<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654200625731,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654200625731,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54185662", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1024458"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-2609-d421-ada5-6e5dffb10000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedWith voters across the country wrestling with inflation and worrying about rising prices all around them, President Joe Biden has come up with an ingenious strategy for the 2022 midterm elections: Tell voters they are simply imagining everything.
According to Politico, part of Biden’s big strategic pivot ahead of the midterm elections is “to convince skeptical voters that, despite their current misgivings, the economy is actually doing quite well.” According to a White House official, Biden plans to speak to the country on Friday, “highlighting the remarkable progress we’ve made in getting Americans back to work, with unemployment down at a historically fast rate and over 8 million jobs created.”
Biden wants voters to know that, because jobs are returning after pandemic restrictions caused massive layoffs, the economy is actually doing great. Voters shouldn’t be concerned that the price of gas and groceries has soared or that Biden has caused inflation to spiral out of control after denying and downplaying the problem for months. Nor should they worry that people have the equivalent of $9,000 less in savings now than last year. All is well.
Biden is suggesting that he knows better than everyone else how they are being affected by inflation and other issues. A CNN poll from last month found that “Americans’ views of the economy are the worst they have been in a decade.” Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index shows that the public’s view of the economy is at its worst since the Great Recession in 2009. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office expects inflation to drag on into next year and indicates that Biden’s desire to repeal the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would only make things worse.
Biden has been lost on every issue of his presidency, from COVID to Afghanistan to inflation. He can’t admit that anything has gone wrong because he promised he could fix everything. He can’t blame Republicans, who voters relegated to the minority in both the House and the Senate. All he can do is whistle past the record inflation numbers and tell voters that their economic concerns are all in their heads. It’s the best strategy his flailing administration has, which should tell you a lot about both Biden and the Democratic Party’s fading chances in this November’s elections.
