Biden never moves or speaks faster than when he needs to glide by one of his administration's consequential mistakes: “Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But we're doing more now.” Oh, okay then.
Biden notes the country is in a “very different place now” than it was two years ago when the pandemic began. He says because of vaccinations and other medical advances we can “save lives and keep schools and businesses open.”
President Biden begins by talking about how well things are going in the country, pointing to the number of vaccinations and the drop in the unemployment rate. He mentions wages are going, and hasn't said anything about inflation yet. Indeed, Mr. President, things are going swimmingly!
Reporters told Politico Playbook they’d like to hear Biden answer questions on an array of topics: How does he plan to proceed on voting rights? Would he accept a BBB bill written by Senator Joe Manchin? Are voters who say the country is on the wrong track wrong? Why hasn’t policing reform executive action happened?
Biden’s approval rating has plummeted as his image has taken a series of hits recently: a failure to shepherd his landmark Build Back Better plan through Congress, inflation that has increased at the fastest rate in 40 years over the last 12 months, and a surge in the highly-transmissible omicron variant that has left Americans desperately scrambling to find Covid-19 tests with little luck.
Today’s press conference will present a rare opportunity for reporters to press Biden on some of these issues.
President Biden is set to hold his first solo press conference of 2022 at 4 p.m.
The presser — Biden’s first since November – comes on the eve of the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. It will be his seventh solo press conference since taking office.