As Washington prepares for its first White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in three years, President Joe Biden’s plans for the event may constitute yet another bout of mixed messaging when it comes to COVID-19.
White House officials have changed their plans for the celebrity-studded event over the past few days, with some attending, some staying home, and some saying they’ll wear masks. Biden himself will be there but not for the actual dinner.
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The conflicting messages have Biden critics calling foul.
“It’s all politics,” said Republican strategist John Feehery. “They know that if they abandon their pro-mask base, their approval ratings will collapse even further. On the other hand, most Americans have moved on beyond the pandemic, so if they clearly embrace their base, they will be seen as woefully out of touch. So they are hedging.”
Biden initially delayed his RSVP for the dinner before announcing April 20 that he would in fact attend. But it’s a little more complicated than that. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Biden is not attending the “eating portion” of the event but will be there for the program and to make a speech.
“I would expect that he may wear a mask when he’s not speaking,” Psaki said. “I’ll wear a mask when I’m at the dinner, in all likelihood.”
This puts Biden at odds with Dr. Anthony Fauci, his chief medical adviser, who announced Wednesday that he’s bowing out over coronavirus concerns. Fauci had said just one day earlier that “we are certainly, right now, in this country, out of the pandemic phase.” The apparent contradiction led Psaki to try and clarify the situation by saying the United States is in a different phase of the pandemic.
Tickets for the Saturday night event, which hasn’t been held since 2019, run $350 per person. Comedian Trevor Noah is the evening’s entertainer.
The sometimes-contradictory nature of the messages around the dinner reflects the reality that many people are making different risk assessments when it comes to the virus, argues Glen Nowak, formerly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s communications director.
“For the Biden administration, it’s complicated by the fact that you have all of that [varying risk assessment], plus you’re trying to figure out what messages you are sending, whether intentional or unintentional, to the broader public,” said Nowak, now a University of Georgia professor. “Are you trying to send support to those who are still concerned that they’re at risk? Are you trying to model that it’s OK for almost everyone to be in public settings, particularly if everyone is vaccinated?”
Roughly 2,600 people attend the annual dinner, which is requiring a same-day negative test and proof of vaccination. Some concerns stem from a spate of positive cases following the smaller Gridiron Club dinner, though there were no reported hospitalizations tied to the event.
Voters look to politicians for leadership, Nowak added, and their actions can matter just as much or more than their words.
“The other challenge is consistency,” he said. “Why are you wearing a mask? Why aren’t you wearing a mask? What is the reason? Why did you make that decision? Are you being consistent? … Whatever you do, you have to have a strong and honest reason as to why you’re doing it.”
With some Biden administration members attending the full dinner, the president attending portions of it, and some skipping it altogether, that consistency challenge may not be met.
“Many will likely question why different messages are being sent,” said Nowak.
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Biden has also struggled to be consistent with pandemic policies, many of which have already ended, some set to end later this year, and some still in place indefinitely.
