Joe’s Been Down This Same Road Before — With Barack

It’s fascinating how those elected to various offices in Washington D.C. act when down the road they run for re-election and either forget about the occurrences in their previous campaigns and time in office or they hope that American VOTERS forget about their previous accomplishments in leadership roles. Of course, if we’re talking about Democrats, they NEVER accept responsibility for any bad things that happen on their watches: current or past. But they certainly trumpet the good things that happen while they’re in office.

Joe Biden is NO different. Remember, this is not Joe’s first rodeo. He was Barack’s “go-to” cowboy for everything to do with our economy — including employment. Who can forget 2009 when Joe tackled 9% unemployment.

“It’s Not Our Fault: It Was George Bush’s”

On Election Day in 2010, despite Biden’s claims of progress over the summer, the country would see its 19th consecutive month of 9 percent unemployment or more. He had stumped all across the nation that entire summer trying to convince Americans who simply could NOT find work that “everything is going to be O.K. Barack and I are working with major corporations who promise they’re opening up employment opportunities on major levels in the next few months.”

The 9%+ unemployment numbers stayed in place for 2.5 years.

Obama was elected to fix the economy. But in November 2010, people simply did not see the success Biden had peddled in the months leading up to the election. Now, President Biden faces a similar situation today, but he is operating from a far weaker political position than Obama, who won the presidency by over 7 points with Democrats picking up eight Senate seats and 21 House seats.

Still, Obama and Biden made the mistake so many leaders make. They believed, just as Democratic leaders believe today, that those in their party were given a mandate for every policy espoused during the election, and all deserved immediate and unquestioning passage.

When presidents decide to ignore voters’ top priorities in favor of delivering their party base’s top priorities, they seem to always pay the price in their first midterm election. For Bill Clinton, his Achilles’ heel, like Obama’s, was a push for health care instead of the economy. For Donald Trump, it was focusing his message on immigration in 2018, instead of a growing economy and his policies behind it.

Biden didn’t listen to the electorate then, and he’s not listening now. Like Obama, who decided to put health care first and the economy second, contrary to the public’s priorities, Biden has put “Build Back Better” first, only deviating when a crisis emerges — like the delta and now omicron variants. The economy comes in a distant third.

It seems that Joe ignores that famous line spoken by Clinton’s buddy James Carville during Bill’s re-election bid with impeachment clouds overhead: “It’s the economy, Stupid!”

Just Pay Attention!

Political leaders have to address the priorities of the electorate. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Biden is not just off message with “Build Back Better,” he’s off policy priorities and it’s showing in his numbers.

Overall, his job rating in one November poll was 42 percent approve to 47 percent disapprove. His disapproval rating was slightly better than other polls, but it was still poor. On the issue of the economy, Biden was down 8 points, 41 percent approve to 49 percent disapprove. But that pales in comparison to his job rating on inflation — at an abysmal 36 percent to 52 percent approve/disapprove. On all three counts, he is not even close to having majority support for his current efforts.

When you look at Biden’s numbers through the lens of the 2022 midterms, however, the forecast for Democrats’ prospects is increasingly bleak.

On what will likely be top issues in the midterm election, they are underwater on every key component of people’s No. 1 issue — the economy. Respondents to that poll said Republicans would do a better job than Democrats at handling the economy (46 percent to 39 percent), gas prices (47 percent to 35 percent), inflation (46 percent to 34 percent), and the supply chain (43 percent to 36 percent).

It’s very obvious the electorate is losing confidence in Biden, his team, AND the Democrat Party to deliver what was promised. But with an administration that appears not just incapable and out of touch, but narcissistically don’t care.

With so many former Obama administration officials back in positions of power, perhaps no one should be surprised to see this administration zero in on trillion-dollar social spending programs rather than offering solutions to the cost-of-living issues facing most American families. These Obama alums are clearly just as out of touch with Americans’ priorities as they were in the early years of the Obama presidency.

In another poll, voters were asked, “Which is the more important priority for the country?”

Twenty-one percent picked passing Biden’s “Build Back Better plan.” Sixty-eight percent chose “dealing with inflation and scarcity of goods caused by supply chain problems.”

Independents were even more emphatic, favoring the second option 72 percent to 12 percent.

These results ought to be sobering for the Biden White House and the congressional Democratic leadership intent on putting the passage of “Build Back Better” ahead of a kitchen table agenda that would address issues that people care most about.

Joe Ignores Americans’ Priorities

Joe Biden was elected to do three things — win the war against COVID-19, bring the economy back, and unify the country. He’s done none of them.

What this administration doesn’t seem to understand is that it is not enough for a policy to be popular, it has to be a priority. It’s not that child care or climate doesn’t matter. But if a working mom has difficulty paying for groceries to feed her child for the week and for gas to get her to daycare, climate change policies that drive up energy and food prices simply don’t address her needs.  Results matter — and that’s ALL that matters to most Americans.

After declaring victory over the coronavirus in July, Biden has had to retreat, first with the delta variant and now with omicron, leaving the country wondering whether he understands how to defeat it. On top of that, the country is more divided than ever, and inflation and energy costs are through the roof and crushing the average family budget.