Start the clock.

Now that Joe Biden is President of the United States, it is time we lift the bar of expectations for him. Now it would be wholly unfair to expect Biden to match President Trump in the number of times in a week that Don #45 would engage with the fourth estate. Trump obviously loved the give and take with the press and did it with zeal.

Joe Biden is a bit more delicate in this regard.

During the recent campaign, one of the often-heard phrases used in the Biden camp was that the campaign had put a lid on the news for the day coming out of their side. This would often happen early in the morning before breakfast had been fully consumed. Politico even did their best try of a wise-cracking article about this back in September.

If calling a “lid” enters the mainstream American lexicon, this will be the week it all started.

Joe Biden called a lid — the arcane term reporters use when a politician is done traveling for the day — at 1:02 p.m. Friday; 9:20 a.m. Thursday; 9:22 a.m. Tuesday and 8:34 a.m. Saturday. Biden’s early turn-ins provoked the Twitter set, professionally nervous Democrats (OK, bedwetters) and, notably, Donald Trump to scratch their heads or rain down ridicule.

Well now, Joe is at the top of the food chain, and having Jen Psaki handle the mundane softballs from the White House Press Corps is all good and fine but it is time to step up to the plate and interact at least a couple of times a month. I understand why they might be hesitant after what happened last week at the White House as my colleague Jennifer Van Laar wrote about right here when Biden tossed his lunch verbally over one simple question.

Biden has held one press conference since his election which was on Jan 8th just two days after Congress certified the electoral college vote and he muddled through a variety of questions. You can view that right here.

I’m not going to count his sit down interview with Stephen Colbert for the obvious reason of comedians do not ask hard-hitting questions. Also, the press corps ask funnier questions than comics do.

Also just for clarification, going up to the microphone to make a statement is NOT a press conference for those of you that think those hit and get events count. Answering one question while walking away is hardly inspiring for those watching the leader of the free world and wondering how he will tackle the hard topics of our time.

Now I don’t expect that the White House Press Corps is going to start asking tough questions of the anointed codger when he finally does appear for one because even the most ardent Biden supporter knows how that will end. Yet how long will the White House continue to hide the Commander and Chief from a full-blown presser where Andrea Mitchell and Jim Acosta can ask if the White House has his favorite salad croutons or enough sprinkles for his ice cream?

My best guess is that it will be at least two months. Biden was known to be short-fused when he was running on all cylinders as a Senator back in his heyday and as most people witnessed during the campaign, those days are long gone. I suppose they will pounce and call one on a day that he seems to be in a happy mood and pray to God that it works out well for them.

If they wait longer than March 20th to hold one, then you know that the wheels are coming off a bit quicker than they anticipated and we are going to be in for an even bumpier ride as a country. My neighbor Texas Tom seems to think if it does not happen before February 20th then we are in even bigger trouble and he might be right.

Let me how long you think it will take for Joe to grace us with a Presidential press conference for the ages below.

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