All's quiet on the Biden front

Joe Biden has been president for 77 days, and by comparison with Donald Trump's rumbustuous first few weeks in office, it has been remarkably quiet and calm. By that I mean, the actual behind-doors business in the White House has been free of controversy, drama, wild publicity, scandal, sackings and general uproar. As far as we know. This is because nothing has emerged from inside the White House so far under Biden to suggest anything other than a highly professional, consensual, pragmatic environment in which four-letter words are not used or, indeed, not needed. No one can accuse Biden of doing nothing in his first 77 days. He has been as busy as a bumble bee, dishing out huge sums of money to prop up the economy and boost jobs and livelihoods and has cracked on with the vaccination programme like a man possessed. He has even got indirect talks going with Iran to try and sort out the nuclear deal impasse. The only faltering step has been over immigration and the indecision about what to do with the rush of people turning up at the Mexican border with terrible tales of woe and destitution back home. For goodness sake, there isn't even a book written yet about the inside story of Biden's presidency, successes, failures, rows, backbiting etc. No, all is quiet. And above all, as an article in The New York Times today reports, there have been no leaks. Either everyone working in the Biden administration is doing so happily and loyally or the White House chief of staff has warned that anyone who leaks will be sacked instantly. I suspect the former is the case. For the moment, the decisions being taken are sensible and are avoiding personality clashes between the big departments. Thus, the big cheeses - Antony Blinken (State), Lloyd Austin (Pentagon), Jake Sullivan (National Security), Ron Klain (chief of staff), Janet Yellen (Treasury) and William Burns (CIA), are all bosom pals and getting on like the friendliest of neighbours. By now, with Trump in charge, the first book on the horrors of his administration, was already half-way written. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, the inside story of the chaotic first year, was published in January 2018. Right now, under Biden, a man who knows the inside-out of the White House after eight years as vice president, I can't see any officials, let alone cabinet members, storming off in a huff after a stand-up row with Joe. It's all nicey nicey. Let's hope it stays that way. It might be boring for my fellow reporters in Washington, desperate for drama, but it makes for a much more adult way of doing business.