olympic spirit not dimmed. on saturday, at a watch party at the embassy, biden changed into a head-to-toe team usa wardrobe. i feel like a new i mean, a kid on the first day of school. you know, how you got all you have all your new clothes? but you didn t wash them. so, like, these jeans are so stiff. so, note to self. reporter: biden also did double duty. squeezing in several diplomatic events during her two and a half days in tokyo. telling embassy staff, she knows what they re up against. this job can be challenging, in the best of times. and in the past few years, we ve seen how fragile diplomacy can be. reporter: building relationships. an audience with the japanese emperor at the imperial palace taking an incense workshop as a guest of the wife of japan s prime minister, suga.
we, together, are not out of the woods, yet. and you will want to make thoughtful decisions to protect your health, and the health of your family and your community. we are, yet, at another pivotal moment in this pandemic. david swerdlick is a cnn political commentator and assistant editor at the washington post. david, given where we are now, just in the last few weeks, do you think the white house was premature in sort of celebrating and saying, on july 4th, that america was nearly independent from covid-19? hi, pamela. yeah, i do think they were a little bit. if you go back to the march-april timeframe, the administration got the covid relief package off the ground. they were rolling out the vaccines, in a very efficient way. and president president biden gave that speech where he said, hey, let s aim for getting back to sort of seminormal by july 4th. then, came may with the cdc guidance that that rolled
safely. and the cdc does say that kids over 2, right, should wear a mask if they are indoors. earlier-this month, the cdc issued new-school guidance saying in-person learning is critical, this year. but only recommending masks for students who haven t been fully vaccinated. during cnn s town hall meeting with president biden, last week, he hinted that was going to change. why do you think it hasn t changed, yet, with school opening right around the corner for many students in this country? i think there s so many factors that go into making this decision. to make an official recommendations, pamela. i do believe, however, that, at this point, we have so much data and so much science to tell us that if we add masks to proper ventilation to spacing of students and to actual, you know, testing and taking precautions in the community. we can do this, safely. so, i really do believe masks are one more step iand a really effective one. we know this, at this point, pamela. and it makes so
thanks to our kate bennet. a testament to how quickly things can change with coronavirus and an unvaccinated population. the biden administration went from declaring independence, on july 4th t, to a very different tone just a few weeks later. david, cnn political commentator and assistant editor at the washington post joins us, next. like barriers, expectations, oh and eight world records. so she ll only hold the card that never holds her back. world class medicare coverage from blue cross blue shield. that s the benefit of blue.
back home, president joe biden saying it was his wife who was asked to go to japan, and not he. if you turn on your turn on the olympics and watch team usa, you will see jill biden stand there cheering with them. the japanese prime minister, who as i invited as the first person to come to the white house head of state, he made it real clear. he didn t want me. he wanted her to go. he is a man of incredible judgment. reporter: but the first lady s main mission was to be there to support america s athletes, at a time when their own friends and families could not be. biden doing it, instead. in these moments, we are more than our cities or states or backgrounds. we are more than our jobs or our political parties. we are united. we are, first and foremost, team usa.