President Biden was portrayed as a “puppet” of far-left Democrats on the campaign trail, but Republicans are being warned against using the same political tactic now that he’s in the White House — at least for now.
Senate Republicans have suggested Biden is ignoring his gut instinct to broker a bipartisan coronavirus relief deal due to pressure from unelected White House advisers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The “empty suit” attack was somewhat effective before the election — former President Donald Trump received the second-most votes for president ever, behind only Biden — but Republicans are reminding their own that Biden still won.
Republican strategist Evan Siegfried warned the “puppet” tactic resonated more with the Republican Party’s base during the campaign rather than with the general electorate at the beginning of a new administration.
“The hostage to the Left argument does not seem to be moving the needle much with the broader public, as Biden’s COVID relief bill enjoys strong support from the country,” Siegfried told the Washington Examiner.
Still, the White House appears nervous regarding the communications salvo.
GOP messaging suggesting Biden is under the thumb of his staff and his party’s congressional leaders has been adapted from the campaign, when Republicans tagged the president as an “empty vessel” or “Trojan horse,” particularly after he picked then-Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
The rhetoric is based on the idea that Biden “is suffering from cognitive decline,” according to Siegfried. Biden, 78, is the oldest president in history. And for Siegfried, it also pegs Biden as “weak,” which “no president wants to be seen as.”
This iteration started this week after Biden met with a group of 10 centrist Senate Republicans, who had proposed a $618 billion counteroffer to his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan.” The meeting was arranged after the senators wrote to Biden, quoting his “important call” for unity.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the group’s leader, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki both described the meeting as “productive.” But Psaki has repeated in statements and from her briefing room podium that Biden is willing to press ahead using the fast-track budgetary procedure known as reconciliation, which means he won’t need Republican votes if the two sides can’t agree on a “bold” framework.
“He will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment,” Psaki said.
Biden’s pace can be differentiated from former President Barack Obama’s negotiations over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Obamacare, the 2011 healthcare law. Obama was delayed as he tried to secure Republican buy-in. And Biden’s approach has caught Republicans off-guard. Or so they say.
Lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are blaming administration aides, such as White House chief of staff Ron Klain, and congressional Democrats for what he calls Biden’s refusal to compromise. The president, a 36-year veteran of the Senate and two-term vice president, has long prided himself on being a deal-maker.
“Our members who were in the meeting felt that the president seemed to be more interested in [bipartisanship] than his staff did, or it seems like the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate,” McConnell said.
Quinnipiac University pollsters found this week, for instance, that almost 70% of respondents supported Biden’s plan. Almost 80% of those surveyed backed $1,400 direct payments. Even 60% endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Siegfried, the GOP strategist, added Republicans have been contending with a hectic news cycle in which Trump has been preparing for his second impeachment trial. That starts next week. And Republicans have been embroiled in an intraparty conflict over Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s past inflammatory remarks, some about her now-fellow House members.
The Republican talking point is based on Biden being relatively popular at the moment. The same Quinnipiac poll found Biden had a positive approval rating, 49% to 36%. That can be compared to Pelosi’s and Schumer’s negative approval ratings of 45% to 47% and 37% to 42%, respectively.
To Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy, Biden’s numbers were “solid but not spectacular.” With 60% of respondents giving a thumbs-up to his pandemic management, Malloy said Biden had “only been in office for two weeks” and “events yet to come will shape his job performance.”
Like during the campaign, the Republican strategy, though, is encumbered by Biden’s nearly 50 years in public life.
“Whether one supports Joe Biden or not, it’s hard to make the argument that people don’t know him or don’t understand where he comes from on issues. He has been navigating the turgid waters of government for decades,” Malloy told the Washington Examiner.
The White House, however, is determined to refute the Republican line.
On Wednesday, Psaki dismissed chatter concerning discord among team Biden and Capitol Hill Democrats as “ludicrous.” She was adamant there was “absolutely” no daylight between Biden and his advisers and that the president had consistently advocated for an “ambitious” stimulus measure.
“There is no one who’s going to tell him what to do or hold him back from his commitment to delivering relief to the American people,” she said.
Complementing a national and localized effort to pitch Biden’s plan to voters, the administration dispatched top confidant Steve Ricchetti this week as well. Ricchetti, a typically behind-the-scenes counselor to the president, told startup Punchbowl News that reports of friction were “absurd.”
“How do I politely say this? Look, the president is leading this dialogue,” Ricchetti said.
