The year-ending Secrets report card on President Joe Biden has our graders split just like most of the country, with half considering him a spendthrift failure and half promoting his list of wins and encouraging him to run for reelection.
Hanging over the White House are expectations of a recession next year and a promised series of House GOP investigations into everything from the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan to the president’s problem child, Hunter Biden. And hold your breath for what should be another list of head-shaking gaffes and tall tales from the president.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND HOUSE GOP GET STARTED EARLY ON OVERSIGHT FIGHT
Conservative Jed Babbin’s average grade over the year was a D-, and he failed the president’s foreign policy, energy agenda, border blunders, and fiscal stewardship. “Happy New Year and good luck to us all. We’re gonna need it,” he concluded in his final annual grade.
Democratic pollster John Zogby, grading a B-, cited the legislative achievements of Biden but also noted the potential threat to the economy next year. But he also signaled that the president should seek a second term, writing, “Biden ends the year on a good note. And he is only 80. What can he accomplish when he matures?”
John Zogby
Grade B-
This is my year-ending report on President Joe Biden.
The rate of growth of inflation is down over the past four months. Gas prices are down and continue to decline. The president signed a $1.7 trillion budget, and there was bipartisan support. He also signed the Marriage Equality Act that offered interstate federal protection to LGBT marriages. The United States passed another $45 billion in military assistance to Ukraine to fight Russian aggression. Congress passed and the president signed the Inflation Reduction Act that, among many things, offered a record amount to transition to renewable energy sources, provided for child care, reduced health insurance costs for those covered by the Affordable Care Act, and caps individual out-of-pocket costs for seniors’ prescription drugs. He signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which invests in American manufacturing, especially semiconductors.
His RealClearPolitics approval average is 43.5% — including two at 47% and one at 46%. His disapproval rating averages out at 52.1%, his best of the year. Fears of recession caused trillions of dollars in stock market losses — but no recession yet and that is for 2023. He defied history, and the great red wave never materialized.
He will make public his decision on running for reelection in 2024, and a few are publicly discouraging him.
Biden ends the year on a good note. And he is only 80. What can he accomplish when he matures?
Jed Babbin
Grade D-
It was a rough year for our country and our allies as Biden stumbled and bumbled through it. There were many times when this column gave him a D- and a few when he would have won a grade lower than an F if there were one.
The year began with Biden saying his disastrous economic policies were successful. That faux “success” was canceled out by inflation that soared to more than 9% and leveled off at over 7%, which remains too high and burdens the poor and the middle class. The inflation was a direct result of Biden and the Democrats’ reckless overspending of trillions of dollars, resulting in too much money chasing too few goods and services. Food prices soared, as did virtually everything else consumers purchase. Gasoline prices were a terrible burden that Biden eased by emptying our Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a political move to reduce those prices. He “succeeded” at the expense of national security.
The Biden FBI and “other federal agencies,” meaning the CIA, collaborated to censor conservative speech on Twitter, Facebook, and God knows what other online media. Biden’s “Disinformation Governing Board” was an embarrassing failure, but those agencies picked up the slack.
Interest rates have increased substantially, depressing the housing market. Economists say there is a 70% chance of recession in 2023, again a direct result of Biden’s inflationary spending.
Biden got a big boost when the supposed “red wave” that was supposed to give Republicans control of both the House and the Senate turned into a pink trickle. Biden can’t take much credit for the result because the Republicans campaigned on everything except the economy and the national crime wave brought about by liberal prosecutors who don’t prosecute criminals. The GOP handed Biden a big win, with the liberals retaining control of the Senate and the Republicans winning only a very narrow majority in the House. The new House majority is promising to do more investigations of Biden and Co. rather than focusing on inflation and things people actually give a damn about.
At least 2 million illegal immigrants entered the country this year over Biden’s open southern border. Only the Supreme Court, with its decision to continue the Title 42 measures that allow people suspected of having COVID-19 from entering the country, prevented a bigger rush of illegal immigrants coming in before the end of the year. That rush will happen as soon as the Title 42 restrictions are lifted.
The news was just about as bleak in foreign policy. Support for Ukraine since the Russians’ February invasion was Biden’s only good foreign policy decision since he’s been president. Biden got a public relations boost from the Washington visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky in December.
After promising to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah during his 2020 campaign, the White House was rebuffed by the Saudis in pleading for an increase in oil production in October. The OPEC+ gang, which includes Russia, sided with Putin in refusing Biden’s plea. Then Biden said he was “reevaluating” our relationship with the Saudis. Meanwhile, the Saudis are realigning themselves with oil-hungry China (with a strategic partnership agreement, and about 30 trade agreements.) They are also cozying up to Russia.
China is preparing for a war with us over Taiwan. Four times Biden promised to defend Taiwan and each time his Cabinet and staff walked back his statement. Nobody knows what Biden will do when, not if, the Chinese try to conquer Taiwan.
The European Union, meanwhile, is promising economic retaliation for the “buy American” provisions in Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” which, of course, won’t do anything to reduce inflation. Media outlets, of course, were so biased toward Biden and Co. that they failed to hold them accountable for anything. The New York Times even proclaimed newly elected Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, known for his shorts-and-sweatshirt combinations and his inability to speak, one of the most stylishly dressed men in America.
Biden will be boosted by former President Donald Trump’s announced candidacy. Look for unceasing attacks on Trump next year, which the media will promote relentlessly.
Happy New Year and good luck to us all. We’re gonna need it.
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John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and managing 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
