Biden Calls from a List of Reporters at Press Conference. Is He Trying to Avoid Tough Questions?

President Joe Biden appeared to take the easy way out while speaking with reporters at his press conference on Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, the president read from a list of journalists to call on as opposed to calling on people from the crowd.

So far, Biden has called on reporters from the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, the New York Times, and others.

Neither Fox News nor Newsmax has yet to be called on, but nobody should hold their breath.

AP's @ZekeJMiller gets the first question to Biden and it's a soft landing for what *should be* a hardball: "Did you overpromise to the American public what you could achieve during your first year in office? And how do you plan to course correct going forward?" pic.twitter.com/HvQiVFSqQw

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2022

While this certainly keeps the press conference running in an orderly fashion, it does not exactly scream “government accountability.”

Kayleigh McEnany, the former press secretary for former President Donald Trump, slammed the quality of the press conference.

“Where are the follow-ups from reporters?” she tweeted. “Why was there no pushback to Biden saying “it’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion” re Russia going into Ukraine? Where is the pushback on Biden claiming he ‘outperformed’ expectations? The list goes on All pleasantries, no pushback!”

Where are the follow-ups from reporters?

Why was there no pushback to Biden saying "it's one thing if it's a minor incursion" re Russia going into Ukraine?

Where is the pushback on Biden claiming he "outperformed" expectations?

The list goes on

All pleasantries, no pushback!

— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) January 19, 2022

Although there has been some back-and-forth from the president and reporters, the conference has felt unproductive overall.

There has been a large focus on Russia, given the fact that they are mulling an invasion of Ukraine, but there has not been a heavy focus on domestic policy.

Questioner 9 @reuters re: Russia
“Rusia.. “

Can these reporters do their job and ask some questions on domestic policy? Please!!!!!!

— 🇺🇸ERIC BOLLING🇺🇸 (@ericbolling) January 19, 2022

Still, this was supposed to be a communications strategy reset for the president, yet it feels like he is touting the same talking points and not saying anything fresh to make the public feel more informed or optimistic about the nation’s future. And unfortunately, the media has mostly played along.

UPDATE: Former President Trump issued a statement in response to the press conference.

“How come Biden picks a reporter off a list, in all cases softball questions, and then reads the answer?” the statement asks. “I would never have been allowed to get away with that, nor would I have to!”