There’s little doubt President Joe Biden has been planning his 9/11 anniversary speech for some time now.

After all, the main cause of the entire Afghanistan withdrawal disaster was Biden’s insistence on an artificial deadline — Aug. 31 — so that, when the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks rolled around, he could presumably boast all about how he did what no other post-9/11 president before him could. He could say he ended the war in Afghanistan.

Things didn’t work out quite as Biden hoped — the overly hasty nature of the withdrawal resulted in a terrorist takeover of the country, a result that many intelligence officials predicted and warned the president would happen, despite his assurances to the American people.

And now, as his approval rating plummets, the president will not address the nation live on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.