David Muir Draws Stunned Laugh From Biden By Asking ‘How Did You Get it Wrong?’ on Delta and Omicron
President Joe Biden reacted with a stunned laugh when ABC News’ David Muir asked him “How did you get it wrong?” on the Delta and Omicron surges.
The president sat for an exclusive interview with Muir, the bulk of which was dominated by the current Omicron-fueled Covid surge. At one point, Muir confronted Biden with remarks he made on July 4th, just before the Delta wave.
“You told the American people ‘We’re closer than ever to our independence from a deadly virus.’ Do you think you overpromised?” Muir asked.
“No, we were closer than ever. But there’s a lot we don’t know,” Biden said. and added that while the “expectation” is that we will overcome COVID-19, “We don’t know for certain.”
“What would you say to some Americans who might say this feels like we’re chasing Omicron instead of being ahead of it, fully prepared for it?” Muir asked.
“Well, look, Omicron only really came on the scene just before Thanksgiving. We weren’t talking about Omicron six months ago, but it’s just recent. And so we are chasing Macron. But the fact of the matter is you’re chasing whatever comes on the scene that hadn’t wasn’t there before and this wasn’t there this last summer, for example,” Biden said.
“The vice president said in recent days that you didn’t see Delta coming, you didn’t see Omicron coming. How did you get it wrong?” Muir asked.
Biden was taken aback.
“How did we get it wrong?” Biden said with a laugh. “Nobody saw coming. Nobody in the whole world. Who saw it coming?”
Muir rephrased his question, and asked: “So did the administration not expect that there could be moments like this one where you’d have a highly transmissible variant responsible around the corner?”
“It was possible. It was possible there could be other variants that come along, that’s possible. But what do you plan for?” Biden said. “You plan for what you think is available, that is the most likely threat that existed at the time and you respond to it.”
“And I think that that’s exactly what we’ve done. And that’s why, for example, Omicron is spreading rapidly, but the death rates are much, much lower than they were. This is not March of 2020. This is a very different time than we’re in now,” Biden concluded.
His response to Muir echoed many of the remarks he made in that July 4th speech, during which he explicitly referenced the delta variant and said that getting vaccinated is how “we’re going to stay ahead of these variants and protect the hard-won progress we’ve made.”
Also in July, Biden still hoped to combat vaccine refusal by means other than mandates, but he has since instituted several such mandates that are being challenged in court.
Watch above via ABC News.
