President Biden finally admitted that the best way to combat Covid-19 should be up to state governors, not the federal government. Despite Biden’s attempts to apply blanket methods like vaccine mandate across the country, which then brought swift legal pushback, he seems to finally be listening to reason.

President Biden made the distinct change in rhetoric after Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned Biden against federal overreach which hinders states ability to fight the virus in their state

Fox News reports:

“One word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as you look towards federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solutions stand in the way of state solutions,” Hutchinson said. “The production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great, but obviously that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor.”

“There is no federal solution. This gets solved at the state level,” Biden responded, before mentioning another Republican governor.

“I’m looking at [New Hampshire] Gov. [Chris] Sununu on the board here. He talks about that a lot,” Biden said. “And it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road and that’s where the patient is in need of help, or preventing the need for help.”

Biden, however, has put the federal government in a central role on pandemic mitigation measures. The Education Department opened civil rights probes into several states for banning school mask mandates. The president continues to mandate masks in airports, airplanes and on public transportation – and his administration increased fines for those who don’t comply.

The question as the country grapples with the contagious omicron variant will be if Biden can listen to his own advice or fold to pressure from liberals who often opt for strict all-encompassing mandates.