This week’s White House Report Card gives some credit to President Joe Biden for the growing recovery of jobs lost during the COVID-19 crackdown, over 900,000 in the last month. He is also still above water in approval polls, something that would make his predecessor envious.
Despite a lack of a clear political mandate, he is gambling that he will have enough Democratic support to push through his new $2 trillion infrastructure plan, though his effort to push corporate taxes back to the days of President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” is quieting any cheers.
And the surge of illegal immigrants has hit historic levels on the U.S.-Mexico border, and there is no White House plan to deal with it.
Our graders are typically split on Biden’s week. Democratic pollster John Zogby always gives credit when there is good economic news, and he also noted Biden’s good approvals. Conservative Jed Babbin was down on Biden’s plan to return the Era of Big Government with the recent stimulus and new infrastructure plans.
John Zogby
Grade: B+
Biden was bolstered this week by good economic news. Over 900,000 new jobs were created last month, and the official unemployment rate dropped to 9%.
His polling numbers remain good, averaging around 53% positive, and he has good marks from voters on everything except handling the border with Mexico. That problem continues to vex him and puts him in trouble among partisans on both the Left and the Right.
Meanwhile, he is spending his political capital early by submitting a more than $2 trillion package on infrastructure that seeks to cover traditional issues such as highways and bridges, but also funds community colleges, broadband, and renewable energy, including wind and solar. It is apparent that he will receive no GOP support for the package, so he cannot afford to lose any Democrats in either the House or Senate. This will be quite a feat for him, but he vows to plow ahead.
Meanwhile, he continues to be aided by the disarray among Republicans, who have to deal with former Speaker John Boehner’s new book shedding some very unflattering information on the conservative flank of the party, and the truly bizarre antics of right-wing star Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is being laid down flat in the road waiting for the bus to come.
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
A very good jobs report (nearly 1 million new jobs in March) was all that kept the week from being a complete disaster for Biden. His handling of the border crisis, his toadying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his massive $2 trillion spending binge were uniformly awful.
The border crisis continues, and Biden does nothing except welcome illegal immigrants in and bus them to communities far beyond the border where they are dropped off, requiring the receiving communities to shelter, feed, and house them at community expense. And there are thousands of illegal immigrant children being housed in terrible conditions, for example, in facilities that are meant to hold about 200 people and are stuffed with more than a thousand. It’s a growing crisis, a real scandal, that Biden’s media defenders are careful to ignore.
On that same note, California public schools are still closed over teachers’ concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. That isn’t preventing San Diego teachers from offering in-person instruction to children living there illegally, who, by the way, have a vastly higher COVID-19 infection rate than children in San Diego who live in the city legally. Of course, there’s no push from Biden to reopen U.S. schools. The teachers’ unions donated enough to Biden’s campaign to purchase that loyalty.
When CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky forecasted “impending doom” over more possible coronavirus surges, Biden promptly issued a call for all governors to renew mask mandates in their states. (Joe always likes someone to tell him what to say.) Meanwhile, states such as Florida and Texas, which have ditched masks and/or economic closings, are recovering faster than Democratic states such as California and New York.
The biggest disaster of the week was Biden’s new $2 trillion “infrastructure” package that he hopes to pass by the Fourth of July. It’s supposed to be for building roads and bridges, but only about 6% of the money goes for that. The rest is a cornucopia of liberal waste, ranging from $100 billion for “affordable internet” to $561 billion for “green” housing and schools and much more than I can list here. And, of course, it includes major tax hikes for corporations. It also erodes right-to-work laws and authorizes employee voting on choosing to unionize or not that doesn’t use secret ballots, but instead uses the “card check” method by which employees can be bullied into voting for unionization.
In sum, Biden’s package comprises the return of Big Government on steroids.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll 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
