TOM LEONARD FROM DAILYMAIL
There was something missing from last night’s SuperBowl Sunday that not even the appearance of Taylor Swift cheering on her football-star boyfriend could make up for.
Joe Biden skipped the traditional pre-game presidential interview, a 15-year-old White House tradition. Given that it’s a light-hearted affair with no searching questions, and goes out to some 60 million viewers on the night, any presidential candidate’s decision to pass it up with a general election round the corner seems almost inconceivable.
The explanation from Biden’s team was unconvincing. Sports fans ‘don’t want to hear from a politician so I think he made the right choice for himself at this time’, explained campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu.
Actually, Americans would love to hear from Biden but get precious little opportunity beyond rare and tightly-controlled press conferences and meetings with international politicians like Rishi Sunak where the Leader of the Free World works off cue cards. When he goes off script, it’s invariably disastrous.
