White house refreshingly not to fight over crowd size, but it turn his attention to the biggest crisis facing america, namely tackling the pandemic. For the past year we couldnt rely on the federal government to act with the urgency, focus and coordination we needed and we have seen the tragic cost of that failure. We didnt get to this mess overnight. Its going to take months for us to turn things around, but let me be equally clear. We will get through this. We will defeat this pandemic. Our National Strategy is comprehensive and its based on science and not politics and its based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed. We are in a national emergency. It is time we treat it like one. Together, with the National Plan, as the United States of america. Normal government. President biden signed a flurry of ten new executive orders today to combat the pandemic and part of a comprehensive National Strategy that includes invoking the defense production act, an increasing aid to states. A comprehensive vaccination campaign, expanding testing and treatment requiring masks while traveling on Public Transportation and airplanes and addressing racial inequities. If all of that competence isnt enough, biden stressed that his administration would level with the American People and he emphasized the role of experts and to that end, dr. Anthony fauci preceded jen psaki at the Daily Briefing and was asked if he feels less constrained under the administration. I can tell you, i take no pleasure at all being in a situation of contradicting the president so it was really something that you didnt feel that you could actually Say Something and there wouldnt be repercussions about it. The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what evidence what the science is and know thats it. Let the science speak. It is somewhat of a liberating feeling. Covid did not totally dominate day two. On the National Security front of team biden confirmed plans to keep fbi director chris wray. According to an internal state Department Memo obtained by nbc news, the administration will approach russia about renewing the last Nuclear Treaty between the two countries the pedal to the metal approach follows an absolutely refreshing day yesterday. A capitol filled with celebration, two weeks after being overrun with hate. And a white house used to celebrate the people of america, not the president s vanity. A focus of the pandemic taking center stage with mask wearing and social distancing. That emphasis was evident yesterday as biden donned a mask in the oval office while signing his first series of executive orders just hours after being sworn in and mandating masks on federal properties, dismantling his predecessors ugly legacy, rejoining the paris climate accord, stopping the border wall and the 1776 commission and the rest of the world is ready to turn the page. Francis emanuel macron and Canadas Justin Trudeau tweeted theyre ready to work with the new administration. Bidens first foreign leader call will be with trudeau tomorrow. Biden faces an uphill battle here at home. Republicans are already returning to form. Today Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell took aim at bidens day one actions. Its still early, mr. President , mr. s still plenty of time that President Biden to remember that he does not owe his election to the far left. The president should refocus his administration on creating good paying american jobs and not sacrificing our peoples livelihoods to liberal symbolism. Senate republicans will be ready, willing and eager to help make that happen. Joining me now is Yamiche Alcindor from pbs news hour, and former political director of the Obama Administration and charlie sikes, editoratlarge for the bull work. Yamiche, i have to go to you. This is quite different for you, madam, covering the white house. No one screamed at you and you dont have racial undertoned attacks on you, disrespect for you as a woman and a journalist. I just want to get your sense of how different it feels to cover this white house . So far . It is a new day, joy. We are in this situation where we are covering a white house the idea of truth, and we might have tense exchanges, but ultimately we view each other as human beings that we can talk to in a way that doesnt feel aggressive or charred. I think it is a feeling that i think both reporters here are feeling a bit of relief, frankly. This is again a white house that will be held accountable. Were going to ask tough questions. Im going to ask tough question, but at least were in a situation where theyre saying well level with you and were not going to lie up front and were not going to make things up and what dr. Fauci said about being liberated about a pan demming, it to me, sums up the situation we were in before that the science with the fact, and this is the president again that will be held accountable, but hes not making up truths and alternative facts and that is behind us. Well, and in addition to that, fauci said he didnt have to stand up there, like, what when someone said anything about injecting bleach. Theyre getting in the way of Daily Press Briefings and you dont have to wait for leaks from angry white house staffers and you can actually have a press briefing. So there was a lot of focus today on the coronavirus, and on the pandemic. Did you get a sense that within the white house they were shocked and are they prepared to deal with just how bad things were . Weve seen some reporting that it was much worse than they thought it was when they got to look in the books about