White House Report Card: One step forward with Judge Jackson

But the economy continued to spit out historic inflation, and more people than ever said they feel it is going in the wrong direction. Also, Biden’s approval rating sunk to a low of 34% in one of the nation’s most accurate polls.

Democratic pollster John Zogby noted the president’s polling challenge but gave him credit for his court pick and NATO leadership in grading a C. Conservative analyst Jed Babbin didn’t hit Biden too hard in grading a D, though he did highlight another embarrassing word salad from Vice President Kamala Harris this week.

John Zogby
Grade C

Biden displayed global leadership this week. He announced that the United States would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, granted $100 billion to allied countries who accepted refugees, and strengthened both NATO’s and the United Nations’ condemnation of the Russian invasion.

Existing sanctions against Russia were strengthened during an international summit and broadened, and Biden even made the case for removing Russia from the G-20 economic power group. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been forced to pull his troops and focus from Kyiv and even cities his forces initially had because of the strong will of the Ukrainian resistance.

Back at home, Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, faced some tough (and odd) questions before Congress but looks about ready to be confirmed to the nation’s highest court. These days, that is a major victory for a president.

But inflation is high, and voters are telling us about that. The president continues to get low marks for his handling of the economy and inflation.

Jed Babbin
Grade D

It was a week of fits and starts for Biden and another great oration by Harris. There was one very good action, the quiet release of the nuclear posture review, and too many really bad moments — one of which seemed to promise to get us directly involved in the Russian war against Ukraine.

After more than 2 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. last year, Biden is reportedly massing Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and some Cubans to be released into the U.S. on some “parole” program. The Cubans are refugees from oppression in their communist homeland, but the others are just another tide of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, deportations are reportedly at a 26-year low.

The nuclear posture review didn’t go where Biden wanted it to go. It didn’t promise a “no first use” policy because our NATO allies and others have been demanding that it wouldn’t. Their saner view prevailed.

Gasoline prices seem to have leveled off albeit at a bizarrely high level. Democrats in Congress now want to send the public credit cards to buy gas. They don’t care about the inflationary effect that would have. Biden keeps insisting that Putin is behind inflation and the surge in gas prices, but almost no one believes it.

On a more fun note was Harris’s oration on the passage of time. She said, “The significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time. … There is such great significance to the passage of time.” She was apparently sober at the time she said that. She continues to be an embarrassment to the nation.

At a NATO summit on Thursday, Biden said that Russia’s use of chemical weapons would cause NATO to act. He said, “It would trigger a response in kind. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.” A “response in kind” would be an attack on Russian forces using chemical weapons. And that would bring us directly into the war. He obviously intended that remark as a deterrent to Putin’s use of those weapons, not as a serious threat. And, of course, that negates its intended effect.

Biden seems entirely confused over sanctions. He also said, contrary to Harris’s previous statements, that the threats of sanctions against Russia if it invaded Ukraine were not intended to deter Russia from attacking. He admitted that sanctions never work as a deterrent, which isn’t news to anyone with even a smattering of knowledge of history. Threats of sanctions are even more useless.

Biden did say we’d admit 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, which is the least we can do.

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin