As a sign that the White House will now function as recommended by the government in the midst of a pandemic, many of Biden’s employees will continue to work from home in the coming days and weeks.
Officials said they received new computers and phones from the government that were activated at noon on Wednesday, allowing them to conduct official business in living rooms, kitchens and home offices.
Although many of the individual West Wing offices have been assigned, the building will not be at full capacity, as it was for much of last year, despite the pandemic. The few places that have implemented some work at home requirements under Trump, such as the National Security Council, will continue to have employees working remotely.
This does not include Biden’s top officials, such as chief of staff Ron Klain and press secretary Jen Psaki, who were in the building on Wednesday when Biden first arrived.
But other middle and lower-level employees will work from home, unlike Trump’s advisers, who mostly continued to work without wearing masks.
Psaki said during his news conference on Wednesday that all employees entering the complex will be required to pass a Covid test, wear an N95 mask and adhere to social detachment guidelines. Plexiglass barriers were also mounted on tables in the west wing, something that Trump officials resisted.
“The president has asked us to be role models for the American people as well, and that is vitally important to us as well,” she said.
Acting as a model for the country, rather than a mining influence, was another sign of Biden’s intention to revive the way the White Houses used to work.
After four thunderous years of chaos, there were other signs that the volume would be a little lower.
After a four-year presidency ruled by turbulence and active disrespect for the phrase “how things are done”, Biden’s entry into the White House has initiated a conscious return to tradition and protocol.
Returning to “how things are done” was Biden’s calling card. And on his first day as president, in big and small things, he made sure things were done as they were.
At her first daily briefing, the White House press secretary opened by calling the Associated Press, a tradition that had been discarded, and was able to answer questions without a series of insults – and without any mention of the size of the crowd.
The first call from a foreign leader on the Biden list was planned and announced in advance: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, perhaps the least controversial ally in the country.
“I did not have the opportunity to delve into that today,” said press secretary Jen Psaki when asked about the painting of the plane, relegating to the background an issue that previously worried hours of presidential time.
Institutional knowledge
Biden’s advisers have long sought to link his institutional knowledge and respect for traditions to an ability to repair the nation’s problems. They paid attention to things like language and optics to project readiness for work, even unconsciously.
From the beginning, his campaign has posted daily schedules listing Biden’s activities in the established style of a president, even when he spent days without them. His events were staged in ways that brought to mind a president’s official commitments, even when Trump’s official commitments generally resembled campaign events.
Like the president himself, the team that Biden brought with him to the White House has more experience in government than any administration in memory. Led by Klain, who has worked in two previous governments, Biden’s team is supplied with alumni from President Barack Obama’s White House and other areas of government.
When they reached the west wing on Wednesday morning, many knew their way through the maze of offices and meeting rooms. Unlike Trump’s team, which has gone several days without figuring out how to turn on the lights in the office room, Biden’s aides know how the building works.
Likewise, they know how the government normally operates – or at least how it worked before Trump appeared.
Officials say one of Biden’s main goals in his early days is to stabilize the country and restore a sense of normalcy after a four-year period divided under Trump. For a country exhausted by the daily turmoil of the Trump presidency, a more traditional commander-in-chief could return the White House to the back of Americans’ minds instead of existing as widespread anxiety.
“Politics need not be a wildfire, destroying everything in its path,” he said during his inaugural speech on Wednesday.
A different view
This is not necessarily how Trump supporters see it. They saw the previous president’s willingness to abandon presidential rules as a sign that he was abandoning a system that had left many people behind.
His tweets, which ended this month when Twitter suspended his account, were a balm for those who are tired of the politically correct. His naked and raw availability for the press provided a direct view of his thinking, even though they were usually riddled with lies.
The management style he employed – which could generously be described as uncontrolled chaos – ensured that he was the focus of attention at all times. He believed that having counselors dueling before him usually led to the best possible outcome.
Decorum has become self-defined; while Trump insisted that he be accorded the greatest respect because of his position, he offered little in return for the system of democracy that put him there.
Ironically, Trump seemed to appreciate the more traditional aspects of his work more: military criticism, music bands, demonstrations of deference.
But he openly acknowledged that his style was not normal. He called it a “modern presidential”.
Biden, at least during his first few hours in office, is running for a regular presidency.