This week’s White House Report Card has our two graders about as split as ever, especially on President Joe Biden’s first press conference performance, though in agreement that the White House press corps asked some pretty lame questions.
It was a busy week for the president, doubling his goal for COVID-19 vaccinations, trying to figure out the immigration crisis (its worst in 20 years), promising new gun control measures, eyeing a massive “Green New Deal” and infrastructure spending plan, and looking at a full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Conservative analyst Jed Babbin graded a D- and hit Biden’s press conference as “scatterbrained.” Democratic pollster John Zogby saw an excellent week, graded an A-, called Biden’s press conference “boffo,” and added, “Americans, sleep well tonight. Joe Biden is in charge.”
Jed Babbin
Grade D-
Biden had another dismal week thanks to the accelerating border crisis, the beginnings of his assault on the Second Amendment, Vice President Kamala Harris’s behavior, and his scatterbrained performance at a Thursday news conference.
The border crisis, which Team Biden risibly blames on former President Donald Trump, continues to worsen. Department of Homeland Security forces are now transporting illegal immigrants from the border area and turning them loose in several states. Towns such as Gila Bend, Arizona, which have no money or infrastructure to handle them, are seeing dozens or hundreds of migrants being dropped off. When Harris was asked if she’d visit the border, she laughed.
Harris is also disrespecting soldiers who salute her when she boards or gets off Air Force Two by ignoring them and not returning their salutes, as she should.
Biden has endorsed a ban on “assault weapons,” a term that has never been defined, increased “background checks” and more federal restrictions on guns, none of which will save lives or reduce crime. About 1.5 million AR-15 style rifles are sold in the United States each year, and there are about 12 million in people’s hands already. It’s not clear what an assault weapons “ban” would entail. A ban on manufacture? A ban on transfer even between family members? A mandate that owners would have to sell them to the government? And then, there’s the proposed ban on “high-capacity” magazines. Would they, too, have to be surrendered? Such bans and mandatory sales would clearly be unconstitutional, which doesn’t bother Biden one bit.
Biden is reportedly considering a new “infrastructure” stimulus bill, which will turn a lot of the stupid stuff in the “Green New Deal” into law. It will cost another $3 trillion dollars, but who’s counting?
Biden’s Thursday presser is being lauded by the press, as we should expect. The facts are not as forgiving as the media. Asked about the Senate filibuster rule, Biden criticized it, saying, “I believe we should go back to a position of the filibuster that existed just when I came to the United States Senate 120 years ago.” Biden’s brain froze several other times. At one point, he said, “So, the best way to get something done, if you hold near and dear to you that you, uh, um, like to be able to — anyway, we’re going to get a lot done.” Attacking voting rights bills being considered by two state legislatures, he said, “This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,” whatever the heck that means.
Biden’s performance on Thursday is yet another indication that he’s not up to the job of president.
John Zogby
Grade A-
How disappointing to those on Fox News and beyond who expected to see a president out of touch with reality and himself this week
Biden’s press conference was a boffo performance — a president in command, focused on a vision, on a clear and sequential path toward achieving his plan, and in possession of loads of facts. Some of his answers may have been vintage Biden (i.e. long, very long), but they were straight and honest.
He dominated the agenda by laying out successes on his relief plan and on vaccines. He raised the bar by promising 200 million vaccines by 100 days. He moved away from a timeline on guns because next on his agenda is his infrastructure package. And he addressed the issue of migrant children and families on the border by appointing Harris to investigate and see how the U.S. can deal with this problem in a way that is consistent with our values.
He may have spoken too soon about withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, but no harm done. He also looked and sounded refreshingly honest when answering the stupid questions: “Do you expect Vice President Harris to be your running mate in 2024?” Really? He hasn’t even left his butt print on his desk chair in the Oval Office yet.
If anything, his performance was normal, and he may have risked raising the bar for his future performances. Americans, sleep well tonight. Joe Biden is in charge.
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
