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Hey, good morning, playbookers from Raguomo Navalin.

It's Friday.

Today's show, the story of President Joe Biden's sophomore slump.

It's your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

This was one of those weeks that demonstrated the limits of the powers of the presidency.

Political scientists often like the repundance and the public for having a so-called green-lantern view of the presidency.

The belief that the president can achieve any political or policy objective,

if only he tries hard enough or uses the right tactics.

In reality, presidents operate under enormous constraints, but often make them seem feckless in the face of numerous problems.

The news at the end of this week makes it clear that Biden has entered the long-slot period of his first term.

The bold ambitions of year one have been downsized, and even with more modest schools.

Unifying Democrats in

Congress has become tougher and winning over Republicans harder than ever. Many problems,

like inflation, don't have readily available solutions. And even when Biden is able to act,

like on immigration, his choices are politically perilous. Biden's sophomore slump truly set in this week to recap on COVID relief.

The Senate neared a deal late last night on badly needed funds to continue to address the pandemic.

Biden wanted $22 billion, and he wanted the money included in the recently enacted government funding bill.

Congress declined both requests. The current deal calls for just

$10 billion and has taken weeks of haggowing. Politico Sarah Ferris, Burgess, Everett, and Jennifer

Schultes have the recap, quote, the sum, the result of days of negotiations between senior

senators of both parties, would leave out a major ask from the White House. It does not include

...