could result in higher premiums and fewer benefits for enrollees. 85% of voters believe that President Biden would be breaking his promise to protect Medicare if cuts are made to Medicare Advantage. More than 30 million seniors and people with disabilities depend on Medicare Advantage for high quality, affordable health care. Don’t cut their care.

With help from the White House Historical Association

Who was the first president to make the transportation transition from horses to automobiles?

(Answer at bottom.)

AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN: Three students and three adults at a Nashville grade school were shot and killed Monday, the latest mass shooting in the country, AP’s JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER report. Biden called the shooting “a family’s worst nightmare.”

“We have to do more to stop gun violence,” he said. “It’s ripping our communities apart — ripping the soul of this nation. And we have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.” Noting the weapons the suspect reportedly used, the president also repeated his push for passing an assault weapons ban.

First lady JILL BIDEN also addressed the shooting earlier at a National League of Cities event: “Our children deserve better. We stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer."

VETO VOW: The White House vowed Monday that the House GOP’s latest energy package will be vetoed if it reaches the president’s desk, saying the measure would reverse the progress made from the Inflation Reduction Act, our JOSH SIEGEL reports for Pro s. The White House said in a statement the bill would “replace pro-consumer policies with a thinly veiled license to pollute.” Lawmakers are set to consider the legislation this week.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Anything about the administration’s latest boost for small businesses. This piece by Inc.’s MELISSA ANGELL notes the Small Business Administration “is rolling out more resources for women-owned small businesses to help address obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs. The SBA expects to open 15 new Women's Business Centers by September of this year, expanding the total network to 160 centers that help female entrepreneurs start and grow small businesses.” Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE tweeted out the piece Monday.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This USA Today column by INGRID JACQUES criticizing the president’s calling out of Republicans over the funding of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs. “The biggest threat to the program is what Biden is proposing: doing nothing,” Jacques writes. “His new big-spending, high-tax budget directs no funding to shore up Social Security and only passingly addresses Medicare shortfalls. That’s not leadership.”

WHAT HARRIS IS LISTENING TO: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS dropped a 25-track playlist on Spotify titled, “My Travels: Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia,” to coincide with her visits to the three African countries this week.

Harris “worked closely with the streamer to curate the playlist, which features Ghanaian and Ghanaian-American artists like Amaarae, Moses Sumney and Black Sherif; Tanzanian and Tanzanian-American artists like Harmonize, Zuchu and Alikiba; and Zambian and Zambian-American artists including Chile One Mr. Zambia, Yo Maps and Chef 187,” Billboard’s JASON LIPSHUTZ reports.

Going into Harris’s weeklong trip, NYT’s ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and ABDI LATIF DAHIR report she’s got one major goal: start a new chapter for U.S.-Africa relations “that focuses on collaboration rather than crises.” (Our Eugene Daniels also has more here.)

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FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: JOSHUA MAY started on Monday as deputy White House liaison at the Department of Transportation, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. He most recently was special assistant to the chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget.

CARDONA IN THE SPOTLIGHT: As debates rage over school curriculum, parents’ rights, LGBTQ students and race, Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA insists that he “won’t sit idly” during those discussions, according to an interview with our JUAN PEREZ JR. “When we talk about politicization, when we talk about book banning, when we talk about Black history curriculum being picked apart — I think there are deliberate attempts to make sure that our public schools are not functional so that the private option sounds better,” Cardona says. “I don’t doubt that’s intentional.” Read the full piece here.

ANOTHER PERSONNEL SCOOP FOR... CNN: SALONI SHARMA, who served as the deputy spokesperson for the National Security Council, was promoted to senior adviser for communications in the chief of staff’s office, CNN’s ARLETTE SAENZ reports.

A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:

ANOTHER ONE WITHDRAWN: PHIL WASHINGTON, Biden’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, withdrew his nomination over the weekend after concerns from both sides of the aisle regarding his background and lack of aviation experience, our ALEX DAUGHERTY reports. The agency hasn’t had a permanent administrator for nearly a year, and the aviation industry has seen a recent increase in near misses and other close calls.

I (DON’T) SPY: The president signed an executive order Monday that prohibits the federal government from using targeted commercial spyware technologies amid growing national security and privacy concerns. The signing comes ahead of Biden’s second “Summit for Democracy,” where spyware will be a major point of discussion. Our MAGGIE MILLER has more for Pro s.

STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS BATTLE CONT… Republican Sens. BILL CASSIDY (La.), JONI ERNST (Iowa) and JOHN CORNYN (Texas) unveiled a measure Monday that would reverse the president’s executive actions to forgive student loans, NBC News’ SAHIL KAPUR reports.

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High-capacity-magazine bans could save lives. Will they hold up in court? (WaPo’s Mark Berman and Todd C. Frankel)

There are valid critiques of Kamala Harris. They also don’t tell the full story. (Vox’s Li Zhou)

U.S. and Mexico weighing deal for Mexico to crack down on fentanyl going north while U.S. cracks down on guns going south (NBC News’ Julia Ainsley)

Since we’re talking sports, we thought we’d feature a bit of the president’s football career. (No really, here’s some old footage of him playing in high school.)

As we mentioned, when Biden started at the University of Delaware, he played for the freshman team. But his time was cut short after earning a 1.9 GPA in the fall. He admitted in his 2007 book, “Promises to Keep,” that he wasn’t able to play the following semester because of his poor academic performance.

“When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn’t be playing spring football,” he wrote. That wasn’t enough to motivate him to “buckle down” and Biden continued to get in trouble. “I was even put on probation for hosing down an RA with a fire extinguisher.”

See folks, you can do a lot of dumb stuff in college and still make a name for yourself.

A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:

Medicare Advantage is facing billions in cuts that would hurt the more than 30 million Americans who depend on it for affordable health care.

Medicare Advantage provides affordable health care and continues to be a vital source of coverage for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and diverse populations. As of 2020, approximately 55% of Hispanic individuals and 54% of Black individuals eligible for Medicare choose Medicare Advantage plans.

Funding Medicare Advantage is an extremely important issue for senior voters. Voters with Medicare Advantage overwhelmingly believe that it is important for the federal government and the Administration to fully fund Medicare Advantage to cover increasing health care costs.

The consequences of cutting funding to Medicare Advantage are dire. A majority of senior voters believe that cuts would impact their ability to afford health care and that increased premiums would negatively impact their ability to afford other necessities.

Don’t cut their care.

President WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT was the first president to transition to the use of automobiles from horses, though he continued to keep horses for exercise.

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice

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