Joe Biden sat for an interview with ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir on Wednesday night. Somewhere along the way, Biden picked up a new answer to the question of whether or not he is going to run for re-election in 2024. Biden’s answer to that question now is yes but with a caveat.

David Muir even pushed some of Biden’s buttons and said, you’ll run even if Donald Trump runs again? Biden said, “That’ll increase the prospect of running.”

“Do you plan to run for reelection?” Muir asked Biden during a sit-down interview at the White House.

“Yes,” the president replied. “But look, I’m a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now — from a good health. And, in fact, I would run again.”

“And if that means a rematch against Donald Trump?” Muir asked. Trump, who served only one term, is eligible to run again in 2024.

“You’re trying to tempt me now,” Biden said, laughing. “Sure. Why would I not run against Donald Trump for the nominee? That’ll increase the prospect of running.”

Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that thin-skinned, Trump deranged Biden would do everything possible to remain upright and run against Trump again in 2024. But, is he chomping at the bit to do it? Of course not. Joe Biden will be 81 years old then. Biden doesn’t inspire anyone with his vim and vigor these days, in fact, his performance so far has many of us convinced he may not last his full term and get to 2024. It may not be from physical illness but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if medical professionals surrounding him finally had to admit he’s lost one too many steps to do the job with a full deck if you know what I mean. I think you do.

Biden has probably recovered from the cold that he caught recently and then blamed it on his toddler grandson. Did you conjure up a vision in your mind of jovial ole Grandpa Joe playing with the little scamp? Because that is what he wanted you to do when he told the press that he was fine, it was only a head cold. Still, he sounds bad and his voice is more raspy than normal. He coughs and rubs his nose during every speech, along with frequently clearing his throat. He stumbles through speeches on the teleprompter and it isn’t his stutter. Is he really the right person to be telling everyone to go get vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear a mask? His delivery isn’t exactly inspiring.

So, when did he start with the caveat about his health? He ran on planning to fulfill eight years in the White House if he won the election. The idea was to convince voters that he was robust enough to do so. Now, less than one year in office the big question is whether he will run for re-election in three years or not. If his performance in the polls continues to drop (I don’t think he’s hit his floor in polls yet) and he continues to deteriorate physically and mentally, he’ll need an excuse to save face and decide to not run again. We see now that he’ll use his personal health if that time comes. Otherwise, that random caveat is an oddly timed trial balloon. Last year, after the election, he did an interview with Muir and at that time said he “absolutely” planned on being president for eight years.

We know his poll numbers are in the dumpster. A lot of that has to do with COVID-19 fatigue and Biden’s less than stellar performance in seeing the United States through it. It’s become very evident that the Biden White House is reactive, not proactive. They are flying by the seat of their pants. He leads from behind on the coronavirus. Now the message from the White House is that they were prepared for the variants of COVID-19 even though their message is also that no one saw Delta and Omicron coming. Scientists predicted both. Biden brags about thinking ahead in preparation and ordering a stockpile of PPE, including masks, but not test kits. There has been a shortage of test kits from the beginning of the pandemic and now shelves are empty and pharmacies don’t know when they will receive orders that have been made for them. With current requirements for proof of positive tests before traveling or going to entertainment venues or even going to the office, that shortage is a problem. Omicron is rapidly spreading and many of those infected are asymptomatic.

Biden is promising at-home test kits to be sent to anyone who goes online and requests them but not until sometime in January. That doesn’t do any good for people traveling for the holidays. Long lines of people standing out in winter weather waiting to get into a test site are not going to help Biden’s poll numbers.

“We’re nearly two years into this pandemic, you’re a year into the presidency, empty shelves and no test kits in some places three days before Christmas when it’s so important,” Muir asked Biden during a sit-down interview at the White House. “Is that good enough?”

“No, nothing’s been good enough,” the president replied. “But look, look where we are. When last Christmas, we were in a situation where we had significantly fewer vaccinated — people vaccinated, emergency rooms were filled. You had serious backups in hospitals that were causing great difficulties. We’re in a situation now where we have 200 million people fully vaccinated. Two-hundred million people fully vaccinated. And we have more than that who have had one shot, at least one shot. And they’re getting these booster shots as well.”

Yes, it’s true that we are no longer in the situation we were in at this time last year. But, the vaccines had only recently been approved at that time, Trump was pushing for mass availability of vaccines by the end of the year, and distribution was ramping up. Comparing last year to this year as though Biden is a magic wizard making everything happen now is absurd. He talks about the importance of vaccinations and booster shots every time he speaks. He really doesn’t offer anything else. At least he admits he should have been ordering “500 million at-home tests” two months ago. “I wish I had thought about ordering” 500 million at-home tests “two months ago,” he told Muir. Yeah, we wish you had, too, Joe. Whatever happened to the professionals who know how to make government run being back in charge? What about following the science when health experts were literally warning about variants of COVID-19 that are now and will emerge as we move through the pandemic?

So far he has not mandated vaccination requirements for domestic air travel.

“It’s been considered but the recommendation I’ve gotten, it’s not necessary,” Biden said.

“Even with omicron?” Muir asked.

“Even with omicron,” Biden said. “That’s the recommendation I got so far from the team.”

So far. We’ll see what happens as Omicron rips through the country and panicked public officials freak out with demands of more restrictions for crowds.