The White House launched a charm offensive, complete with a video of Tom Hanks, to mark Joe Biden’s first year as president on Thursday, but dire new polls and a major congressional setback told a different story.
Biden, who was sworn in to replace Donald Trump at noon on January 20, marked the day by meeting key cabinet members tasked with rolling out his infrastructure spending plan, a $1.2 trillion splurge that it passed in November with rare bipartisan support.
“Our country has never fully realized this type of investment,” Biden said, celebrating one of his biggest wins of the last year – and a project that should continue to deliver good news as the bridges, roads and other major public works unfold.
The night before, the 79-year-old Democrat held an epic hour and 52-minute press conference, longer even than the famously rambling events Trump was used to throwing.
Defending himself over his handling of the Covid pandemic and runaway inflation, Biden said he had “done a lot” in the face of unprecedented hardship for a president.
“He was having a great time,” publicist Jen Psaki said of his marathon performance.
Despite the cheery messages, Biden enters his second year as president facing a slew of bad news, including the failure in the Senate on Wednesday night of his cherished push for election law reforms – what he said is necessary to protect American democracy from Trump supporters. attempts to rig the vote.
The polls also appear to be only getting worse. According to new NBC and AP-NORC polls, 54% and 56% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s performance, respectively.
The numbers ominously indicate what most analysts expect to be a heavy defeat for Democratic lawmakers in November’s midterm elections, leading Republicans to take control of Congress.
Asked about his decline in popularity, which is now in the zone that Trump has always inhabited, Biden said at the press conference on Wednesday, “I don’t believe in the polls.”
– Tom Hanks reassures America –
Biden likes to poke fun at doomsayers, telling them to share his trademark sunny vision.
And his aides and allies did their best to spread the mood on Thursday.
In a two-minute video, Hollywood legend Hanks recounted in his deep voice how the country’s economy is rebounding from the pandemic. The video featured clips of everyday people, such as a UPS delivery driver saying “the fear is gone”.
“We are strong, we are brave, we are resilient, we are America – the land of the brave,” Hanks said in the video, which ended with Biden declaring: “I have never been so optimistic about America’s future.”
Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, while Chief of Staff Ron Klain spoke on MSNBC. A slew of cabinet secretaries gave interviews to more off-the-beaten-path media, including women’s magazines and rural media, the White House said.
Psaki went even further, making a relatively rare appearance on Fox News, whose main stars outside of the news operation include conspiracy theory broadcast, right-wing host Tucker Carlson.
As for the second year, the White House seems hopeful it can shift gears, in part by getting Biden out of the Washington bubble, meeting with voters and spending more time with lawmakers in a relaxed setting.
During his press conference, Biden said his main goal was to “get out there” and “connect with people.”
PSAKI said “he loves talking to people who agree with him, people who disagree with him”.
“You’ll see it more on the road,” she said. “You’ll probably see him bringing members of Congress with him on Air Force One, like he did recently, and he really appreciated the opportunity to be able to have these free conversations with them.”
As Biden entered his second year, he joked about the first 12-month experience, telling Vice President Kamala Harris at a late-night gathering of Democratic allies: “Sometimes it feels longer, n isn’t it Kamala?
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