“Seeing the return of the president of the United States and the return of dinner, I think it indicates more than a pause in the pandemic,” said Harold Holzer, author of the book “The Presidents vs. ThePress”. “We are safe to talk to each other again.
“I think this relationship, even if it’s a one night thing where quips are exchanged and people make fun of each other and each other, it’s a very healthy thing.”
It feels like the return of a modicum of normalcy for the nation’s capital, but it’s also a reminder that COVID-19 remains a threat. Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive this week and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top coronavirus expert, will not attend the dinner “due to my individual assessment of my personal risk.”
That raised questions about whether the 79-year-old Biden should go. The president will pass the food and appear later for the program. He plans to be masked when he doesn’t speak.
Mentioning the dinner during a speech this week about Russia’s war against Ukraine, Biden said, “I’ve always had respect for the press, but I can’t tell you how much respect I have seeing them in these areas where they’re under fire. .”
“Imagine if we weren’t getting that information,” the president added. “It would be a different world.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s plan to attend “is in stark contrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press almost daily, but never even attended the dinner.” Trump gleefully boycotted the event, at times calling the media “the enemy of the people.”
After the recent Gridiron Club press dinner in Washington, dozens of attendees, including members of Congress and Biden’s cabinet and journalists, tested positive for COVID-19.
The White House highlights the abundance of the antiviral pill Paxlovid, which has been shown to reduce the serious effects of the virus by 90% among those most at risk. Still, Psaki has said of Biden: “We want to make it very clear that he is likely to test positive for COVID, just like any American.”
That’s because the US is seeing a spike in COVID cases of a highly contagious sub-variant of omicron, with confirmed infections rising to about 44,000 a day, up from 26,000 a month ago. Although well below the peak of more than 800,000 cases per day nationwide during the height of the omicron wave earlier this year, current statistics are likely underestimates given the increased availability of home COVID-19 testing. whose results may not be reported to health authorities. .
The White House Correspondents Association said it would require same-day antigen testing for dinner attendees even before the Gridiron outbreak. He has since added a vaccination requirement for attendees of Saturday’s gala, which will have a capacity of over 2,600 and is packed.
Despite the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, virus deaths and hospitalizations are near or at pandemic lows, and the BA.2 variant has proven to be less severe than previous virus strains. Just over 300 people die in the US each day from the virus, down from more than 2,600 daily earlier this year, with about 1,600 hospitalizations per day, down from a peak of more than 21,000. daily in January.
The Correspondents’ Dinner debuted in 1921. Calvin Coolidge became the first president to attend three years later and everyone has since except Trump. However, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon chose not to attend every year of their presidencies, and Ronald Reagan, then recovering from an assassination attempt, missed the 1981 installment but called from Camp David.
“What I think this shows is the restoration of the health of the relationship,” said Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York. “It’s still poignant, there are still tense moments. But that’s okay.”
After comedian Michelle Wolf’s sharp satire sparked controversy in 2018, the following year’s event featured historian Ron Chernow. The return of celebrities this time is reminiscent of the administration of President Barack Obama, when George Clooney, Charlize Theron and Viola Davis attended.
As vice president in 2014, Biden appeared in a comedy video with HBO’s “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus that drew big laughs at the correspondents’ dinner. White House speechwriting director Vinay Reddy and longtime Biden adviser Mike Donilon worked on Biden’s remarks for this year, the White House said, drawing on material from a variety of people both inside and outside. of the government.
Psaki has already acknowledged trying to lower expectations, saying the speech is “not fun at all. It’s a joke.” However, presidential attempts at humor can be tricky.
At the 2011 dinner, Obama criticized an unfunny Trump, in his presence, for Trump’s fictitious claims about the then-president’s birth certificate. Obama concluded by reflecting on Trump taking his job one day, saying, “It would certainly bring some change to the White House” as the banquet hall screens flashed a parody image of the grand 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue facade outfitted with a Trump logo, gilded columns, a digital clock and a sign proclaiming “Hotel, Casino, Golf Course, Presidential Suite.”
That turned out to be prophetic, as Trump, of course, succeeded Obama, though the reforms he ultimately brought to the presidency fell short of putting his name in the White House.
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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