The Biden administration can’t get their story straight on anything. Laughably, that includes the commentary that comes directly out of Joe Biden’s mouth. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an administration claim the president’s statements aren’t official positions, but that’s a thing that actually happened.

(see White House Gives Astonishing Reason for Joe Biden Backtracking on ‘Border Crisis’ Pronouncement)

When it comes to COVID, though, Biden takes things up a notch and not in a good way. We’ve seen the CDC director contradicted at least three times (see The Biden Administration’s Latest Incoherence on COVID Will Blow Your Mind) while the president himself refuses to take a firm position on anything except hysterical devotion to mask-wearing.

That show of cowardice continued in Biden’s latest interview. The president once again hedged on schools reopening, only saying he’d hope they would be open by next year.

Biden, who campaigned on opening schools within his first 100 days, now says he hopes they’ll open next year pic.twitter.com/AzE18tIVOW

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 30, 2021

Meanwhile, Anita Dunn, who serves as a senior advisor to Biden, went even further in refusing to stand up for the health of kids.

Anita Dunn, an adviser to the President, says that schools should probably reopen in September if people continue to get vaccinated, adding that it is not absolute because "it's an unpredictable virus." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/VzvykrW7sB

— CNN (@CNN) May 2, 2021

Do you know what else is unpredictable? Whether you’ll get hit by a car or struck by lightning tomorrow. The risk to children from COVID falls below those two things as far as serious illness and possible death go. For whatever reason, the virus is extremely dependent on age when it comes to how it affects people. We’ve known that from the beginning.

And I can hear the rebuttal now — “but they can still spread it!” they screamed at their computer screens as the spittle slowly drips down their chin. That hasn’t been shown either, as many schools in mostly red areas have been open since last fall. The lack of major outbreaks is a data point. You don’t need another lab study when you have real-world data from literally millions of kids and thousands of schools to look at. Besides, every teacher in the country will have had a chance to get vaccinated by August.

There’s simply no excuse for Biden to not stand up and say schools need to reopen now, much less “next year.” That cowardice and continual hedging are having long-lasting consequences on children. We’ve already seen suicide rates spike, but even things like child development are a major issue. Kids are being left behind in ways they won’t be able to recover from.

Republicans should be beating this drum day and night. They are the party of school choice, opening schools, and putting children first. Democrats are the party of selfish teachers’ unions and forcing kids into awful schools. There’s probably no bigger contrast within the political sphere, and Biden is playing right into that. The GOP should shut up about tax cuts for a while and make this a cornerstone of debate.