From one July Fourth to the next, a steep slide for Biden ahead of midterms

Last Fourth of July, President Joe Biden gathered hundreds of people outside the White House for an event that would have been unthinkable for many Americans the previous year.

With the coronavirus in retreat, they ate hamburgers and watched fireworks over the National Mall.

Although the pandemic wasn't over yet, Biden said, we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.

Across the country, indoor masking requirements were falling as the number of infections and deaths plummeted.

Within weeks, even some of the president's allies privately admitted that the speech had been premature.

Soon the administration would learn that the delta variant could be transmitted by people who had already been vaccinated. Masks went back on, then came polarising vaccination mandates.

The even-more-contagious omicron variant would arrive months later, infecting millions and causing chaos during the holiday season.

We were hoping to be free of the virus, and the virus had