OPINION:
As the Biden White House implodes — the economy is in the crapper, gas prices are hitting new-record highs almost daily, key staffers are deserting the sinking ship and the president is reportedly moping about the People’s House like President Richard Nixon in his Watergate days — Democrats have finally had enough.
“It’s really simple: ‘Be the f——— president!” one Democratic strategist recently said, according to The Hill. “I realize it’s tough and you’re drinking out of a fire hose every single day, but there are things you can do to control the public perception and they haven’t done any of that.”
Mr. Biden is getting shredded for everything he does — and often, the things he doesn’t do. For instance, his Food and Drug Administration in February shut down a major baby formula producer for possible health code violations, but then the president appeared blindsided when supply dwindled, forcing parents to hunt for formula. Officials in the administration and corporate leaders have alternately said it was widely known the supply of formula would drop off, but Mr. Biden recently said he didn’t know until April.
The president has also been criticized for being slow off the mark on gas and food prices, as well as inflation in general.
“It may come down to not understanding what they’re up against — both the media environment and today’s GOP,” said another Democratic strategist, Christy Setzer, according to The Hill. “Biden did speak out on guns, on baby formula, on inflation … but the traditional tactics aren’t breaking through, and it doesn’t seem as though they’re taking in that information, re-trenching, and trying new approaches when it’s falling flat.”
Adding to his woes, a sudden departure of a slew of press staffers followed several reports by mainstream media outlets cataloging dysfunction and turmoil in the White House.
The White House Rapid Response director, a pair of assistant press secretaries and the office’s chief of staff have all announced they’re done. Clearly, they’re just dying to get out of the White House or why else leave such a prestigious position?
Mr. Biden also lost his main spokesperson, Jen Psaki, last month when she departed for a job at MSNBC (her replacement has since struggled badly).
Take this lame attempt at spinning the endless bad news: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was recently grilled during her daily briefing about the economy, with inflation recently hitting a 41-year high and gas prices topping $5 a gallon for the first time ever. One reporter asked about Mr. Biden once bragging about the stock market hitting “record after record after record on my watch.”
“All the gains from President Biden’s time in office have been wiped out,” the reporter noted.
“So, as you know, we are watching — we’re watching closely,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “We know families are concerned about inflation and the stock market. That is something that the president is — is really aware of. And so, look, we face global challenges. We’ve talked about this. This is — we’re not the only country dealing with what we’re seeing at the moment as it relates to inflation.”
Watching closely? