Brian Lehrer: Now, Jonathan Lemire, AP White House correspondent, whose latest article marks President Biden hitting his 100th day in office later this week, the article is called More Action, Less Talk Distinguished Biden's 100-Day Sprint. Hi, Jonathan, always good to have you on. Welcome back to WNYC.

Jonathan Lemire: Good morning. It's always a pleasure to be here.

Brian Lehrer: The More Action, Less Talk, reminiscent of a beer commercial in a way, but it's really reminiscent of at least one predecessor of Joe Biden in the White House, maybe two, right?

Jonathan Lemire: It is. What you're seeing from President Biden and his team is, they feel like he was elected for two primary reasons. One of which is, of course, to manage the pandemic and the vaccinations. We can get to that in a moment. The other is also just to change the relationship of the country and the presidency after four years of the daily dramas under Donald Trump, the overheated rhetoric, the rancorous partisanship.

Now, obviously, that part still hasn't changed, but it's been a deliberate effort from the White House to try to lower the temperature and to lower the volume, to have President Biden simply be less of a president in every American's life every day. Then when we do hear from him to have those moments count, when he marked the half-million dead from the COVID-19 pandemic, when he marked the one-year lockdown, anniversary of the lockdown. Then, of course, what we hear from later this week on to mark his 100 days.

They're aiming big. They've not been shy publicly and privately evoking Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, as their models of taking a moment of crisis and using it as an opportunity for sweeping change, expanding the role of government in people's lives, trying to lift people out of poverty and remaking what the bureaucracy could do for everyday Americans.

Brian Lehrer: We'll get into some of the details of that. One of the things that jumped out at me in your article on this, More Action, Less Talk, is that the comparison is not only with Trump, or even some degree with Obama who had a lot of charisma, so he was always out there in front selling his issues more than it seems like Biden is, the comparison is to some degree with the Joe Biden of old. Less of the spontaneity that he used to show as a member of the Senate.

When he was running for president last year, I went back and looked at some old video clips of Biden in the '80s and the '90s. He was a wise guy at times. He was downright smirking in some of the clips that I saw from back then. He's so the opposite of that now. For younger listeners who only know this Joe Biden, how do you see that change?

Jonathan Lemire: Oh, it is a remarkable one. It was so striking, and that became the central theme of our piece in many ways. It's how he has changed. Yes, he was a careless, boisterous guy, quick with the joke, operated at very loud volume, couldn't be controlled by a staffer, by his own admission, a gaffe machine when he was in the Senate. Again, as a two-time failed presidential candidate, and of course, eight years as Obama's vice-president, and he's older now, he's 78. He's the oldest president we ever elected. He's lost weight, he's noticeably aged. He's a lot quieter than he used to be. He moves a little slower. He embraces all of that.

This is not something that he's defined. He recognizes that he's someone whose life, of course, has been touched with immense personal tragedy. As he says, everything he does, he couches with the phrase "God willing." He's a great respecter of fate. I'm quoting him from his formal news conference a few weeks ago. He recognizes that tomorrow is not a given. That's why he's trying to act quickly and act big, even as he himself is playing far more of a behind-the-scenes role than some of his predecessors, particularly as you said, Obama and Trump.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, Jonathan Lemire, AP White House correspondent, our latest guests to invoke FDR and LBJ. When looking at these first 100 days of the Biden administration, we can take a couple of phone calls from, if you're out there, people who have been surprised by Joe Biden's presidency so far. Maybe some older listeners who did know him in the '80s or the '90s, or even the '70s, or his position on desegregation in the '70s that got him hit so hard by Kamala Harris in that first debate. Remember that?

Do you remember the old Joe Biden? Does the current Joe Biden surprise you in that respect? Anybody who voted for Trump, who now thinks Biden is doing a good job? We'll talk about that more later in the week as the polls seem to be going in his favor. We will have the final addition on Thursday night of our national call-in series for Biden's 100 days, America, Are We Ready? That's one of the questions we'll ask on Thursday nights, final edition at eight o'clock here on WNYC and public radio stations around the country.

Anybody surprised in any way, whether as a Trump voter, whether as maybe a Bernie Sanders voter in the primaries in any direction, who's surprised in some way by Joe Biden so far? 646-435-7280. 646-435-7280. Jonathan, give us a little history lesson. It was FDR who first set his first 100 days as a benchmark for how the public would perceive the beginning of his presidency. What was the point of that in his case and how does Biden's record compare to FDR?

