Joe Biden entered office a year ago with a promise to bring the COVID pandemic under control, usher in progress on an array of domestic priorities, and restore democratic institutions after four chaotic years under Donald Trump. He’s had some successes, including on coronavirus relief and infrastructure. But major goals remain unfulfilled — some because of errors by his administration, many because of the political realities in a divided Washington that have allowed extreme Republicans to obstruct him at every turn. Those disappointments have been particularly pronounced recently, as key parts of his agenda — the Build Back Better bill and Democrats’ voting rights legislation — stall on Capitol Hill.

Speaking in a rare press conference on the eve of the anniversary of his inauguration, Biden attempted to tell a different story of the past twelve months: It was a “year of challenges,” he said, “but also a year of enormous progress.” He acknowledged the “frustration” Americans are feeling on issues ranging from the pandemic to inflation to democratic backsliding — and expressed some of his own. But he also pushed back against some of the bleak narratives that have taken hold over the White House, telling reporters that his administration has actually “overperformed,” despite the political climate, and can still deliver on some of his goals. The White House is meeting the moment, according to Biden, and could do even more, were it not for the nihilistic obstructionism of Capitol Hill Republicans. “I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” he said.

That shouldn’t have been a surprise to Biden, who spent eight years watching Mitch McConnell do this same thing to Barack Obama and four years watching the GOP enable Trump. But he suggested that the obstruction had become even starker — not only the means to an end for Republicans, but an end in and of itself. “I don’t know what their agenda is now,” he said.

Biden made significant news in the two-hour press conference on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts. On voting rights, which was poised for defeat in the Senate as he addressed the media at the White House, the president suggested that while he believed voters would “defy” the obstacles to the ballot Republicans have put in place since 2020, he would continue to push for some voter protections, even if they weren’t done in “one fell swoop.” “We’ve not run out of options yet,” he said. The president similarly indicated that he planned to resurrect aspects of the Build Back Better plan, possibly by splitting it into “chunks” to get pieces of it implemented. “It’s clear to me that we’ll have to probably break it up,” he said, expressing confidence that some of his environmental provisions could be passed.

On foreign policy, Biden faced a number of questions about Russia, which has been amassing troops along the Ukraine border. The president promised Vladimir Putin would be held “accountable” for any actions he takes and that an invasion would mean “disaster” for Russia. But he also seemed to suggest that his administration could distinguish between degrees of aggression, saying that a “minor incursion” may result in lesser consequences than it would “if they actually do what they’re capable of doing.” That “shocked” Kyiv, a Ukrainian official told CNN. “This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,” the official said. “Kyiv is stunned.”

Biden mostly expressed optimism about what the administration had accomplished and what it could still do, even with Republicans uniformly standing against him and Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema resolute in their support for the filibuster, which has stood in the way of passing his major objectives. But he was also clearly frustrated, both with narratives he sees as excessively gloomy about the state of affairs and particularly with issues that have been out of his control, including the toxic political climate Trump and his allies have exacerbated. “[The United States] is not nearly as unified as it should be,” Biden said.

Looming over Wednesday’s press conference, just the tenth of his presidency, was November’s midterm elections, which Democrats fear will result in the loss of their Capitol Hill majorities. Biden was forthright about the challenges the country is facing, including with the pandemic and its economic side effects. But he stressed that the nation was in a better place on COVID and a range of other issues than when he took over and will continue to make progress. “Some people may call what’s happening now the new normal,” he said. “I call it a job not yet finished. It will get better.” Will Americans believe him? That remains to be seen, but he said he plans to “make the case better” to the American people. “I’m getting out of this place more often,” he said. “I’m going to get out and talk to the public.”

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