how far behind we are in terms of rolling out vaccines and tackling the pandemic. Did you get a sense that the plan had to change because of how bad things are . I get the sense that they knew things were bad and they were still combing through the data to see just how bad it is. When i was talking to a senior biden official tasked with the issue of coronavirus and working on the Vaccine Distribution that person said we inherited a mess. It is not starting from scratch, but it is almost as bad as that. He said that the Trump Administration when they were dealing with vaccines were essentially dumping into the states and then saying good luck with that, figure it out. There was no plan on how to get the shot into americans arms and theyre trying to get that together now. There is a big challenge to how quickly theyll do that. The big question ive been asking biden officials is how far away are we from getting vaccines to anyone who wants one and that there isnt a clear answer on that yet and dr. Fauci said 70 to 85 of people that have some sense of normalsy by the fall. No clear picture for biden to get 100 million vaccines into arms, rather, but to me its still a big question on whether or not there will be questions and even in covid testing is still not up to par and thats something that we find ourselves turning the corner on and theres the vaccine issue and there is also the basic having a real plan and it is a coronavirus and it is a remackable thing in january. Yeah, indeed. Im going to go to you on this, patrick because you know what it is like to come into an administration that faces a preordained fight with the other side. Given the stakes, 400,000 americans lay dead from the virus, and yet, you have these petty fights that are being started by the other side. You have Lindsay Graham going after hunter biden on fox news. I wont each play it and i cant even get over people went after the trump kids. You have Kevin Mccarthy and the House Minority leader, you know, going after and sort of already saying bad faith kind of things about the way that he thinks hes going to work with people, and saying that he doesnt think the previous president provoked the 1 6 riots. Josh hawley trying to delay the department of Homeland Security choice. You can go on and on and on. Let me read you what the wall street journal wrote, in his call to unify, was there too much of a suggestion that we are obliged to unite around one point of view. This doesnt sound like joe biden will get the unity hes looking for. What would be the advice you give his team to seek the unity and how much to be aggressive and to get their stuff done . Thanks, joy. The great thing about joe biden is that this is not his first trip at the rodeo, right . Hes heard these kinds of criticisms in the past. He was part of the team, the number two on the team when we walked into the white house in 2009 and discovered that the economic crisis was a good deal worse than we had been previously led to understand. We found the Automobile Industry would go belly up and the homes would go into foreclosure and we didnt have a single republican on issues and challenges that were not democratic in nature or republican in nature, and required some kind of unity. Joe biden, it feels good to say President Biden is accustomed to this kind of hollow criticism and this kind of playing into the lowest common denominator inside of that party. That will not stop him from having a laser focus on the things that he has listed on his priorities and that hes begun to act on with the executive orders that hes already signed and with the kinds of convenings that leaders in that Administration Like brian dees who is leading the economic counsel and putting together the group of 16 democrats and republicans this weekend to begin bipartisan conversations on this next tranche of stimulus, right . We have that at the domestic level and foreign policy, as well. Not only is joe biden acting aggressively and affirmatively based on the mandate given by the people of this country, but theyre doing it in a way that speaks to overwhelming competence. They understand the machinery of the bureaucracy and they understand how to sequence these things and theyll land it. Let me just say, quickly, joy, that style is substance with the behavior and thank you so much for acknowledging what yamiche went through. The things that she was assaulted with sent a signal around the world about press freedom and Democratic Practice and yamiche doesnt like to call attention to herself and we understand the violence that she underwent every single day. Hear, hear. You make a good point, here are World Leaders reacting to the bidenharris incoming administration. I really congratulate joe and Kamala Harris on their achievement and their inauguration today. Its a fantastic thing for america. Its a step forward for the country that has been through a bumpy period. The world is facing huge challenges not least obviously covid19, but also the challenge to our collective environment all of which we are seeing early signs that are encouraging from the United States and the role they wish to play. Once again, after four long years europe has a friend in the white house. Even mexicos Andres ManuelLopez Obrador who was friendly with donald trump congratulateded bien and supported his agenda. You would think that with the previous president gone and unable to attack them on social media, you would think that thenrepublicans could react to the incentive structure of covid and say that trying to solve this catastrophe that is also an economic