Biden Needs to Unleash His Inner Biden
Sometimes the cliche is true: The president, and the country, would be better off if he could be more himself.
Looking for the man behind the sunglasses.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images North AmericaEvery modern presidency eventually hits bumps in the road, at which point the call will come from someone somewhere to “let the president be himself.”
Many of my friends are familiar with the “Let Bartlet be Bartlet” episode of “The West Wing,” but the modern version of the cliché dates to the 1980s. Ronald Reagan presided over an administration that was essentially a coalition: conservative movement activists inherited from Barry Goldwater, and members of the conservative governing establishment inherited from Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Whenever faced with frustrating signs of moderation or pragmatism — or just bad publicity — the call would go forth: “Let Reagan be Reagan.”