Since he became president, Biden has sharply curbed how much he talks to the press, rarely giving interviews. He limits his press conferences mostly to duets with foreign leaders, where he can put his foreign policy relationships and experience on display. There’s something poignant about watching a guy who used to delight in his Irish gift of gab be muzzled. He knows his staff thinks he has a problem of popping off, and I think that has made him more timid and more cloistered. And when he’s more isolated, he seems sadder maybe because he’s not drawing energy from crowds and journalists the way he used to; perhaps his overprotective staff has gotten into his head.

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Persons: Biden, preselect questioners, nix, “, ”, he’s Organizations: White Locations: Covid