catastrophe, that would incentivize them because it would benefit them, too, and it seems to me that nothing has changed. I dont think anything has changed about them or their media. Are you surprised by that . What if they had one picture that captures the magnitude of this transition . It was watching Anthony Fauci completely liberated and almost giddy that im able to be here. That was really an extraordinary moment and of course, you see the International Leaders who were exhaling like so Many Americans did. And the reality is is that joe biden, despite that very eloquent plea for unity is not going to get any honeymoon whatsoever because a honeymoon requires good faith negotiations. It requires republicans to come to grips with the record over the last four years. Their complicit and the big lie that led to the attack on the capitol, and rather than seeing that level of responsibility, theyre seeing them farther and farther away from it and this is a political party, you know, that has Marjorie Taylor green and lauren bobit and bob gates and Louie Gohmert and ted cruz and ron johnson and tommy tubberville. This will be a very hard party for joe biden to do, but he certainly set the right tone. Weve only used the term normalcy, but what i was struck by was watching that press briefing today and there was actual news being made because you have an actual an actual functioning government with a president who is engaged on the level of policy which we have not experienced in so long. Keep in mind you have the American People watching this while the Republican Party continues to obsess about its own base and still remarkably cowering before a defeated, disgraced, twice impeached, expresident who has basically been reduced to being fat elvis in florida right now, but he still has the whip of the Republican Party. It is strange, and i wonder, patrick, to put it back on your political director hat is how do you deal that . There is a divide and conquer strategy where they find a couple of mitt romneys and well peel them off and ignore the rest of them because they were there in the tea party when the obama and Biden Administration was there. Is it divide and conquer or what would you suggest that the biden people do . You know, divide and conquer i dont think is the approach that joe biden is going to take in this moment. We are at a point in our country that were dealing with historic and unprecedented polarization that will create a sincere and authentic attempt to reach across, find areas where there can be some Constructive Partnership on covid relief and perhaps on the increase of the minimum wage, and i think republicans as well as democrats are terribly concerned about the fact that its women more than men who comprise a large percentage of the 10 million americans who are out of work as a consequence of covid, and i think they can find some ways to partner here, but lets be really clear here. Joe biden understands what the challenge is. He understands the charge hes been given by the American People and he has a fierce urgency now about this moment on covid, on economic relief, on Racial Inclusion as we move forward and build better and hes going to be affirmative in all of that and it was astonishing to see that, not just the comments from the the rogues gallery in the Republican Party, but wall street journal suggesting that somehow joe biden is to line everybody up behind his views. Hes saying this is democracy. We have disagreements and we have to find new ways to engage one another and be sifrl in our disagreements and thats what hes going to model with his example right now and its important here and it is also important overseas, joy. Yeah. Absolutely. Ill ask the question to you, yamiche. Do you have a discussion when talking with folks inside the administration, do you get a sense that theyve chosen a strategy or isolate those who are trying to still trying to get attention on social media for what theyre doing and try to find other people or are they just going to burrow ahead and ignore what republicans are saying . They do have a 5150 senate if they need it. I get the sense that there is going to be two parts to this. Theyre really going to try to burrow ahead and try to make sure that they can use the power they have and put it toward democratic ideas and joe biden has a 1. 9 trillion package out there and i do get a little bit of sense in rhetoric that theyll talk about working with republicans and theyll try to pick up a couple of republicans, and mitt romney and there is a sense that they know republicans will have criticisms about them. A number of these lawmakers especially in the house they voted so President Biden couldnt get into office and theyre understanding of the issues at hand. That is good to hear. They are cleareyed. They have seats to protect in arizona and georgea in 2022 so they have to allow those senators to make calls here. Absolutely. Well be talking about that with the right kind of person with the new dnc chair coming up, and thank you, Yamiche Alcindor. Starting from scratch. President biden unveils his comprehensive covid plan promising science, not politics. The arrival of decency and competence and the critical and unique role for madam Vice PresidentKamala Harris. Plus Jamie Harrison, as i just mentioned joins me as his new role as the democratic chair of the national committee. You dont want to miss the reid out. Back after this. E reid out. Back after this. At fidelity, you get personalized Wealth Planning and unmatched overall value. Together with a dedicated advisor, youll make