Many of us think of President Joe Biden as genial, but apparently, that comes with a side order of feisty when those in key positions around him fumble questions and botch their answers according to a report Friday from The New York Times. 

Frankly, after four solid years of diatribes and thundering bellicosity on a near-daily basis from former President Donald Trump, I’m finding this to be a relief.

But if Biden has a “short fuse” as the Times and The Wrap say, it sounds like he’s doing it for the right reasons. Biden is “driven by a sense of urgency” and is sometimes susceptible to “flares of impatience.” The Times also reports he’s been known to “cut off conversations” and has even been known to hang up the phone “on someone who he thinks is wasting his time.”

It seems he is a president who likes to take his time in making decisions and he tends to seek a lot of advice and details from “scores” of experts before sharing his findings in the way most of us have become accustomed to, in his usual folksy manner. While Trump may not understand something like this, I can’t think of a job where facts are more important. Biden has also been faced with all the damage left behind by Trump — especially when it comes to the pandemic — but the vaccine rollout is going well, so the fact that he’s a stickler for detail is a good thing.

“He has a kind of mantra: ‘You can never give me too much detail,'” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in an interview with the Times.

But this can make for a tricky situation. Dealing with people who don’t have all of the facts can lead to “an outburst of frustration” from the president. Those fielding his questions must go “beyond the vague talking points [the president] will reject,” and must also avoid “responses laced with acronyms or too much policy minutiae,” Sullivan added, noting that in response, advisers, speechwriters, and aides become “hyper-prepared,” in order to avoid upsetting Biden.

Even though the president may have a grouchy side when staffers give answers that are too “obscure” on important issues, Biden is also “prone to displays of unexpected warmth.” One thing that Biden never does — unlike his predecessor: Erupt in fits of rage.

I’m not giving Biden all A’s on his report card here. He has done little to help resolve the ongoing crisis Israel is inflicting on innocent people in the region and has in fact backed the country’s “right to self-defense.” And that’s just plain wrong.

But we’re no longer dealing with Trump’s meltdowns, his racism, his misogyny, and his just plain stupidity. That’s a huge relief. I’d rather have a president who focuses on details instead of one who focuses on himself, and only himself.