华盛顿——总统，这是一个小时乔·拜登无疑想要忘记。
周五，五角大楼承认，在阿富汗的无人机袭击造成10名平民死亡，其中包括7名儿童，而不是恐怖分子。一个建议食品药品监督管理局的小组投票决定不建议所有16岁以上的美国人注射新冠肺炎增强剂，这粉碎了政府的希望。和法国宣布召回驻美国大使，因为被排除在拜登与美国达成的秘密核潜艇协议之外联合王国和澳大利亚。
头条新闻都在一个小时之内，强调了任何一位总统在能够定义任期的情况下所面临的危险。
随着大流行的加深，美国人指责美国从阿富汗撤军有缺陷，拜登已经看到公众支持率呈下降趋势。
政府曾希望推出更严格的疫苗指导方针，建立一个新的国际联盟来阻挠中国，并再次承诺拜登做得最好的事情:利用他在国会山的岁月和对立法程序的了解，说服民主党同僚通过构成其议程核心的两项意义深远的支出法案。
这些雄心现在更难实现。
拜登已经宣布战胜大流行是他总统任期的中心任务。但是美国现在平均每天有超过145000例新冠肺炎确诊病例，而三个月前每天只有8500例。
总统试图将病例死灰复燃的责任归咎于7000多万没有接种疫苗的美国人和反对他越来越强有力地推动人们接种疫苗的共和党议员。助手们曾希望美国食品和药物管理局能完全批准这些增强剂，但咨询小组只推荐给65岁以上或患有潜在疾病的人健康条件或特殊情况。
拜登的助手最近几天悄悄表示，阿富汗撤军——就像近20年来的大部分时间里的战争一样——已经从头条新闻中消失，这让他们松了一口气。这种感觉在周五下午被打破了，当时五角大楼披露了这场被认为是美国无人机战争最后一次打击的错误目标。
拜登一直主张离开阿富汗。即使在一起自杀式炸弹袭击造成13名美国军人死亡后，他告诉顾问，撤军决定是正确的。他以坚定而闻名，当他驳斥那些他对撤军的发生表示遗憾的建议时，他的固执一闪而过。
此后，助手们很快注意到，超过12万人已经成功撤离，他们说，美国的努力正在确保其他人从塔利班统治下稳步离开。
阿富汗战争的结束是将外交政策重新聚焦于中国的努力的一部分，随着美国、英国和澳大利亚突然宣布达成协议，这一目标加速实现。
但不仅北京犹豫了，巴黎也犹豫了，因为法国愤怒地指责美国将法国排除在联盟之外，并破坏了自己与澳大利亚的潜艇交易。
随后，法国召回了大使，此前法国官员沮丧地表示，在他们看来，拜登已被证明与其前任唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)一样不可靠。
与法国关系紧张之际，拜登正希望转向他雄心勃勃的国内议程。
但是，在国会山，民主党人对3.5万亿美元的支出计划存在意识形态分歧，该计划旨在与1万亿美元的两党基础设施法案同时通过。所有国会议员将被迫在白宫的立法中周旋，同时被即将到来的债务上限和政府资助的最后期限所淹没。
根据六名白宫助手和外部顾问的说法，白宫西翼正在重新制定一项立法战略，该战略曾在3月份确保1.9万亿美元的COVID救济获得通过，并在8月份推动1万亿美元的两党基础设施法案在参议院获得通过，这些助手和外部顾问没有被授权公开讨论内部审议，并要求匿名。
随着拜登对立法者的哄骗，基础设施法案将与3.5万亿美元的支出法案一起在众议院获得通过，该法案包含总统的许多优先事项，如气候变化和儿童保育，并将在参议院获得通过。
因为参议院处于50-50的平局，而民主党在众议院的优势只有少数几个席位，所以很少有选票会丢失。将西弗吉尼亚州的乔·曼钦(Sens. Joe Manchin)和亚利桑那州的基斯顿·西内马(Kyrsten Sinema)等民主党温和派与佛蒙特州的伯尼·桑德斯等自由派团结起来可能是一项艰巨的任务，前者希望支出法案规模小得多，后者坚定不移地表示不会缩减。
白宫也开始在总统的日程中再次安排旨在强调通过法案必要性的活动，包括将对自然灾害现场的访问——加州和爱达荷州的火灾、路易斯安那州和东北部的飓风破坏——与立法中的气候变化资金联系起来。
上周四，在此前被暂定为拜登下台的一天，白宫安排他在东厅发表演讲，期间他专注于税收执法如何让大公司和富裕的美国人支付更多的钱来帮助资助他的计划，但没有提供任何新的细节。
但也有障碍。曼钦告诉拜登，他不能支持3.5万亿美元，白宫助手已经开始发出信号，表示他们将满足于一个较小的一揽子计划，即使这引起了进步人士的愤怒。
拜登的顾问认为，即使对该方案有一些不满，也没有民主党议员希望被视为破坏了本党总统议程的核心。
白宫也在减少总统的旅行，以便他能够支持国会山的议程，但这导致一些民主党议员担心，拜登没有做足够的工作，亲自向全国各地的选民推销这项立法。
两名官员说，一些助手担心拜登在最近的西方之行和他纪念9月11日周年的三次访问中加入团体时可能面临的曝光度。78岁的拜登也没有放暑假。他8月份在特拉华州家中度过时光的计划被阿富汗危机破坏了。
助手们最终为他安排了一个休息时间，在特拉华州雷霍伯海滩的家中度过一个漫长的周末..他星期五下午一点半刚过就到家了
90分钟后，任何安静周末的希望都消失了。
One stunning afternoon: Setbacks imperil Biden's reset
WASHINGTON -- It was an hour PresidentJoe Bidenwould no doubt like to forget.
