talking to the warnock victory in georgia will be a down payment on a difficult senate map for democrats. what is going to be coming, up frankly, in 2024. what should democrats be prioritizing in the next congress? to make sure that they are in the best possible position when they roll into the year in 2024? i think what we did and what we saw this last summer s what democrats will do in 2024. it worked tirelessly on behalf of the american people. with the touches all of us. the gun safety legislation was crucial and make sure that we count down covid in school safely reopens. it will bring down inflationary pressures. the economy needs to continue on the path of it is right now which is almost at full employment. and also keep your promises around abortion rights. and constitutional rights. and of course protect our
not been done that should be done. there were a lot of things he did do that didn t garner him the credit and recognition he would have liked. what did you make of it? well, look, the president came out today with two basic talking points he wanted to make. one, things in america are going better than you think, the economy is doing better, the people are focused on the progress on covid. he got two really big bills through infrastructure and stimulus. and the second talking point was when republicans criticized biden, if he d stuck to those two talking points it would have been one thing. of course he didn t stick to those things and from there the press conference went off the rails. and you know it went off the rails when a white house has to put out a statement after the press conference clarifying or illuminating what the president
about joe biden that, a, he hadn t had any press conferences, he was hiding and that was feeding the narrative about competence. just to stand up and hold an mvp sort of or a historically long press conference proved that he is capable of just simply doing what people expect the president to do which is stand in the pulpit and answer questions. eugene robinson, can joe biden continue with some of these successes particularly with some of the economic successes and tamp down covid, do all these things and yet still not give a particular base in the party, a progressive base what they need in terms of build back better or that base that says i thought you were going to solve voting problems? does he need to do those two things despite the fact he s got a pretty good economy and maybe covid is going to get better? well, look, it would be better for him if he could do those two things and progressives would certainly
like this because one can say it s on the wrong track. we ve got covid still. we ve got, you know, inflation, but people do associate these things with the president. so how does he address that? a cup of things. i remember how john mccain used to say it s always dark just before it goes completely black. we ve kind of gone completely black at this point, so i do think that there s really you can t go much lower, so i think there s a lot of potential upside in the next year including two particular issues. one is the diminishment of the covid resurgence, and in combination with that a continued uplift of the american economy, which i think is happening but people just don t recognize it because of covid. so i think those two things are going to happen on their own absent anything biden does. he had the press conference. i mean, there was a narrative
that s what he needs to do to take the initiative as he tries to get, you know, what he can of build back better through congress as he confronts potential international crises like russia and ukraine, as he deals with covid, as he tries to fight inflation. he does have a lot on his plate. but i think the first step is to take the initiative and to go out there and to talk to people directly a lot more. mark, let s play a little bit of what the president said a little later in that press conference. what is the trajectory of the country? is it moving in the right direction now? i don t know how we can say it s not. i don t know how we can say it s not. now, here s the thing, mark. most americans are saying that the country s not in the right trajectory, and recent polls show 68% of americans say things in the country are on the wrong tack track. i m always curious about polls