You were an aspiring writer before entering foreign policy and building your career as Obama’s storyteller. How would you grade the strength of Biden’s policy narrative?
What Biden’s team have done well is be very clear about their priorities and objectives – and then repeat them, which is important in politics.
Biden came in and said: ‘I’ve got to stamp out Covid. I’ve got to get this economy moving and I’ve got to show that democracy can deliver.’ And that pretty simple story is matched by their actions.
I think the challenge, though, is while that’s all happening, not very far beneath the surface of American life all the same warning signs are there. Republicans are attacking the right to vote, or even the capacity of people to count votes in different states. You’ve got the entire Republican party basically embracing the big lie that Donald Trump won the election.
Q&A: Ben Rhodes
The former Deputy National Security Adviser to President Obama and co-host of the Pod Save the World podcast talks to James Orr about presidential strategies and how to push back against Putin
