President Joe Biden is starting to sound like Vice President Kamala Harris.
The president was caught off guard this week by a predictable question regarding inflation. He should have seen the question coming a mile away. He should have had at least two or three solid answers lined up and ready to go. But he didn’t.
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Instead, Biden, like Harris, stumbled his way through a largely unintelligible response to a predictable question, and that was only after he referred to his interviewer as a “wise guy.”
The moment occurred during the president’s sit-down this week with NBC News’s Lester Holt.
“I think it was back in July,” said Holt. “You said inflation was going to be temporary. I think a lot of Americans are wondering what your definition of temporary is.”
Responded Biden with a smile, “Well, you’re being a wise guy with me a little bit. I understand that’s your job.”
A “wise guy”? It’s a legitimate question! The White House asserted last year inflation was “transitory” (it backtracked later). Inflation surged to 7.5% over the past year, reaching a 40-year high. In what way was is it a “wise guy” move to ask the president what his White House meant when it said “transitory”?
“But look,” Biden continued, “at the time, what happened was the — let’s look at the reasons for the inflation. The reason for inflation is the supply chains were cut off, meaning that the products, for example, automobiles, the lack of computer chips to be able to build those automobiles so they could function. They need those computer chips. They were not available.”
The president continued, saying, “So, what happens? The number of cars were reduced, new cars reduced. It made up at one point, one-third, the cost of inflation because the price of automobiles were up. So, what I did when I went out and made sure we started to make those domestically. We got Intel to come in and provide $20 billion to build a new facility. A number of organizations are doing the same kinds of things.”
Yes, he is blaming inflation entirely on supply chain holdups. His trade and fiscal and monetary policies apparently have nothing to do with the issue. Look at the bright side, though. He’s not absolving his administration entirely of the issue. After all, there happens to be someone in the Biden administration with direct authority and oversight over domestic transportation and shipping (when he’s in actually the office, that is).
More seriously, Biden’s answer is something one would expect from Harris, who usually falls to pieces whenever she’s asked even basic and predictable questions. Is Biden, like Harris, simply refusing to do his homework? Or are his handlers just that incompetent?
“When can Americans expect some relief from this soaring inflation?” Holt asked.
“According to Nobel laureates,” Biden responded, signaling immediately the remainder of his answer would be a real doozy, “14 of them that contacted me and a number of corporate leaders. It’s thought to be able to start to taper off as we go through this year.”
He added, “In the meantime, I am going to do everything in my power to deal with the big points that are impacting most people and their homes.”
Please, no. I’m begging you. Don’t do “everything” in your power. You’ve done enough already.
