What Biden stands to gain from another pandemic speech


President Biden is slated to once again address the American public regarding the ongoing COVID-19 crisis on Thursday. And while some may cynically view his continued remarks as compulsory or, at this point, overkill, Bloomberg's Jonathan Bernstein argues that another pandemic speech is exactly what the president needs right now.
For one thing, Biden's remarks will likely grab the attention of those in executive branch agencies. "Presidential speeches can be useful as a deadline for decisions," Bernstein writes, "and then can focus the attention of the bureaucracy and of those Biden has put in the various departments and agencies on what the president wants them to be working on."
Furthermore, and perhaps even more importantly, by focusing media attention on the pandemic — "generally one of Biden's better policy areas" — the president stands a chance of both bolstering his drooping approval ratings and perhaps even convincing "Democrats who may be wavering in their support ... that he has a realistic plan and hasn't ignored the situation," Bernstein writes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The current COVID landscape, while rough, stands to improve alongside a likely increase in vaccine mandates and vaccination rates. And hopefully, that will be enough, Bernstein notes — Biden does not have to be popular now, but he needs to be popular before midterms in 2022 and before the presidential election in 2024. The president's favorability, he writes, "depends on a successful effort against the pandemic and a booming economy. At least more than on anything else."
During his Thursday speech, Biden is also expected to unveil a vaccination requirement for all federal employees, reportedly with no option of regular testing to opt out. Read more at Bloomberg.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
June 28 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include stupid wars, a critical media, and mask standards
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from