Ron Klain says ‘season of substance’ could save Dems

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

The White House suddenly has a lot to brag about. And the president’s aides, led by chief of staff Ron Klain, are reaching deep into the 20th century to make the case that Joe Biden is a transformational president with “historic achievements.” We ventured over to the White House and sat down with Klain in the Roosevelt Room to review the last 18 months of the Biden presidency and talk about what’s next. At the start of the summer, this conversation would have been vastly different. Now, gas prices have dropped, the last CPI report hints that inflation may finally be trending down after hitting a peak. Election forecasters are writing pieces at least entertaining the idea that Democrats might not suffer the long-predicted midterm wipeout. And there’s that burst of legislative victories that were squeezed out of Congress in July and August that had Biden, a lover of alliteration, calling this period “a season of substance.” Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Ron Klain is the White House Chief of Staff.Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio.Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think the president, the other day, called it a season of substance.
0:03.8	The White House has a lot to brag about these days.
0:07.2	We now have a presidency where the president has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since
0:12.0	Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since
0:17.3	Kennedy, the second largest healthcare bill since Johnson, and the largest climate change bill in
0:22.4	history. That's Ron Claim, president Joe Biden's chief of staff. On Thursday,
0:28.1	I headed to the White House and chatted with Claim for about 35 minutes in the Roosevelt room.
0:37.1	That's the one you see on TV with a long conference table, leather chairs,
0:41.2	and lots of paintings of Teddy and Franklin.
0:47.7	I'm Ryan Liza, and this is Playbook Deep Dive.
0:52.1	The president was out of town on Thursday, so the vibe in the West Wing was a little more relaxed.
0:57.3	Like, do you get more done when he's not here?
0:59.9	Like, when he's here, it's like you're on call.
1:01.4	I know, I definitely get more done when he's not here.
1:03.2	No question about it.
1:04.5	I talked to Claim about the ups and downs of the last 18 months of the Biden administration
1:09.3	and previewed what's ahead for the coming elections.
1:12.7	The Supreme Court's decision on choice has electrified our voters.
1:17.6	I think people are starting to see every day more and more extreme things come out of the states.
1:22.7	And I think that is made abundantly clear what's at stake in this election.
1:27.4	If we had had this conversation with Claim just a month ago, it would have been a lot different.
1:33.7	But the late summer of 2022 brought a burst of legislative victories for Biden
	...

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