The White House is proposing a sleek vision of electric cars and high-speed rail in a carbon-free future, but as the president and vice president outlined plans to cut emissions, they could not even get the video feed working properly.
With 40 world leaders lined up for their summit, their opening remarks were plagued by audio problems, with a heavy echo distracting from the good intentions.
“And this will require,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, before her words repeated, “and this will require, innovation, innovation, and collaboration, and collaboration, around the world, around the world.
“It will require, it will require, the use of renewable energy, the use of renewable energy, and new technologies, and new technologies.”
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The problem is not unique to the White House. Anyone working from home and getting used to video conference calls will know the feeling of forgetting to unmute or forging ahead through squawking audio issues.
But coming during the Biden administration’s effort to adopt a position of global leadership as it unveiled plans to cut U.S. fossil fuel emissions by up to 52% by 2030, the echo came across like a rhetorical device to underscore each commitment — or the sound of a teacher hammering out a message for a particularly slow class.
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Throw in some random beeps and extraneous voices, and the result was a slew of tweets questioning the administration's competence to deliver on technological promises.
The hitch lasted about a minute into the president’s address, delivered in the White House's East Room, before being fixed for the global audience.
"There's no substitute for face-to-face discussions," he said last week as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House for his first in-person meeting with a world leader.
And the audio issues will be particularly embarrassing for a president who has trumpeted American innovation and the country’s can-do attitude in tackling everything from the coronavirus pandemic to cancer and sending a landing craft to Mars.
“There is nothing — nothing this country cannot do if we put our minds to it and we do it together,” he said during a recent update on the administration's vaccination program.
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Apart maybe from getting the audio feed running properly while the world is watching.
