This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden and his agenda at the one-year anniversary dead in the water, his administration trying to clean up confusing messages on COVID-19 and Ukraine, inflation rising, the stock market tanking, and his polls sinking further.
His biggest failure was to win support for the House-passed election legislation in the Senate due to opposition from two key members of his own party.
It had White House press secretary Jen Psaki offering this unusual solution: “My advice to everyone out there who is frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off: Feel those emotions. Go to a kickboxing class. Have a margarita. Do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then, wake up on Monday morning. We’ve got to keep fighting.”
Jen Psaki: “My advice to everyone out there who’s frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita…”
UNREAL. How is this the “advice” that is now coming from the White House?pic.twitter.com/ENphGJCryZ
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 21, 2022
Conservative grader Jed Babbin landed an “F” on Biden’s chin. Democratic pollster John Zogby graded a “C” for good attendance.
Jed Babbin
Grade F
Last week, it was an awful speech in which Biden called opponents to his election power grab segregationists and racists. This week, it was a terrible press conference. Biden, whose agenda has crashed into a wall built by members of his own party, could have made it a moment to reset his presidency, but he chose anger and incoherence instead of even a minor course correction. (Even CNN said he was incoherent.)
The press conference was a stage set for Biden to reclaim momentum and popularity. Instead, he said that the 2022 midterm elections might not be legitimate if Congress doesn’t pass his election bill, which would do things such as essentially outlaw voter ID requirements. He claimed that Republicans want to suppress minority votes, sticking to his false campaign mantra that all Republicans are racists. The bill is, thankfully, dead because Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema won’t help Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer kill the filibuster.
When reporters asked about his stalled agenda, Biden insisted that he’d continue as before, perhaps separating segments of his Build Back Bolshevism plan into different bills. He clearly wants to keep up his flow of reckless government overspending.
Biden invited Russia to invade Ukraine. He said, “It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, etc.” The White House spent the next two days trying to clean up that mistake. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky retorted, “There are no minor incursions. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones.” The damage was done, and Biden can’t repair it.
Biden’s press conference also had some good laughs, albeit at his expense. At one point, Biden claimed he had done exceptionally well in his first year, outperforming any other president. Hmm. Seems we can recall former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, among others, doing a whole bunch better. Does Biden really believe that the highest inflation in 40 years, an open border, the Afghanistan debacle, and so many more of his disasters comprise success? If so, his mental capacity is far less than even his critics contend.
John Zogby
Grade C
Biden highlighted his first anniversary in office by holding a two-hour press conference in the East Room. His purpose was to refocus the public conversation on his accomplishments rather than his failures and to launch a new approach to his domestic agenda.
But the anniversary was marked by failure to achieve a new voting rights act, a significant rise in inflation, confusion over the progress of his efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and very low polling numbers. As of this moment, his overall job approval is 40%-41%, and 3 out of 4 people feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. Perhaps even more ominous is that more people are calling themselves or identifying as Republican than as Democrat.
His press conference performance was a start, but he did attract controversy with a misstatement about Russia’s threat in Ukraine.
I am going to give him an average grade because he got out there and faced the press, told his story, and at least is trying to get his message out. A long way to go.
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
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
