but above all, top white house officials concede the first year of the biden presidency has been complicated and consumed by coronavirus. remarkable gains were made on vaccines but the president s summertime declaration of success proved utterly premature. no longer controls our lives. it no longer paralyzes our nation. and it s within our power to make sure it never does again. reporter: a fall wave of the delta variant, followed by a winter surge of omicron, laid bare the failures in covid testing and eroded confidence, once again, in the administration s grasp of the crisis. it s clearly not enough. if i had we had known, we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have. reporter: on the world stage, biden reassured allies after the whiplash of the trump era. yet, the prospect of a new cold war is now an urgent fear that was not apparent during biden s summit with vladimir putin in june which focused on
officials concede the first year of the biden presidency has been complicated and consumed by coronavirus. remarkable gains were made on vaccines but the president s summertime declaration of success proved utterly premature. no longer controls our lives. it no longer paralyzes our nation. and it s within our power to make sure it never does again. reporter: a fall wave of the delta variant, followed by a winter surge of omicron, laid bare the failures in covid testing and eroded confidence, once again, in the administration s grasp of the crisis. it s clearly not enough. if i had we had known, we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have. reporter: on the world stage, biden reassured allies after the whiplash of the trump era. america is back. reporter: yet the prospect of a new cold war is now an urgent fear. that was not apparent with biden s summit with vladamir putin in june, which focused on cyber attacks.
eluded presidents of both parties. democrats and republicans can come together and deliver results. reporter: but that bipartisan bridge did not extend to the second part of his economic agenda. the build back better plan. stalled in the senate and facing an uphill road in this midterm election year. but above all, top white house officials concede the first year of the biden presidency has been complicated and consumed by coronavirus. remarkable gains were made on vaccines, but the president s summertime declaration of success proved utterly premature. it no longer controls our lives and no longer paralyzes our nation. and it s within our power to make sure it never does again. reporter: a fall wave of the delta variant followed by a winter surge of omicron laid bare the failures in covid testing. and eroded confidence once again in the administration s grasp of the crisis. clearly not enough, if i had if we d known, we would
eluded presidents of both parties. democrats and republicans can come together and deliver results. reporter: the build back better plan stalled in the senate and facing an uphill road in this midterm election year. the first year of the biden presidency has been complicated and consumed by coronavirus. remarkable gains made on vaccines. but the president s summertime declaration of success proved urtly premature. it no longer controls our lives, no longer paralyzes our nation. it s within our power to make sure it never does again. reporter: a fall wave of the delta variant, followed by winter surge of omicron, laid bare the failures in testing and eroded confidence in the administration s confidence.