Biden's 100 Days: What We've Learned About The Man, President And Country

Published April 29, 2021 at 10:00 AM EDT

President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress, with Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the dais behind him on April 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Melina Mara-Pool/Getty Images)

Biden’s first 100 days. Has President Biden reached his goals? What kind of president is Joe Biden? And how is the presidency shaping him?

Guests

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Amie Parnes, senior correspondent for The Hill. Co-author of the new book “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency.” (@amieparnes)

Shailagh Murray, executive vice president for public affairs at Columbia University. She served as deputy chief of staff and communications director for Vice President Biden.

Also Featured

Jonathan Alter, journalist, best-selling author and documentary filmmaker. Author of “The Defining Moment.”

From The Reading List

The Hill: “Partisan divides widen in Biden’s first 100 days” — “When President Biden addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, he will do so having failed to act on one of his biggest campaign promises: to unify the country and reach across party lines.”

Associated Press: “More action, less talk, distinguish Biden’s 100-day sprint” — “The card tucked in President Joe Biden’s right jacket pocket must weigh a ton. You can see the weight of it on his face when he digs it out, squints and ever-so-slowly reads aloud the latest tally of COVID-19 dead.”

New York Times: “At 100 Days, Biden Is Transforming What It Means to Be a Democrat” — “When Joseph R. Biden Jr. served as vice president in the Obama administration, he was known to preface his recommendations to other officials with a self-deprecating disclaimer. He may not have attended Harvard or Yale, Mr. Biden would say as he popped into an office or a meeting, but he was still a foreign policy expert, and he knew how to work Capitol Hill.”

Washington Post: “At the 100-day mark, has Biden kept his campaign promises?” — “During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden’s advisers often tracked the promises made in his speeches as a way to formulate their early agenda.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.