This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden struggling to take credit for the Middle East truce, kick-start his infrastructure bill, and send a consistent message about the coronavirus and mask protocols.
Both graders, conservative analyst Jed Babbin and Democratic pollster John Zogby, shrugged off the administration’s effort to claim it worked the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“If they truly believed that, then they should set aside some of the stimulus package to buy the Brooklyn Bridge instead of just repairing it,” said Zogby. He nonetheless graded the week a B- because his new poll showed continued healthy support for Biden.
“No credit is due Biden for the ceasefire, but Biden may be to blame for what amounts to a fragile ceasefire that was imposed before Israel had the chance to do enough damage to Hamas that the latter would have a tough time resuming the fight any time soon,” said Babbin, who failed the president.
John Zogby
Grade: B-
Does Biden’s administration really think that they were going to scoot by without a Middle East crisis and that there wouldn’t be pressure on the United States to get involved? Did they truly believe that the Trump-era summit of the elites known as the Abraham Accords would buy a lasting peace and the remnants of the Arab Spring would quietly watch? In 2021, did they truly assume that language that “we support Israel’s right to defend itself” would be sufficient for the people of Gaza and Arabs in the West Bank and Israel, and young people all over the world, as well as in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party?
If they truly believed that, then they should set aside some of the stimulus package to buy the Brooklyn Bridge instead of just repairing it. The negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was the product of Egyptian diplomacy and not a finger lifted by a senior U.S. diplomat.
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Still, Biden is buoyed by a brand new poll by John Zogby Strategies showing his overall approval rating at 59% — a very good rating.
Jed Babbin
Grade: F
This was another week of weakness for Biden, best exemplified by his calling the graduating class at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy a bunch of dullards because they didn’t give him enough applause.
The week could have been worse, but it’s hard to see how. Colonial Pipeline paid about $5 million in ransom to gangsters who had attacked its computers with ransomware. When asked if he had known about the ransom payment, Biden said, “No comment.” Did he or didn’t he tell them to pay the ransom? Or, equally as bad, did he tell them that he wouldn’t object to the payment? It’s now open season on U.S. infrastructure thanks to that ransom payment and Biden’s obliviousness.
The border crisis continues unabated with thousands of people pouring in, inflation is beginning to stomp on our post-COVID-19 economic revival, and Biden is now trying to take credit for the ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorists. No wonder people are starting to label Biden as “Carter 2.0.”
No credit is due to Biden for the ceasefire, but the president may be to blame for what amounts to a fragile ceasefire that was imposed before Israel had the chance to do enough damage to Hamas that the latter would have a tough time resuming the fight any time soon. As bad, if not worse, is the fact that Biden hasn’t said a word about the antisemitic violence that has occurred in several U.S. cities. He apparently doesn’t object to that sort of violence.
Biden did manage to say that former President Donald Trump didn’t do anything for peace in the Middle East. Perhaps Biden isn’t aware of the Abraham Accords by which Trump engineered peace agreements between Israel and several Arab states, proving that the Palestinians are irrelevant to peace in the Middle East. Biden has a real problem with his fellow Democrats who are anti-Israel and some, such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who are openly antisemitic and support Islamic terrorists over democratic Israel. Sen. Bernie Sanders is also his problem — though Sanders isn’t antisemitic, just abhorrently anti-Israel.
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
