President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address with a message of hope and resurgence, “progress and resilience.”

“Two years ago, our economy was reeling. As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years. Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.”

There’s a lie buried in there, of course. Two years ago, it was not COVID-19 that closed our schools and robbed us of so much. In February 2021, the coronavirus was not keeping schools closed. Democrats were.

It’s a bad habit of politicians and reporters to attribute our current suffering (learning loss, crime waves, depression, and obesity) to the virus. The virus caused much grave evil. It necessitated some policies that caused grave evil. But the grave evil of closing schools in late 2020 and even into 2021 was not caused by the virus. Democratic governors, mayors, county executives, and school boards were the ones who closed the schools. They were the ones who harmed the children.

Biden was one of those politicians. In the summer of 2020, the Democratic National Committee ran an ad attacking then-President Donald Trump for his correct position that schools should reopen in the fall. Biden’s ad attacked Trump as “desperate to open schools” and ominously asked, “Do you trust him to do what’s best for our children?”

So no, it wasn’t the virus that was controlling our lives. It was power-hungry, callous politicians.