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Now, even as he spends days and weeks deliberating over the major decisions of his presidency, grappling over the political costs alongside everything else, Biden has shown ample willingness to take steps other presidents might avoid. In multiple ways, that has been on vivid display this week.

"I hear all the folks on TV saying, Why doesn't Biden get this done? Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate -- with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends," he said, an unspoken but unmistakable nod to the chamber's two most moderate Democrats.

"I was surprised by it," said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. "And I wondered whether it was worded precisely the way he wanted it."

"They certainly vote more with Republicans than many Democrats vote with Republicans, but he does need them," Axelrod said. "This is something that's lost in the discussion often, which is people say, well, why do they negotiate with Republicans? Why don't they just go it alone? Well, you can't go it alone, unless you have 50 votes, and Manchin and Sinema are not on board on many of these key things that Biden cares about."

Biden apparently disagrees, decamping Wednesday for two nights to his Rehoboth, Delaware, home for his wife's 70th birthday celebration.

In a pandemic era, when American workers have logged on to jobs remotely from all manner of makeshift workplaces -- some decidedly more suitable than others -- it could also reflect a new attitude toward in-the-office work.

His midweek journey to the Delaware shore is timed to coincide with first lady Jill Biden's 70th birthday, which falls on Thursday. After making millions of dollars in a post-vice-presidential book deal, the Bidens purchased the $2.7 million home as a place to convene their large extended family. The house, Jill Biden has said, fulfilled a dream of hers to own a property on the beach.

"Anyone who knows the first lady knows how much she enjoys her time at home in Rehoboth," her spokesman Michael LaRosa told CNN.

Biden, however, seems to view birthdays literally rather than as the suggestion of a date. He arrived in Rehoboth on Wednesday still in his suit, carrying a stack of papers, with his aviator sunglasses firmly in place.

He couldn't hear reporters shouting questions from a nearby sand dune.