
Biden returns to retail politics to rescue his biggest deal yet
CNN
Joe Biden, showing candor and good humor, on Thursday reminded America why it picked him as President in a dark hour of crisis. But, at a CNN town hall in Baltimore, he also showed his tendency to send his own White House into emergency damage control as he flipped set-in-stone policy off the cuff, and offered gaping openings for his Republican foes.
Heading into the prime-time event, the President needed to stabilize a White House that seemed overtaken by events several times in recent months -- from the Covid-19 Delta variant surge to the Afghanistan withdrawal. It was vital for him to recapture the impression of competence that resonated from his presidential campaign at a time when then-President Donald Trump was bungling the fight against Covid-19.
Overall, Biden appeared to do his stalled Washington agenda considerable good, and completed some handy repair work on a presidential image badly scarred by a wretched summer that dented his approval ratings. The President also kindled the hopes of liberals by suggesting an openness in the future to amending the Senate filibuster rule, which Republicans use to strangle the most sweeping Democratic reform measures.