Is Joe Biden the president of the United States? Those who have noticed the frequency with which the man’s statements are corrected, clarified, or flat-out repudiated might be forgiven for wondering. It remains unclear whether this president will elect to run for a second term, but, if he does, his political advertising team would do well to adopt as his slogan: “Joe Biden 2024: He Didn’t Really Mean That.”
The latest round of febrile rectifications was prompted by an emphatic declaration that President Biden offered up on last Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes. “We still have a problem with Covid,” Biden told CBS’s Scott Pelley. “We’re still doing a lot of work on it . . . but the pandemic is over.” To which an astonishing number of people in Biden’s orbit responded: “No, it’s damn well not!” Within hours, an unnamed White House official had told CNN that, “The President’s comments do not mark a change in policy.” On MNSBC yesterday, Biden’s surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, felt the need to explain at length “what the President is reflecting.” Today, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, urged us all “to step back for a second” and alter our perceptions of “what we saw during that interview.” Reflecting on the fracas, Politico offered up a pithy summary of the incident — and, indeed, of the broader tendency on display: “Biden declared the pandemic ‘over,’” the outlet recorded, before adding: “His Covid team says it’s more complicated.”
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