JOE BIDEN, MAN IN THE IRON MASK

I took a flight to Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday, the first full day that the mask requirement for air travel had been lifted.

While my destination was in a deep red state, my departure was from one of the bluest bastions, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. As I passed through DCA and traveled on the flight as well as on my return through the airport the next day, I watched intently to see how many people voluntarily wore masks. Not too many. Even at Reagan, masks were by far the exception. Maybe 1 in 5 people had them on, often families with little ones who can’t get vaccinated.

But on my travels, I was also reading about how the Biden administration was vowing to fight to have the mandates, struck down by a judge’s ruling Monday, reimposed. And it occurred to me that while my experience is certainly unique and my observations strictly anecdotal, there are obviously lots of Americans—including many working in transportation—who are very glad to not have to cover their faces after two long years under wraps.

And I thought: Why doesn’t the president want these people to be pleased with him? Aren’t many of the folks showing their smiling faces the very voters Democrats so desperately need this fall?