Inside the new President's routine: Oval Office fires and early bedtimes
(CNN)When President Joe Biden flew aboard Air Force One for the first time this month, he did not spend much time soaking in the moment.
The flight, after all, was only 25 minutes long. He was headed home to Delaware for the weekend, in part to have his foot X-rayed at his orthopedist. And unlike his most recent predecessors, Biden was already familiar with the unique combination of executive swank and military rigor aboard the presidential jet, having flown more than a million miles aboard Air Force Two.
So, like a weary passenger on a commuter shuttle, he spent most of the flight reading the newspaper.
As Biden settles into a job he has been seeking on-and-off for three decades, the daily routine of being president -- with a phalanx of Secret Service agents, regular updates on the nation's top secrets and an ever-present press corps -- has come more naturally for him than for his more recent predecessors.
He has established a regular schedule, including coffee in the mornings with the first lady, meetings and phone calls from the Oval Office starting just after 9 a.m. and a return to his residence by 7 p.m. As he walks home along the Colonnade, he's often seen carrying a stack of binders or manila folders under one arm. He still brings a brown leather briefcase into the office.
Unlike his most recent predecessors -- night owls who spent the dark hours reading briefing materials (President Barack Obama) or watching television (President Donald Trump) -- Biden is more of an early-to-bed type. He has continued a tradition of reading letters from Americans, a handful of which are tucked into the briefing materials he brings home in the evenings. Recently they have focused on the pandemic; Biden has also spoken by video conference with business owners and laid-off workers weathering the economic crisis.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/15/politics/joe-biden-presidential-routine/index.html
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