Jonathan Lemire: You are right. The 100 days now is this commonly accepted measuring stick that we, in the media, and Americans and those around the world pay attention to the presidency use. It's, of course, arbitrary. It has not been around forever. It did start with FDR, who, of course, took office in a time of tremendous crisis and the Great Depression and was trying to roll out a series of sweeping programs and while updating the public and doing so with his famous fireside chats.

Some presidencies since Roosevelt had really leaned into the 100-day mark to try to market with a flurry of activity and a big show, others less so. The Obama administration was particularly disdainful of it. They didn't want to be seen as taking a victory lap in part because he took office amid the great recession, and the efforts to pull the country out of that were going to extend far, far beyond 100 days, so they didn't feel like it was a moment, as the former president recounts in his new book, for any sort of real celebration.

This White House is doing it a little differently. They have been careful not to spike the football in many ways on many issues. Although, certainly, they're fond of touting the number of vaccinations being distributed. We will hear from him Wednesday night in his joint address to Congress, time to the 100-day mark. He's going to hit the road later this week. He's got a rally in Georgia, Atlanta that should, of course, the state of Georgia, perhaps most important to not just his election, but also giving the Democrats control of the Senate when they were able to win those two runoffs earlier this year, and that he's going to be traveling Friday, as well.

As the president hasn't been on the road that much just yet, but we're told by his aides that he's going to be doing more in the coming weeks to not just point out what he's done so far, but really to pivot forward and to sell this infrastructure jobs program part two of which he's going to announce Wednesday night, the American Families Plan. To an American public that seems supportive of the ideas, even as Republicans in Washington are not.

Brian Lehrer: Spencer in Berkeley Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Spencer.

Spencer: Good morning, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. During the Democratic primaries, I live in New Jersey. It's not like we've got a whole lot of influence over the trajectory of which candidates are going to rise to the top, but during everything that was going on I was partial towards Warren and to a slightly lesser extent Sanders, because with everything that's been going on, the Democratic status quo didn't seem to be where the country should be holding its position.

I saw Biden's being effectively more of the same, but considering the circumstances of the pandemic and everything that's going on in the world at large, it seems to have been a watershed moment for Biden as president because he realizes that if he doesn't go big, going small is not going to move the needle in ultimately a positive direction and either socially, economically or just for health of the citizenry.

This is the kind of moment for Biden, to his benefit, that was a detriment to McCain in the 2008 election. The economy crashed. McCain looked at it like a deer at headlights. That was when the voters looked, Obama's a better choice. It's a similar situation except this now after the election.

Brian Lehrer: Spencer, thank you very much for that. Jonathan. We're getting a number of calls that are similar in theme to what Spencer just said. Let me ask you to put this into context and talk about the political side of Biden going big. A lot of it is from genuine belief, it would seem, but also the new Washington Post-ABC News poll has Biden hitting the 100-day mark with a 52% approval rating. That's 52% approve, 42% disapproved. He's 10 points in the plus column, bigger than the election, the recent Pew poll had an even better at 59% approval. Does the reporting or does the polling indicate he's winning people over who didn't vote for him with his policies and going to the people directly rather than trying to get bipartisan compromise by going smaller, by going more centrist in Congress?

Jonathan Lemire: It does. The White House is very happy with where they are. Two notes on those poll numbers, first of all, over 50%. These are strong numbers. They are higher than President Trump reached at any point during his term that we should point out, lower than a lot of recent presidents when they reached 100-day mark themselves. The White House feels and the reporting and the polling backs up the idea that the president's base has expanded somewhat that there are- there were certainly some progressives that were leery of him during the Democratic primary process, believing that he wouldn't go big enough, that he was going to be too tentative perhaps.

He has won some of them over. We should caution, though, that that job is going to get harder. Right now, it's been pretty easy to keep all Democratic orders rolling in the same direction on things like COVID relief, and even now infrastructure and jobs. That's going to get harder when they started to turn it and really tackling things like policing and immigration and voting rights and guns, concerns the wide variety of viewpoints of the Democratic Party.

As far as Republicans go, the White House feels they pay their Republicans in a corner a little bit, that they know, they're going to keep trying to win over Republican votes and they haven't given up. There is legitimate bipartisan outreach. They recognize at least on some of this, they can do alone. They can use reconciliation, do party-line votes on the infrastructure bill, if nothing else, that they're forcing Republicans who just seem to want to be the party of no, to oppose things Americans want, like broadband and improved highways and subways,

and instead to do so because they're fighting on the behalf of large corporations not wanting to pay as much in taxes.

