White House: Biden Has Strong Recovery, But People 'Busy' and Watch 'The Bachelor,' Don't Follow News Constantly

On Friday's broadcast of MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt stated that President Joe Biden put “the strongest economic recovery of anywhere on the planet” into motion, but “in 2020, for persuadable voters, the number one television show that they watched was 'The Bachelor,'” and “People are busy in their lives. They're not watching the news throughout the day.”

Co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “Ben, how frustrating is it for you, we'll just say for you, personally, that you've got these numbers, you've got — and the numbers are extraordinary, if you compare them, not only to our allies in Europe, but people who consider themselves to be our enemies in Beijing and Moscow, the numbers are over the top great compared to most other countries across the world?”

LaBolt responded, “There's no doubt that here in the United States we've seen the strongest economic recovery of anywhere on the planet, and certainly one of the fastest coming out of what could have been a very significant, very long-term recession if the President didn't make the policy decisions that he did, passing things like the American Rescue Plan. Look, we've come out of a difficult time, a pandemic, a global supply chain crisis. The President put in motion this recovery. But I heard you all talking about the Obama-Biden re-elect in 2012 and comparisons to that. Well, I was the press secretary for that effort. I was sitting in Chicago. And the moment we're at right now reminds me of that moment, where you spend a year re-connecting with your supporters across the country, and then, starting with the State of the Union Address, you have the chance to go make your case to the country. And the average person across the country — in 2020, for persuadable voters, the number one television show that they watched was 'The Bachelor,' right? People are busy in their lives. They're not watching the news throughout the day. And so, we have to be creative about how we reach people.”

He added, “The President's taking his case on the road. Just in the past two weeks, he's been to Arizona and Michigan and Wisconsin and Georgia and New Hampshire and Nevada and Texas. And he's making his case about his record, what he's done, his plan for the future, lowering the cost of housing, for example, building these semiconductor plants. And he's in big settings and small settings, sitting down with a family in Saginaw, MI, talking about their daily lives. And look, it's going to be a big year. No one here, no one at the campaign takes anything for granted. The President is certainly doing multiple events a day, talking to key constituencies. He's calling into black radio multiple times a week. This week, he called into Spanish radio. He sat down with the largest Spanish-speaking television network. So, that's the pace at which he's attacking these things.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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