While it's a surprise to no one that the Biden administration is, at this point, just pinballing from one mismanaged crisis to another while the president's public performances are so bad that his own staff turns off his speeches out of sheer "anxiety," they really don't seem to care how incoherent they're being as they announce a massive federal intrusion into the lives of American citizens.
Katie has all the details here, but Biden's decision to expand federal vaccine mandates after finding a dubious loophole in OSHA powers is not consistent with the White House's statements as recently as late July. Yet again, the confusion over the Wuhan coronavirus is coming from inside the White House.
During the July 23 White House Briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pushed on what Biden could do to get more people vaccinated after the administration had missed Biden's own goal for the number of Americans vaccinated by July 1.
"Is that a sign that perhaps the federal government should step in and issue mandates? And if not, are you putting the needs of unvaccinated people ahead of the needs of vaccinated people?" Psaki was asked.
"Well, I think the question here — one, that’s not the role of the federal government," Psaki said without exception. Mandating vaccines, Psaki explained, "is the role that institutions, private-sector entities, and others may take. That certainly is appropriate. Also, local communities are going to take steps they need to take in order to protect people in their communities. What our role is and what we are going to continue to do is make the vaccine available."
Now, less than two months later, what Psaki and the Biden administration view as their role has changed drastically.
Watch the exchange here:
In July, Jen Psaki said it is “not the role of the federal government” to force Americans to get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/C64KEP3d3C
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 9, 2021
Biden, too, had previously told Americans in a December 2020 press conference as president-elect that he would not mandate a vaccine. "No, I don’t think it should be mandatory," Biden said at the time. "I wouldn’t demand it be mandatory."
Yet another promise made and a promise broken by President Biden as his ailing administration continues to lose approval among the American people.
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