On Friday, the Pentagon acknowledged that a drone strike in Afghanistan killed 10 civilians, including seven children, not terrorists. A panel advising the Food and Drug Administration voted to not recommend COVID-19 booster shots for all Americans over age 16, dashing an administration hope. AndFranceannounced it was recalling its ambassador to the United States out of anger for being cut out of a secret nuclear submarine deal Biden had struck with theUnited KingdomandAustralia.
The headlines, all within an hour, underscored the perils for any president from situations that can define a term in office.
Already, Biden has seen public approval numbers trend downward as the pandemic has deepened and Americans cast blame for the flawed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The administration had hoped to roll out tougher vaccine guidelines, a new international alliance to thwart China and a recommitment to what Biden has done best: drawing on his years on Capitol Hill and knowledge of the legislative process to cajole fellow Democrats to pass the two far-reaching spending bills that make up the heart of his agenda.
Those ambitions are now more difficult to achieve.
Biden has proclaimed defeating the pandemic to be the central mission of his presidency. But the United States is now averaging more than 145,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases per day, compared with a low of about 8,500 per day three months ago.
The president has tried to shift the blame for the resurgence of cases to the more than 70 million Americans who have not gotten a vaccine and the GOP lawmakers who have opposed his increasingly forceful efforts to push people to get a shot. Aides had hoped for full FDA approval for the boosters, yet the advisory panel only recommended them for those over age 65 or with underlyinghealthconditions or special circumstances.
Biden aides in recent days had quietly expressed relief that the Afghanistan withdrawal — like the war itself for much of its nearly two decades — has receded from headlines. That feeling was shattered Friday afternoon when the Pentagon revealed the errant target for what was believed to be the final American drone strike of the war.
Biden had long advocated leaving Afghanistan. Even after a suicide bombing killed 13 American service members, he told advisers the withdrawal decision was correct. He is known for his certitude, a stubbornness that flashed when he dismissed suggestions that he express regret for how the withdrawal occurred.
Aides have since been quick to note that more than 120,000 people have been successfully evacuated and they say U.S. efforts are securing the steady departure of others from under Taliban rule.
The end in Afghanistan was part of an effort to refocus foreign policy on China, an aim that accelerated with the surprise announcement of the agreement between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
But not only did Beijing balk, so did Paris, as France angrily accused the U.S. of cutting France out of the alliance and scuttling its own submarine deal with Australia.
And then France recalled its ambassador after its officials expressed dismay that, in their estimation, Biden had proven to be as unreliable a partner as his predecessor Donald Trump.
The strain with France came just as Biden had hoped to pivot to his ambitious domestic agenda.
But there are ideological divides among the Democrats on Capitol Hill about the $3.5 trillion spending package meant to be passed in tandem with the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. And all of Congress will be forced to juggle the White House’s legislation while being swamped with imminent deadlines on the debt ceiling and government funding.
The West Wing is re-creating a legislative strategy that worked to secure passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief in March and pushed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill through the Senate in August, according to a half dozen White House aides and outside advisers who were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
With Biden cajoling lawmakers, the infrastructure bill is to be passed through the House along with the $3.5 trillion spending bill that contains many of the president’s priorities, such as like climate change and child care, and would pass the Senate along party lines.
Because the Senate is in a 50-50 tie and Democrats’ margin in the House is only a handful of seats, few votes can be lost. It could be a formidable task to unite Democratic moderates such as Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who want a far smaller spending bill, with liberals including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has steadfastly said it could not shrink.
The White House also has begun filling the president’s schedule again with events meant to highlight the need to pass the bills, including linking visits to the sites of natural disasters — fires in California and Idaho, hurricane damage in Louisiana and the Northeast — to the climate change funding in the legislation.
This past Thursday, on what had previously been tentatively planned as a down day for Biden, the White House scheduled him to give a speech from the East Room during which he zeroed in on how tax enforcement to get big corporations and wealthy Americans to pay more would help fund his plan, without offering any new details.
But there are roadblocks. Manchin told Biden that he could not support $3.5 trillion and White House aides have begun signaling that they would settle for a smaller package, even if it raises the ire of progressives.
Biden’s advisers believe that, even if there is some unhappiness with the package, no Democratic lawmaker would want to be perceived as undermining the centerpiece of the agenda of a president from their own party.
The White House is also scaling back the president’s travel so he can support the agenda on Capitol Hill, but it’s led to concerns among some Democratic lawmakers that Biden isn't doing enough to personally sell the legislation to their constituents across the country.
Some aides worry about the exposure level Biden may have faced when he mingled in groups during a recent trip to the West and his three stops to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary, two officials said. Biden, 78, also did not get a summer vacation. His plan to spend time at his Delaware home in August was scuttled by the Afghanistan crisis.
Aides had finally scheduled him a break, a long weekend at his house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.. He reached his home Friday just after 1:30 p.m.
Ninety minutes later, any hope for a quiet weekend vanished.
