President Joe Biden has posed for a maskless indoor photo alongside First Lady Jill Biden, Former President Jimmy Carter, and his wife Rosalynn, despite describing mask wearing as a ‘patriotic responsibility.’
The president, who has been vaccinated, insists he wears a mask indoors but did not opt to put one on for the photo with the elderly Carters.
The latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say vaccinated people can remove masks while outdoors. Biden has said he often wears one outdoors as people come up to chat with him.
‘The likelihood of my being outside and people not coming up to me, is not very, very high,’ he told NBC’s Craig Melvin, in an interview that was taped Thursday at the White House and aired Friday on the Today Show.
On the first day the new guidelines went into effect, Biden wore his mask to make remarks at an outdoor event at the White House that had limited attendance and was socially distanced.
‘It’s a small precaution to take that has a profound impact. It’s a patriotic responsibility for God’s sake,’ Biden said, adding it would help prevent people from getting the coronavirus.
The Carter Library posted a photo of former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn’s visit with President Joe Biden last week in Georgia with a rather strange perspective
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter looks on as President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden leave the home of former President Jimmy Carter during a trip to mark Biden’s 100th day in office
President Biden accompanied by his wife First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Plains to meet with the Carters at their home
The Biden’s were pictured wearing masks as they left the Carter residence.
While the Biden-Carter picture was notable for the lack of masks, social media users were most baffled by its odd perspective.
The photo saw both Bidens appearing to loom large over the Carters who were pictured on sitting on two living room chairs.
The photo was taken at the Carter’s home in Plains, Georgia last Thursday, 78-year-old President Biden’s 100th day in office.
The couple live in two-bedroom rancher that the president built himself since before he entered the White House.
Both the Carters are in their 90s. Jimmy Carter is 96 and his wife Rosalynn is 93.
The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library released the photo of the visit, with presidential historian Michael Bechloss posting it to Twitter on Monday night.
It led to some humorous responses online.
‘This is an extremely odd looking picture. I have great respect for all four, but the pic is just bizarre…,’ wrote one user on Twitter.
‘Can we discuss the perspective on this photo?’ said screen writer Jeffrey Lieber.
‘I know people tend to shrink as they get older, but did not realize their furniture did as well,’ joked another Twitter user.
‘I was just thinking ‘I love everyone in this photo, but wtf am I looking at?’ Is it a tiny house? Are the Biden’s giants? Are the Carter’s smurfs?’, asked Melinda Henrickson.
‘These appear to be the smaller, back-up versions of the Carters,’ wrote Kent Heier.
‘I know the Carters are elderly, but they are not doll size, and their home probably isn’t either,’ surmised one online poster.
‘I love this; but the Carter’s look like miniature doll house people. Is it me??? But I love it,’ tweeted another.
On Air Force One, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained that the visit wasn’t because Jimmy Carter was in poor health.
‘They had said on that call they would try to connect after inauguration,’ she said, explaining that Biden and Carter had spoke by phone on the eve of Biden’s swearing-in. ‘And since they were going to Georgia they wanted to stop by and say hello.’
She also said the visit was unrelated to the recent death of Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, who was also a close friend of Biden’s.
‘No, this is just, as I said, a longstanding friendship – they said they were going to try and see each other after inauguration,’
In this picture is from June 14, 1977, Sen. Joe Biden (left) with President Carter (center) and someone else from the Delaware delegation
President Jimmy Carter (left) and Delaware’s United States Senator, Joseph Biden (right) greet guest at the Hotel Dupont in Wilmington. Carter is pictured attending a reception in honor of Senator Biden in 1978
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter and his wife were unable to attend Biden’s inauguration in January.
But both couples are now vaccinated, and the Carters have even resumed worshipping in-person at their church, Maranatha Baptist Church.
Carter, who was president between 1977 and 1981 called ‘my first and most effective supporter in the Senate’ as well as ‘my loyal and dedicated friend.’
Biden was a young Delaware senator and Carter ally during the Georgian’s term in the White House and was the first senator to endorse Carter in his bid for the presidency.
Biden later told reporters how he enjoyed the meeting.
‘It was great to see President Carter. And we sat and talked about the old days,’ he said. ‘His health has gotten better.’
The Carters will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary later this year on July 7, 2021.
President Jimmy Carter and then Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., greet Biden supporters at a $1,000-a-couple fund raising reception at Wilmington, Delaware in 1978. Biden was the first U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s presidential candidacy in 1976
Senator Joe Biden with President Jimmy Carter with First Lady Rosalyn Carter are pictured in June 1987