In a primetime speech, President Biden gave a morose accounting of the past year while taking credit for recent victories in the vaccination efforts. Mainstream media praised him, but many on the right aren’t buying it.
Summary
President Joe Biden spoke to the nation in a primetime address last night, marking the roughly one-year anniversary of the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
- In the speech, made on the heels of signing the American Rescue Plan into law, Biden announced his goal to make all adults in the United States eligible for a vaccine by May 1st.
- Biden also announced his tentative intention to getting “back to normal” by July 4th.
- Republicans criticized Biden’s cautious approach, saying the time to reopen the economy and schools is now.
- According to The Hill, Biden’s approval rating on his handling of the coronavirus is over 60% in several polls.
- Vox’s coverage of the speech focused on the theatrics of it and the Biden administration’s overall coronavirus strategy, comparing it to what it characterized Trump’s performance as “erratic.”
- CNN glowed with pride and awe over the speech, unapologetically placing all blame on the Trump administration (not mentioning that the Trump administration was already on pace for Biden’s vaccination goals) while fawning over Biden’s message of “unity”.
- The New York Times said the speech was meant to kickstart a campaign of building support for larger, non-coronavirus agenda items like expanding government intervention in the healthcare industry.
- Newsmax TV got former Trump official Tom Price’s reaction of the speech who criticized it for lack of ambition, saying Biden was disappointing and missed an opportunity for big goals.
- In an opinion piece before the speech, former Trump campaign official David Bossie criticized the venue and medium of Biden’s announcement, saying it is meant to distract from the fact that Biden has yet to hold a press conference or take a grilling from the press.
- Conservative blog RedState detailed what they characterize as what Biden didn’t say, reading between the mainstream media lines on what the real goal is: to “cement the progressive agenda advanced in the so-called COVID relief bill.”
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
