Biden says "I would do everything possible to make it required the people had to wear masks in public"...

... then says that he can't "imagine" himself "taking the oath of office wearing a mask," "because I could take the mask off at this distance," CBS Pittsburgh responds.

1. Maybe "do everything possible to make it required" is clever phrasing and he's really thinking the President lacks the power to order everyone to wear masks or to commandeer local law officials to enforce a mask requirement. So it wouldn't, in fact, be possible.

2. "... to make it required the people had to wear masks in public" — That's substandard English. Maybe the transcription is off, but if not, this is either more evidence of his declining ability to communicate or an awkward effort to avoid speaking like a normal person. A normal person finding himself in the middle of that sentence would finish it something like this: "I would do everything possible to require people to wear masks in public." That is, he threw in extra words, which put the brakes on sloppily: "I would do everything possible to make it required the people had to wear masks in public." "Required the people had" is especially bad. You could say: "I would do everything possible to make it required that the people have to wear masks in public." But he didn't get that far. I presume he got started saying "I would do everything possible to require people to wear masks in public," realized it sounded too controlling or too far beyond legitimate federal executive power and patched in some extra words.

3. The idea of a federal requirement to wear masks is so bad, so out of touch with the values of federalism. The conditions vary from place to place, even within states, even within municipalities. It's wrong to have one rule for everyone. Presumably, any federal rules would have exceptions for people who do things outdoors when they're not near other people. But the impulse to control from above is worrisome. And it's politically bad. It generates mistrust. And I'm saying this from my remote outpost in flyover country.

4. No sooner does he announce that "the people" should all be wearing masks than he tells us he can't even imagine himself wearing a mask to take the oath of office. Rules are for little people? That was an unforced error. He could so easily have said yes to the question whether he could "imagine" wearing a mask. That wouldn't even box him in. Later, he can say he imagined it, but thought it wasn't the best option. But apparently he wasn't agile enough to get that far on the fly.