As people in the United States struggle with surging prices from sky-high inflation, which stands at 6.8%, and an uptick in omicron COVID-19 cases, Ron Klain, President Joe Biden's chief of staff, has been mocked for retweeting a column headlined, "Let's be honest: 2021 wasn't all bad."
In the retweeted column published in The Hill, Washington veteran journalist Al Hunt writes that for "many of us" the "most positive development of 2021" is that former President Donald Trump is no longer in the White House.
Hunt acknowledges that COVID-19 has challenged the U.S., but he noted the "economy is humming," with an unemployment rate at 4.2%.
Hunt said the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan earlier this year was painful and politically costly for Biden, but he wrote there was no good ending after 20 years of war.
Hunt, a former executive editor at Bloomberg, says there are reasons for optimism about 2021. The Biden team is more honest and more competent, he says.
"The Cabinet is full of men and women with successful political careers, including three former governors, two ex-mayors, and three former members of Congress. They've faced millions of voters."
Some on social media criticized Klain for retweeting the column, reported the Daily Mail.
One user wrote: "Am I the only one that finds this tweet by the White House Chief of Staff completely out of touch with the reality we've all been living the past year?"
Another said: "Afghanistan leaving Americans behind, delta, omicron, mandate job losses, inflation, supplies shortages ... No not all bad."
One user accused Klain of "living under a rock" while another asked, "Is this satire?"
The CDC estimates that omicron accounts for 90% of COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country, CNBC reported.
Tens of thousands of new cases were recorded over the holidays and hundreds of flights were canceled because of illness among flight staff and bad weather. The new variant is considered to be much more infectious than the delta variant but also less severe: Many people infected with omicron report no symptoms.
President Biden's administration meanwhile has been blamed for a lack of testing kits.
"I don't think it's a failure," Biden said to ABC's David Muir. "You could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago ... I wish I had thought about ordering the 500 million tests two months ago."
The president said vaccinations and boosters prevent serious illness and death. Biden also added that he plans to run again in 2024, if his health is good.
As for a Trump rematch, Biden said it would "increase the prospect" of his running.
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