Joe Biden, year 1: in front of the press, concessions on a difficult start to his mandate
Joe Biden during his press conference at the White House, January 19, 2022. REUTERS - KEVIN LAMARQUE
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3 mins
Joe Biden has been in office for a year today as the head of the United States.
To mark this anniversary, the president engaged in the exercise of the press conference while the difficulties are numerous.
Shortly after, as if to drive the point home, the Senate definitively closed the door to its electoral reform.
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With our correspondent in Washington,
Guillaume Naudin
Joe Biden does not particularly like the exercise, and yet for almost two hours, he complied with it, even explaining that he had the energy to stay even longer: he has already projected himself for the election 2024 with Kamala Harris, its vice-president.
The Democrat defended the record of his first year in office.
Since his inauguration on January 20, 2021, the United States has, according to him, experienced "
a year of challenges but also a year of enormous progress
".
He pointed out that 75% of American adults were now fully immunized, up from 1% when his administration took over.
The president also boasted of “
record job creation
”, “
record growth
”.
But he is forced to see his difficulties: “
I understand the enormous frustration, the fear and the worries about inflation and the Covid.
I got it right
,” he said.
What Joe Biden also admits is that two major reforms are
blocked
in the Senate
by his own majority
and in particular his social and climate spending plan. “
I'm hopeful that we can get parts, large chunks of the spending plan. And I know quite a few things that were done all at once. I think we can cut it into pieces, get what we can now and come back later to get the rest.
"
And the same goes for his bills to protect access to the vote. Except that, the Republicans absolutely do not want it and that surprised Joe Biden. “
I didn't see coming such a vigorous effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden couldn't do anything.
Later that night, the Senate buried this electoral reform for good.
The great international crisis of the moment has arrived: Ukraine. The US president raised the possibility of a "
minor incursion
" by Russia into Ukraine, a choice of words which was immediately criticized by the opposition, and which forced the White House to clarify its remarks. "
If Russian military forces cross the border of Ukraine, it will constitute a new invasion which will attract a rapid, severe and united response from the United States and our allies
", hastened to clarify the spokesperson of the White House, Jen Psaki. The Republican opposition has nevertheless seized on the subject, accusing the American president of resigning himself to an attack from Moscow, provided that it is not too spectacular.
► Read also:
In Ukraine, Antony Blinken evokes an imminent "risk of invasion"
“Let them gauge who I am”
Fighting inflation will require "
a long-term effort
", he conceded.
"
By then, it will be painful for a lot of people
."
Inheriting a country bruised by the Covid-19 pandemic, shaken by a historic protest movement against racism, and where divisions have been heated white-hot by Donald Trump, Joe Biden considered that the country was still "
far from 'to be as unified as it should be
'.
Going forward, Joe Biden wants to get out of the White House more to speak directly and reconnect with people across the country.
“
I don't have the opportunity to look people in the eye (…) to go out and do the things that I've always known how to do rather well: get in touch with people.
Let them gauge my sincerity.
Let them gauge who I am
,” Joe Biden lamented.
A new Gallup poll puts his popularity rating at just 40%, down from 57% when he took office.
This is enough to worry the Democrats, who fear a debacle in the mid-term legislative elections, scheduled for the fall.
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United States
Joe Biden