Info Magzine: Biden follows in recent presidential footsteps with Super Bowl interview

FILE PHOTO: Jan 29, 2020; Miami, Florida, USA; Vince Lombardi Trophy on show throughout a press convention earlier than Super Bowl LIV at Hilton Downtown. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY/File Photo

WASHINGTON – When U.S. President Joe Biden seems for a CBS interview this Super Bowl Sunday, he will likely be following a recent White House custom of utilizing the nation’s most-watched sporting occasion to achieve a nationwide viewers in the tens of hundreds of thousands.

Presidents have used the annual National Football League championship sport to attempt to promote a picture of being somebody that viewers wish to have a beer with – or in teetotaler Biden’s case, a bowl of ice cream.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell, a former White House correspondent, will interview Biden, with excerpts to air on Friday and the entire session to be proven in the 4 p.m. EST hour on Sunday. CBS is broadcasting the Super Bowl this yr, with the sport beginning round 6:30 p.m. EST.

Biden, identified to be a Philadelphia Eagles fan, has given no indication of which crew he will likely be cheering on in the showdown between the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Last yr’s sport, 2020’s single most-viewed U.S. tv occasion, was watched by an estimated 99.9 million folks – a clue to how many individuals Biden may attain to advertise his $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bundle and provide his first expansive views on any variety of home and international subjects.

“It’s an audience that is not just going to be the true believers,” mentioned Thomas Alan Schwartz, a presidential scholar at Vanderbilt University.

“The Super Bowl is one of the secular national holidays we have that tends to promote unity, the idea being that we all like watching the game. It’s an opportunity to hit an audience that he would otherwise have a hard time finding,” he mentioned.

Presidents in the previous have joined in the festivities by calling the coach of the victorious crew. In 1972, famous soccer fan Richard Nixon referred to as Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula earlier than the Super Bowl to counsel a move play he may attempt towards the Dallas Cowboys.

George W. Bush started the custom of an interview across the Super Bowl, showing with CBS lead commentator Jim Nantz in 2004 for a lightweight interview largely in regards to the sport.

“I think it’s going to be a very close contest, but what the heck do I know? I’m just the president,” Bush mentioned.

More recent interviews have been extra critical. Democratic President Barack Obama was grilled in 2013 by then-Fox News Channel commentator Bill O’Reilly in regards to the rocky rollout of the web site for his Obamacare healthcare plan and the militant assault on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump granted an interview to CBS’ “Face the Nation” as a part of the run-up to the sport and talked about his variations with the U.S. intelligence group.

He skipped a Super Bowl interview final yr.