PBS released a new Frontline documentary on Tuesday about President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race, but it was really more of an ode to his entire career. However, even PBS could not ignore the disastrous exit from Afghanistan, which it claimed overshadowed an “FDR-like first year.”
Former White House press secretary turned MSNBC host Jen Psaki hyped, “We knew we were walking into a pandemic, an economy that was reeling, so there was a crisis management aspect, certainly, of the first year. He felt that when you come in as president, especially at the moment he did, he needed to be a healer.”
Biden biographer Evan Osnos added, “Part of Biden's promise to the public was, ‘I'm going to show you that government can actually work again. That's what my decades of experience will deliver. We can show that Washington will work and we can put practical things in people's hands, like stimulus checks.’"
Following a montage of audio snippets from various media personalities discussing Biden’s spending initiatives, CBS’s Robert Costa further hyped, “He's able to push people to get something done on the American Rescue Plan, then on infrastructure.”
After some more audio files, Costa continued, “Works for months to try to get Build Back Better revived… He's trying to get so much done, and he does get a lot done. So the domestic front, Biden has an FDR-like first year.”
Narrator Will Lyman then transitioned to a new topic, “But during that first year, one decision would tarnish his presidency.”
Documentarian Chris Whipple recalled that “Biden was hellbent on withdrawing. He did not come into this with a, with an open mind, necessarily, to any other options. He was hellbent on getting out.”
PBS then played a clip of Biden claiming that Afghanistan would not go the way of South Vietnam, including how there would be no rooftop evacuations of the American embassy in Kabul, before playing news clips from the chaotic withdrawal.
The rest of the documentary was not much better. Earlier, the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher recalled the car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and daughter, “After the crash, he needed something to comfort him. He needed something to envelop himself in. He needed a place to be a part of that would sustain him and would give him a sense of purpose and give him a sense of achievement. And the Senate gave Biden a sense of belonging. Biden's instinct is to envelop himself in institutions.”
Osnos also compared Biden’s time in the Senate to church, “Here's a guy who had grown up within the Church, which is defined by this sense of ritual and ancient traditions. Things that are worth preserving because they provide order in a disordered world. And he gets to the Senate at a moment of tremendous chaos in his own life, having suffered this terrible loss, and all of a sudden, the rituals of the Senate, and the kind of clarifying effect of being a part of this institution, almost feels to him like an extension of these values and patterns that had made so much sense to him and his family as a young person. So the Senate became a, sort of, stand in for the Church for him.”
Other than Afghanistan, the toughest PBS got on Biden was from the left, accusing him of being too nice to Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearing. When it came to Biden’s plagiarism scandals, PBS rolled out First Lady Jill Biden to lament “his character was being attacked.”
Here is a transcript for the August 6 show:
PBS Frontline: Biden’s Decision
8/6/2024
9:37 PM ET
MARC FISHER: After the crash, he needed something to comfort him. He needed something to envelop himself in. He needed a place to be a part of that would sustain him and would give him a sense of purpose and give him a sense of achievement. And the Senate gave Biden a sense of belonging. Biden's instinct is to envelop himself in institutions.
WILL LYMAN: The Senate would define Biden and shape his life.
EVAN OSNOS: Here's a guy who had grown up within the Church, which is defined by this sense of ritual and ancient traditions. Things that are worth preserving because they provide order in a disordered world. And he gets to the Senate at a moment of tremendous chaos in his own life, having suffered this terrible loss, and all of a sudden, the rituals of the Senate, and the kind of clarifying effect of being a part of this institution, almost feels to him like an extension of these values and patterns that had made so much sense to him and his family as a young person. So the Senate became a, sort of, stand in for the Church for him.
…
10:33 PM ET
DARLENE SUPERVILLE: After Joe Biden is finally sworn in as president, you know, he's finally gotten this thing that he's wanted his whole life, he couldn't really celebrate. There were no parties. There were no inaugural balls because of COVID. It was super weird.
RON KLAIN: He came down from the residence on the West Colonnade towards the Oval Office. And I remember looking at him and saying, "This is just an incredible thing to see after all this time.” That he is coming into the Oval Office as president of the United States. So, I felt a lot of excitement and a lot of anxiety about the fact that we were gonna now start to do a lot of work.
JEN PSAKI: We knew we were walking into a pandemic, an economy that was reeling, so there was a crisis management aspect, certainly, of the first year. He felt that when you come in as president, especially at the moment he did, he needed to be a healer.
OSNOS: Part of Biden's promise to the public was, "I'm going to show you that government can actually work again. That's what my decades of experience will deliver. We can show that Washington will work and we can put practical things in people's hands, like stimulus checks."
DON LEMON: The first batch of stimulus payments will start going out to Americans in need this weekend.
WOLF BLITZER: The president declaring, "Help is here."
OSNOS: He gets trillions of dollars in new spending passed by Congress.
RACHEL MADDOW: These are the priorities that the Biden administration has said they want to get done.
ANCHOR: $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus relief package to help Americans struggling throughout this pandemic.
ROBERT COSTA: He's able to push people to get something done on the American Rescue Plan, then on infrastructure.
ANCHOR 2: The president is poised to sign into law the largest federal investment in infrastructure in generations.
ANCHOR 3: It will have transformative impact on the middle class. It will be huge for Biden's legacy.
COSTA: Works for months to try to get Build Back Better revived.
MAN: Democrats will continue to fight for Build Back Better.
ANCHOR 4: The ultimate test of the president's legislative power as the bill is in the hands of the Senate.
COSTA: He's trying to get so much done, and he does get a lot done. So the domestic front, Biden has an FDR-like first year.
MAN 2: This is the most successful legislative presidency.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Can surely be credited to the fact that Joe Biden has more legislative experience than any president in history.
LYMAN: But during that first year, one decision would tarnish his presidency.
JOE BIDEN: I'm now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.
CHRIS WHIPPLE: Biden was hellbent on withdrawing. He did not come into this with a, with an open mind, necessarily, to any other options. He was hellbent on getting out.
REPORTER: In this withdrawal in Afghanistan, do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in Vietnam with some people feeling...
BIDEN: None whatsoever. Zero. The Taliban is not the Sou-- the North Vietnamese Army. They're not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There's gonna be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the United States.
REPORTER 2: Black smoke seen rising from the U.S. embassy, the chaos directly contradicting any talk of an orderly evacuation process.
REPORTER 3: Twenty years of American and NATO-led gains collapsing in stunning fashion.
