Joe Biden seemed to have a lot he wanted to get off his chest. Just over an hour into the second press conference of his presidency and the first since his approval ratings plummeted this fall, Biden stopped referring to his seating chart printed with reporters’ faces and names and started calling on anyone shouting questions. “How long are you guys ready to go?” Biden asked. “You want to go for another hour?”
For 111 minutes, Biden stood at the lectern under the crystal chandeliers of the White House East Room and defiantly touted his Administration’s accomplishments during a low moment in his presidency. Biden could have reset the tone and charted a new course for his second year, following months of bad news about another spike in COVID-19 infections, skyrocketing prices, the fallout from a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Democratic party infighting that has stalled major pieces legislation.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
Instead, Biden doubled down. One day before the anniversary of his inauguration, Biden defended the record of his first year in office, pointing out that he pushed COVID-19 relief funding into American bank accounts, rolled out vaccines to 200 million Americans, saw record employment gains and passed a bipartisan, trillion-dollar investment in America’s infrastructure. On Afghanistan, Biden said he makes “no apologies” for his decision to withdraw, despite the country falling into the hands of the Taliban and the humanitarian disaster unfolding now.
“I didn’t over promise,” Biden declared about his first year in office. “And I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen.”
At the day of the press conference, Biden’s approval rating was just 41.9%, according to a polling average tracked by FiveThirtyEight. But the President deflected his low poll ratings and other challenges like the supply chain issues as the results of the lingering pandemic. “I know there’s a lot of frustration and fatigue in this country,” he…
Source : time
