Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy challenged press secretary Jen Psaki to explain why President Joe Biden’s promised “decades of D.C. experience” had thus far failed to pay off.
Doocy pointed out the fact that Biden had run on his experience making deals for decades in the Senate along with the promise to reach across the aisle and help bring the two opposing parties together — and he noted that so far, the president had not been able to deliver.
“President Biden promised to bring decades of D.C. experience to the Oval Office, but Build Back Better has not passed, voting rights apparently not gonna pass, and vaccine requirements that he likes are, apparently, illegal. What happened?”
DOOCY TIME, part 2: “Biden promised to bring decades of D.C. experience to the office, but Build Back Better has not passed, voting rights apparently not gonna pass, and vaccine requirements that he likes are, apparently, illegal. What happened?” pic.twitter.com/wwybN71tv5
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 14, 2022
“Well, first, Peter, I would say if you look back at last year and what we were able to accomplish — that include getting the American Rescue Plan passed, a package that has contributed to cutting childhood poverty by 40%, has helped ensure that we are moving at a faster pace toward economic growth, toward a record low unemployment rate, helped ensure schools more than 95% are open across the country,” Psaki said.
“He also pressed despite skeptics to get a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed,” Psaki continued. “One that we are just announcing today, the fact that 15,000 bridges are going to be repaired — that was despite many skeptics. And because of his efforts, 200 million Americans are now vaccinated. The work of an administration continues after one year, and it will — he will continued to press forward on all of those priorities.”
But Doocy pushed back, noting that instead of reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans, Biden had instead chosen to lash out at anyone who disagreed with the Democrats’ federal election overhaul bills, likening them to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, segregationist George Wallace, and Bull Connor — who set dogs on Civil Rights protesters.
“As you talk about a year ago and working with Republicans, now he’s talking about Republicans that don’t agree with voting rights — he’s describing them as George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis. What happened to the guy who, when he was elected, said to make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy?”
Doocy: “As you talk about a yr ago & working w/Republicans, now he’s talking about [those] that don’t agree w/voting rights…as George Wallace, Bull Connor & Jefferson Davis. What happened to the guy who…said to make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy?” pic.twitter.com/YbmUGI2cZm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 14, 2022
“I think everybody listening to that speech who’s speaking on the level, as my mother would say, would note that, ah, he was not comparing them as humans, he was comparing the choice to those figures in history and where they’re going to position themselves as they determine whether they’re going to support the fundamental right to vote or not,” Psaki claimed.
Following Biden’s speech — and criticism from CNN’s Jake Tapper — Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) conceded that the president might have taken his rhetoric a bit too far in those comparisons.
“It is stark. And I will concede that point. But don’t overlook the reality that in 20 different states governed and led by Republicans in legislature and in governorship, and each and every one of them, they are taking step by weary step to make sure that fewer Americans vote,” Durbin said. “Perhaps the president went a little too far in his rhetoric, some of us do.”