It's been a more turbulent flight than expected. Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday night at a moment when he' has struggled to deliver on many of his original promises and as he is being forced to confront new crises.

The gap between the two major speeches — the first one was last April — is the story of a presidency that has repeatedly needed to recalibrate its ambitions.

Although Biden reached a bipartisan deal on an infrastructure plan, many of his other proposals have been jettisoned or left languishing with no clear path to becoming reality. He followed through on his pledge to remove U.S. forces from Afghanistan, but the chaotic withdrawal left the Taliban in control and a looming humanitarian disaster. Meanwhile the coronavirus evolved into new, more contagious variants that increased the pandemic's death toll despite the widespread availability of vaccines.