This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden about to enter his second year in office in much worse shape than he did on Inauguration Day, when his party, backed by independent voters, was rallying around him and his aggressive agenda.
A year later, his plans for increased federal spending and taxes have been derailed, his polling is at an all-time low, unemployment is way down, but job creation is disappointing, and many Democrats expect the party to take it on the chin during the midterm congressional elections.
What’s more, independents have abandoned him, and liberals are complaining about his lack of follow-through on climate and gun promises.
Democratic pollster John Zogby highlighted the clash of low unemployment and job creation but said the president may be close to a revival in approval polls. Conservative grader Jed Babbin saw just more of the same from the embattled White House.
Jed Babbin
Grade F
Biden delivered a pretty awful 2021, and the coming year won’t be any better. Open borders, inflation, appeasement of Russia, China, and Iran, and more COVID vaccine and mask mandates will just make 2022 worse.
Inflation remains at its highest in 40 years. It’s not going to be a temporary problem, as White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki would have us believe, because it’s the direct result of massive, reckless government overspending that Biden wants to accelerate. It will continue through the year, as will the other aspects of Biden’s “new normal.”
The border crisis, which Biden created, remains a massive problem. Our southern border is open to everyone who wants to come into the United States, whether the intent is peaceful or not. At least 2 million illegal immigrants entered last year from at least 60 countries around the world. And there’s no vaccine mandate for illegal immigrants, which makes a mockery of the mandates Biden forced upon us.
Biden told us there’s no federal solution to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means vaccine mandates aren’t going to do much. It’s good that he reportedly has spent 25% of his time on vacation. How much worse would things be if he were “working” harder? The mind boggles. Meanwhile, at the time hundreds were stuck overnight on Interstate 95 in a snow disaster, Vice President Kamala Harris told us that America is moving again.
In the area of foreign and national security policy, America lost an enormous amount of credibility because of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal debacle. Hundreds of U.S. civilians are stuck there, though Biden and the media have forgotten them. Russia’s threat to Ukraine is dividing Europe even more than it was divided over Brexit. China is threatening Taiwan and building dozens of bases around the world to project power, reportedly including one in Cuba. Someone should remind Old Joe about the 1824 Monroe Doctrine and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Meanwhile, Biden obsesses in his pursuit of a renewed nuclear weapons deal with Iran, which is a terrible idea from every standpoint. With Secretary of State Tony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and Gen. Mark Milley in charge, we’ll see a lot of aggression by our adversaries and nothing but appeasement in response from Biden and his team.
Meanwhile, all Biden is doing is thumping his drum about Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. It’s enough to make the 2022 forecast entirely dismal. We should all remember Obama’s admonition that we should never underestimate Biden’s ability to mess things up.
John Zogby
Grade C
Biden’s week ended with a disappointing report on new jobs created; however, the Labor Department also reported that the unemployment rate was at 3.9%. New COVID-19 cases are rising at alarming record levels, and conflicting messages are being sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thousands are rioting and hundreds are dying in Kazakhstan, a country important for natural gas and geopolitical positions for Russia, China, and the U.S. Russia has actually sent in a few thousand combat forces.
The president commemorated the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by placing the blame on former President Donald Trump and used the occasion to take control of the message coming from his administration and the need to keep the national community together. His effort was clearly aimed at winning back Democrats who were softening their support for both him and the Democratic Party, along with trying to win some independents whose support he is losing thus far.
It was a strong speech. There has been to date only one poll with about half conducted after his speech. That poll shows his approval at 45%. Perhaps higher on the second night?
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
