Why Joe Biden's Interaction With This White House Reporter Has Twitter Talking
It's difficult to say whether President Joe Biden might have thought that an off-the-cuff exchange with NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell would receive the kind of attention it got, but here we are. While media reports might indicate that the exchange was antagonistic (via New York Post), O'Donnell herself went on social media to talk about what happened between her and the president, tweeting, "The president called me a 'pain in the neck' (with a smile) as I pressed him on a NEW mandate for doctors at @DeptVetAffairs hospitals to get the COVID vaccine. He did not respond when I pressed if there would be further federal required vaccines."
When admonished by another Twitter user that she was not following the president's comment that he would "only answer questions about Iraq", O'Donnell responded by saying, "In a free press, the president or any official does not get to determine what questions are asked. They can choose which questions to answer. That is fundamental," (via Twitter).
Twitter weighed in on the exchange
Twitter appeared happy to weigh in on the exchange between President Joe Biden and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, particularly when it came to trying to interpret Biden's comment when he called O'Donnell out for being a pain in the neck.
Some on social media urged the journalist to see his words in a positive way. "When a politician & particularly POTUS calls a journalist a pain in the neck, Complement couldn't be any higher. A badge of honor," one social media user said. Another said, "I heard. He was being grandfatherly. He can't tell us everything he's planning. He still loves you."
Others couldn't help but compare the repartee with one that might have happened when Donald Trump was still occupying the White House. "What's your preference, pain in the neck or enemy of the people?" this member of the Twitterverse asked. Then there was one social media user who compared the differences in the way the media treated Trump and Biden. "Can U imagine how the media would react if Trump did this? Good lord they went nuts went Trump went after the dope Jim Acosta. Its [sic] a shame he did this....doing her job and she gets called a pain in the neck," the social media user said.