Liz Peek: Biden out of touch – this is what he doesn't get about Americans on COVID lockdown anniversary

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Tucker: Biden tells America to listen and obey in 'bizarre' speech

'Tucker Carlson Tonight' host explains what the president's COVID address means for the country

Joe Biden doesn’t get out much, and it shows.  

The other night, the president addressed the nation in his first prime time address, on the anniversary of the COVID lockdowns. His speech was at times dismal, at times boastful, but the sum of his remarks was entirely at odds with the mood of the nation. 

Biden assured Americans that the new vaccines were safe and urged people to take them. But at the same time, his promise of deliverance from these miraculous inoculations was laughably meager.

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Maybe, Biden said – but only if we’re good and follow the directives of the sainted Anthony Fauci and get vaccinated and wear masks and behave – maybe we can gather on the Fourth of July with friends.  

Not "large events with lots of people" he hastened to say. No, not large groups, but rather "small groups will be able to get together." But, only maybe. 

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As many on social media pointed out, Biden’s directives about how Americans should behave on Independence Day – a day commemorating our nation’s quest for freedom – were especially tin-eared. 

Is Biden aware that we are not waiting for his or Fauci’s approval before moving on with our lives? Does he know that restrictions have been lifted in 40 states, and have been entirely scrapped in four? That governors are under pressure to let businesses re-open and to force teachers to go back to work?  

Does the president know that even in deep blue Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont has recently changed the rules, eliminating capacity limits on restaurants, gyms, amusement parks and churches, and also now permitting outdoor gatherings of up to 100 people? In that Democrat-led state, events with up to 10,000 people can be held outside and the authorities "are planning ahead in hopes to see summer camps and summer festivals open this season." 

"I think Connecticut has earned it," Lamont said in announcing the new guidelines. He might have added, "Connecticut is also demanding it." 

Lamont is not the only blue-state governor softening the rules to win over voters. Embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo shifted gears recently, ditching the requirement that visitors to New York quarantine upon arrival. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing a recall effort, has also succumbed to reasonableness, and allowed some indoor dining. 

Rules or no rules, Americans are on the move. In all but five states, mobility indicators show people leaving their homes more; one state where that was not true was Florida, but people there have been out and about for months.  

Either President Biden doesn’t understand the mood of the nation, or he is ignoring it. Both could be true.

Apple’s "GDP weighted" mobility is only 8% below pre-pandemic levels. TSA checkpoint crossings are surging. The Dallas Fed’s mobility readings are back to the level recorded in mid-March of last year and rising rapidly. 

The surge in activity isn’t "reckless" – it makes sense. Cases have fallen 80%, people are getting vaccinated at a rapid rate and there is a growing sense that the lockdowns, while necessary in some instances, have gone too far and are now more harmful than helpful. People have had enough. 

Either President Biden doesn’t understand the mood of the nation, or he is ignoring it. Both could be true.  After all, he and his fellow Democrats still find COVID useful. It just allowed them to pass the $1.9 trillion "relief" bill that funneled hundreds of billions of dollars to profligate blue states and Democrat-favored groups like the teachers’ unions, all under the guise of combating the virus. No COVID, no bailouts for New York or California. 

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COVID gave Democrats an excuse to hand out $1,400 checks to 90% of the country, the most blatant vote-buying effort in our nation’s history, aimed at keeping control of Congress in 2022. To make sure voters get the message, the DNC and the White House are gearing up for what’s being called the "Biden Blitz" – a mammoth publicity campaign denoting a new, more "public-facing phase of his term," as Politico dutifully reported. 

The messaging plan itself is pure genius. No word could be more dissonant when contemplating our frail, tentative president than "Blitz." Blitz conjures up wartime London, and an indominable Winston Churchill watching from the rooftops while German planes bombed that city to smithereens. 

It does not conjure up Joe Biden. 

But Politico, CNN, the New York Times and nearly every liberal media outlet on earth fell in line, promising the Biden Blitz. It is too funny. 

The PR effort is to make sure that the bill remains popular, even as Americans find out what’s in it. Biden is convinced that in addition to being too small, the $800 billion stimulus plan he presided over while Barack Obama was president turned sour because it wasn’t sold properly. Not because it was badly organized and extraordinarily wasteful. No, the problem, says Biden, was the messaging. 

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He wants to correct that issue with a full-court press of media appearances. The only teeny problem is that Biden himself will be the bill’s principal cheerleader, and that his public appearances tend to be soporific, not rousing. 

The public will soon tire of hearing how dreadful the past year was. They know. They lived it and are ready to move on. 

Biden’s speech was not only gloomy – it was also full of lies and exaggerations. Even the New York Times cited numerous outright falsehoods, like Biden claiming that months of "silence" greeted the pandemic and that "this country didn’t have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or anywhere near all of the American public." 

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The Biden Blitz  will certainly be a departure. So far, Biden has made no unscripted public appearances, including no press conferences. Twice the White House has cut his TV feed when he volunteered to take (unrehearsed) questions. What are they afraid of? Why can’t he mingle with the public? People are taking note.  

You begin to wonder whether the fence around the White House is to keep protesters out, or Biden in. 

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