Biden officials embark on media campaign, including Fox News hit, in a push to sell his flagging agenda

• The Biden admin is in reset mode amid a series of setbacks.
• Top admin officials were interviewed on cable news networks, and the president gave a marathon press conference.

Amid a series of setbacks and with poll ratings sagging, the Biden administration has entered reset mode.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave her first interview on the Fox News network Wednesday, in a sign that the administration is seeking to sell its achievements to a broader audience.

The interview was an unexpectedly congenial affair, with Psaki smiling and joking with the hosts.

Earlier that day President Joe Biden held a marathon two hour press conference, fielding questions about issues that have bedevilled his administration, including COVID, inflation, and his stalled legislative agenda. The president has attracted criticism for holding press conferences infrequently

Top administration officials have given a total of 70 interviews across national and local news networks in the week that marks the one year anniversary of Biden's inauguration, to declare Biden's achievements and lay out their plans for dealing with a slew of ongoing problems.

White House advisors told The New York Times that Biden would be stepping back from the Senate negotiations over the stalled Build Back Better and voting rights bills, get out of Washington DC, and meet more ordinary Americans to discuss their daily struggles.

"You're going to see President Biden remind Americans in the coming weeks why they voted for him, for his decency, humility, and empathy," Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, of Delaware, a Biden confidant, told the publication.

Biden aides told NBC News that Biden is bogged down in the White House, and is giving too many "one dimensional" speeches.

It's not all bad news, and Biden will be seeking to highlight his key achievements in office, notably the $1 trillion infrastructure package, a strong jobs market, and a steep decline in child poverty.

But the partisan divisions Biden pledged he would seek to heal in his inauguration speech remain, and the pandemic he said he would get under control over continues to disrupt daily lives. And it's not just divisions between conservatives and liberals he'll face, but among Democratic progressives demanding sweeping reform and moderates who just want a return to normality after the chaos of the Trump presidency and COVID pandemic.

With less than a year to go before the mid-terms, Biden faces a tough struggle to turn around public opinion and boost his presidency.