You’d think President Joe Biden would’ve learned in 50 years in elected office how to handle tough questions with grace. Yet he got testy with NBC anchor Lester Holt’s simple question about historic inflation on his watch.
“Well, you’re being a wise guy with me a little bit,” Biden snarked after Holt noted that the prez had claimed in July that inflation would be temporary. (The prez really hates the topic: He got caught on a live mic calling the last reporter to ask him about inflation “a stupid son of a bitch.”)
In July, inflation was around 5 percent; when it kept rising through November, Biden said it had likely peaked. But it’s even higher now, so he’s reduced to telling Holt his advisers say it may “start to taper off as we go through this year.”
Biden’s testiness wasn’t the half of it. He got utterly flummoxed by Holt’s questions about all the governors (mostly Democrats) rolling back mask mandates against the feds’ advice. He simultaneously referred to the actions as “premature” and “a tough call,” among a lot of other word salad.
Then he claimed there’ll be “less and less requirement to have the mask” as more children under 7 are eligible to get vaccinated. Huh? The feds OK’d jabs for all kids age 5 and up in November.
The root reason Biden alternately rages and rambles, of course, is that he has no good answers. He won’t own up to how his own policies have goosed inflation, nor to the politics behind his administration’s outdated COVID policies.
He’s got nothing good to say, and can only dodge the press so much. Until he changes course, he’s only going to look ever worse.