There's a political argument here where they feel they're positioning themselves well, and they do think, and they're quick to point out, though no Republicans in Washington are backing their plans, some Republican voters are, and also some Republicans elected officials who are mayors and governors across the country.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take one more caller. Laura in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Laura.

Laura: Hi, I'm delighted to be able to speak. I'm 71 years old. I remember young Joe Biden and I had dismissed him out of hand, I think, around the time of the plagiarism scandal, as not being a good material for high office. I was a Bernie Sanders supporter. I wrote in Elizabeth Warren. I do believe that the Republican Party is the party of nothing because they're anti-government, except for wanting to give tax breaks to themselves. That's where I'm coming from, but I have to say that every time now I hear in the news someone say, "President," and the word that follows is not "Trump." It's "Biden," I get a thrill of-- I feel I can breathe again.

It's a sigh of relief. I'm delighted. I'm really pleased with what he has done, with what he has accomplished, with his willingness to incorporate other opinions. He never seems to take anything personally. He keeps plugging. I admire that. I think that's necessary in a politician with his level of responsibility. I think the area, in general, where I wish you will not forget, please do not forget asylum seekers, because America is built on asylum seekers and immigrants.

He needs to get that border problem under control, and he needs desperately to not forget about the people who are leaving in Afghanistan. He needs to make room for people who must leave Afghanistan because they cooperated with the US presence there, and it's really vital.

Brian Lehrer: Laura, thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it. Call us again. Jonathan, that last issue that Laura brought up from various points of view, from hers, from more conservative points of view, from others, seems to be the biggest problem that Biden is facing at the moment, at least in terms of short-term politics and something that seems intense, which is the situation at the southern border.

Jonathan Lemire: Correct. The White House officials and private members who acknowledged they were caught off guard a little bit here. This is the big issue at the border, but we can have to go with the refugee cap to serve unforced errors from this administration. They will say, privately, that they acknowledged that those are perhaps their two biggest missteps to this point, otherwise, pretty well, orchestrated and carefully planned and executed for Saturdays. That's, of course, part of the job being president, is you can't script everything out, and you have to deal with what comes. This is an issue that's not going away.

They pledged that refugee cap. Number is going to go up within the next two to three weeks. They'll be some progress there. Immigration at the situation of border, more facilities are coming online. Vice president Harris today, in fact, has meetings with more leaders from other trial countries and we will see her take more of a leading role. She's going to go to the border soon. The president himself at some point will as well, but that's less imminent. A fate of an overhaul of the nation's immigration system, that is something that's not going to be done by democrats alone. It's going to require some Republican support, and that's going to be a steep hill to climb and they know that.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. To that point, to some degree, we had Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton from D.C. on just before you, who, of course, has this D.C. statehood bill that got through the House. I don't get the sense that Biden is so interested right now in these political battles, which may seem very righteous from an equal representation point of view, also we're going to have Senator Mazie Hirono in the eleven o'clock hour. We're going to talk to her about structural things in the Senate, like the over-representation of small, white, rural states in general, the possibility of abolishing the filibuster to get around some of that over-representation, things like that.

I get the sense that Biden doesn't want to fight symbolic, losing battles as much as they might appeal to the base and as much as they may feel right. He wants to fight on ground where he can actually get legislation done on big things, many of which have to do with racial inequality in America as your article points out. He doesn't say it explicitly, but I feel like he's pushing away some parts of his own party that want to do things that seem very right, and might even seem urgent, but that he knows he can't win on.

Jonathan Lemire: He's preaching at the very least patience about those issues, if not fully pushing away. He is someone who knows how the Senate works. He knows how Capitol Hill works. He has telegraphed this subtly at times where he is about sequencing. It's about getting things done in the right order. I think he knows, yes, those symbolic fights, and they are important, and they may be had at some point, but he's not going to have them now because they eat up little capital. When you lose a fight like that, it's harder to win the next one. That's the philosophy.

The idea being, you’re focused now on the big things you can get done. It was obviously COVID first, which included some real anti-poverty measures. It wasn't just about vaccines and even the distribution, even the $1400 checks, there were bigger stuff in there. Now, certainly this two-part bill even bigger still. That's the idea, is get this stuff done first, get it into law, put it on the president's desk so he can sign it. Then, he would want the other things that will be harder and may not all be possible to win. You take your stand later.

Brian Lehrer: Associated Press White House correspondent, Jonathan Lemire. His new article is called More Action, Less Talk Distinguished Biden's 100-Day Sprint. Jonathan, thanks as always.

Jonathan Lemire: Thank you.

Copyright © 2021 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.