WASHINGTON (AP) – On the occasion of a year of losses and disruptions, President Joe Biden will declare the “next phase” of the nation’s fight against coronavirus on Thursday as he signs a 1.9-dollar aid package into law trillions of dollars that, according to him, will help defeat the US virus and feed the economy to health.
The signing will come hours before Biden delivers his first prime-time speech since taking office. It aims to steer the nation toward a feeling of hunger (hope), as it marks one year since the outbreak of the pandemic that has killed more than 529,000 Americans.
Biden had initially planned to sign the bill on Friday, but arrived at the White House sooner than expected.
We want to move forward as quickly as possible, “he tweeted to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. He added:” We will celebrate the signing on Friday, as planned, with congressional leaders. “
Seeing his remarks, Biden said he will “talk about what we have experienced as a nation this past year, but more importantly, I will talk about what is to come.”
Biden’s challenge Thursday night will be to honor the sacrifices made by Americans over the past year, encouraging them to be alert despite “virus fatigue” and growing impatience to resume normal activities given the tempting promise of vaccines. Speaking of the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s pandemic declaration, he will mourn the dead, but also project optimism about the future.
“This is an opportunity for him to really be included in everyone’s living rooms and to be both the main cry and to explain how he is leading the country out of this,” the presidential historian said. Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley.
“This is a great time,” Brinkley added. “You have to win hearts and minds for people to stay masked and get vaccinated, but you also have to recognize that after last year, the federal government hasn’t forgotten you.”
Biden’s nocturnal statements in the East Room are pivotal for a pivotal week for the president as he tackles the ultimate challenge of his tenure: shepherding the nation through the public and economic storms caused by the virus.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released initial guidelines on how vaccinated people can resume some normal activities. On Wednesday, Congress approved the president’s $ 1.9 trillion “American rescue plan,” aimed at alleviating the economic impact of the virus on tens of millions of people. And the nation was up to the task of administering its hundredth dose of vaccine as early as Thursday.
Biden said he will focus his comments on what his administration plans to deliver in the coming months, but also reiterated his call for Americans to continue to practice social distancing and wear facial covers to speed up the end of the pandemic.
“I will launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people,” he said.
He added: “There is light at the end of this dark tunnel last year. There is a real reason for hope. “
Almost exactly a year ago, President Donald Trump addressed the nation to mark the WHO declaration of a global pandemic. He announced travel restrictions and called on Americans to practice good hygiene, but showed little alarm about the impending catastrophe. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he had been deliberately “minimizing” the threat of the virus.
For Biden, who has vowed to equalize with the American public after the alternative reality of the conversation about the Trump virus, the imperative is to strike the right balance “between optimism and pain.” say Princeton history professor and presidential scholar Julian Zelizer.
“In general, the country likes optimism and at this particular time they are desperate for optimism, but you can’t risk a moment of‘ mission accomplished, ’” he said, warning against any premature statements threatening him. has been defeated.
Fifty days into his presidency, Biden is living a honeymoon that his predecessor never enjoyed. Still, public sentiment remains stubbornly polarized and there are fewer people among its critics who seem willing to say they will give it a try than the case of previous presidents. Overall, he has earned strong grades in his treatment of the pandemic.
According to a survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published last week, 70% of Americans respond to the Democratic president’s management of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans.
The White House hopes that as Biden takes on the role of facilitator of the virus relief package, elements of the popular $ 1.9 trillion bill among Republicans will further increase its support.
Brinkley said Biden’s decision to deliver a speech addressed directly to the nation before delivering the traditional presidential speech at a joint session of Congress indicates that it is both an “introduction” of the president and his administration to the American people and a status report. in his first 50 days in office.
Brinkley said presidential addresses in Congress “are usually a series of sound bites.” “That way, you can argue directly.”
Still, early speech is in many ways an anachronism, more appropriate for an era in which Americans had far fewer television options and in which a presidential speech could reshape national conversation.
The fragmented media landscape makes Biden harder to reach people, Zelizer said, but that may be off point.
“All it does is backtrack,” Zelizer said. “It’s part of their effort to create normalcy after the last four years.”