Karine Jean-Pierre: the press secretary who doesn't understand questions

The press secretary is the White House's daily link to the media and, through it, to the American people. It is a position of great responsibility; a responsibility that falls to Karine Jean-Pierre. She is American, born in France, to Haitian parents. However, what the media highlights about her is not her origins, but the fact that she is the first black gay woman to serve as press secretary.

Jean-Pierre is being criticized for her lack of efficiency and her blunders. It is not due to a lack of experience. She played a leading role in Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns. In 2016 she was the spokesperson for MoveOn, a powerful organization for the Democratic Party. She served as Kamala Harris' chief of staff during her campaign for the presidential nomination and was the deputy press secretary until Jen Psaki's resignation.

Karine Jean-Pierre has served as White House spokesperson since May 13, 2022. In these five months, she has raised some eyebrows on several occasions.

Fateful October 19

The last of these was on October 19 when she was forced to refute her boss, saying that Joe Biden did not want to put an end to oil and gas companies.

On the same day, the same journalist (Peter Doocy, Fox News correspondent), recalled two of President Biden's statements about his administration's priority: according to one it is inflation, but according to another statement it is abortion. Which one is Biden not telling the truth about? Jean-Pierre could not find an acceptable answer:

https://youtu.be/i_btnwkssTU?t=1388

It was not Karine Jean-Pierre's best day, because she was forced to admit that she does not understand one of the questions.

"Jackie, are you there?"

September 28. Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski was tragically killed in a car accident. At the end of September, while giving a speech, Biden asked if the congresswoman was present. He asked reporters: "Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? I didn't think she was going to be here." It is normal for him to think so because Walorski died last August in a car accident. Karine Jean-Pierre tried to get out of the situation as best as she could:

Jackie Walorski was "on top of" Joe Biden's mind, but Washington Post correspondent John Wagner replied, "I have John Lennon at top of my mind just about every day, but I'm not looking around for him anywhere." Jean-Pierre replied, "When you sign a bill for John Lennon as president, then we can have this conversation." Did she say that? Yes, she did:

The president was busy looking at cars

The previous week was not easy for her either. It is difficult to be the spokesperson for a president who can say anything. For example, in an interview, the president stated, "The pandemic is over." It is a bold announcement about a reality that continues to constrain citizens' health. Perhaps the most striking thing is that the Administration itself seems to contradict the President: on September 13th the Public Health Emergency Declaration was renewed.

Karine Jean-Pierre's response was paradoxical. On the one hand, she denied that Joe Biden said what he said. But on the other hand, she justified those words because the president was busy looking at cars.

On the 6th of the same month, Jean-Pierre had some trouble naming the infrastructure that brings Russian gas to the continent. Instead of saying "Nord Stream 1," the press secretary named the upscale clothing retailer "Nordstrom 1."

An incredible ability to create jobs

Politicians tend to exaggerate their achievements. But they are usually more restrained than the press secretary when she spoke of the Biden Administration's ability to create jobs. According to her, "We have created nearly ten thousand million jobs since President Biden took office, which is the fastest job growth in history."

Such a record would indeed deserve to be considered historic. But given that, according to Census Bureau estimates, the population was 331,893,745 on July 1, 2021, billions of jobs could not be created, let alone tens of billions.

June 22. Karine Jean-Pierre had been in the office for five weeks. After news broke that GDP had fallen in the first quarter, the word recession was hovering over the White House Press Office. Jean-Pierre denied that the country was in recession. Realistically, it was a bit early to say: in June it was not possible to know whether or not the GDP had fallen and if there was a recession or not (it fell by 0.6%, making two consecutive quarters of decline: recession).

What is striking is that the press secretary said the President was working to elevate the pain generated by the economic problems.