As the new (but not Nu, or Xi, because that would be too confusing or offensive) variant now being dubbed “Omicron” by the World Health Organization becomes the newest COVID boogeyman, it has become glaringly obvious that Joe Biden has failed.

How did he fail? He ran on being able to “shut down the virus.” Remember that one? And everything bad was, of course, Donald Trump’s fault.

Well, it turns out that no one, not even Joe Biden, can shut down a virus. Even with vaccines and therapeutics that are effective, viruses mutate. While we don’t know how much we truly need to be concerned about Omicron, because we don’t exactly know how much more transmissible or deadly this variant is, this is not stopping Team Biden from leapfrogging right off Dr. Anthony Fauci’s musings about shutting down travel from South Africa (the apparent origin area of Omicron) and banning travel right now.

Wait, I thought travel bans were xenophobic and racist. Ohhhh, that’s only when the Bad Orange Man can be blamed. Right.

pic.twitter.com/AJBoDKU37p

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) November 26, 2021

And even better, the travel ban doesn’t start until Monday, November 29th. Why? Because Omicron is smart enough to not travel on weekends?

“No worries, travel ban begins next week because you know, variants don’t spread on holiday weekends,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky scoffed on Twitter. “Who really believes this variant isn’t already here?”

The Fauci-approved weekend-long delay in launching the ban on travel from Omicron-infected African countries angered City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI).”

“Why do people still take this man seriously?” Borelli, the chamber’s new minority leader, asked. “Either this is a life or death emergency, or it doesn’t need to happen. It seems like this is a lockdown for the sake of lockdowns.”

But the bottom line is that Joe Biden is desperate to look like he is doing something, ANYTHING, when it comes to COVID. The vaccine mandates that are certainly unconstitutional are all a part of Biden’s attempt to make it look like he’s “shutting down the virus.” But when the case goes to the Supreme Court, and they strike it down (God and the Constitution willing), Biden will be able to turn to his base, shrug his shoulders, say “oh well, I tried,” and shuffle awkwardly away from the podium without taking questions. But if Omicron doesn’t become a real issue, expect the White House to keep blaming COVID for everything.

Biden’s team views the pandemic as the root cause of both the nation’s malaise and his own political woes. Finally controlling COVID-19, the White House believes, is the skeleton key to rejuvenating the country and reviving Biden’s own standing.”

But the coronavirus challenge has proved to be vexing for the White House, with last summer’s premature claims of victory swamped by the more transmissible delta variant, millions of Americans going unvaccinated and lingering economic effects from the pandemic’s darkest days.”

To the White House, fixing blame on the pandemic is emerging as a modern version of the old “It’s the economy, stupid” mantra from the Bill Clinton years.”

When Psaki was pressed on what the administration was doing to contain higher prices, she replied: “We know what the root causes of those are, right? Global supply chain issues.”

“The best thing we can do as the government is to get the pandemic under control. That’s what the president’s number one focus is.”

The same message ripples throughout the administration.”

“As long as the pandemic continues, there will be pandemic-driven shortages, which is why the best way to fix that is to end the pandemic,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said recently, stressing the need for vaccination.”

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, speaking about the administration’s response to spiking gasoline prices, said getting people vaccinated was “the ultimate answer.”

The problem, of course, is that Joe Biden ran on stopping COVID. It was a promise he couldn’t keep, but damn, did it sound catchy in a soundbite and a tweet. We have gone from “just mask up for 100 days” to “vaxxed or masked” to “I’m mandating the shot” and still COVID refuses to go away. In fact, it mutates. How deeply inconsiderate of the virus, to keep messing with Joe Biden and his chances for sweeping progressive change.

It’s not COVID that is suppressing the economy, it’s the panic over COVID that is doing it. It is the refusal to acknowledge that COVID is now endemic that is doing it. It’s the desperation and desire to cling to the forever pandemic that is doing it, even though the poll numbers are tanking spectacularly. Does Biden take COVID seriously? Not if you saw him shopping in Nantucket, where he is still enjoying his Thanksgiving vacation. Seems that Grandpa Joe is so very concerned about Omicron that he will ban travel from multiple African countries, but won’t follow local mask mandates.

WATCH: Despite a large sign on the door stating "required face covering," Biden shops maskless during his Nantucket vacation pic.twitter.com/zpmWcq7log

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 28, 2021

Now, I honestly don’t care if Biden doesn’t wear a mask. I just want everyone else to feel just as free as the president to take theirs off indoors as well, without people freaking out over it. We are all in COVID fatigue, and most people no longer care if Omicron becomes a thing or not. A travel ban is already likely worthless, and is just as token a gesture as wearing a cloth mask. COVID is endemic, we don’t know enough about Omicron yet, and people need to stop freaking out prematurely.

After all, if Biden was allowed out shopping without a mask in Nantucket, after being locked in his basement for almost all of 2020, how bad can things actually be?

Featured image: Biden at Pentagon, February 10, 2021 via U.S. Secretary of Defense Flickr, cropped and modified, DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)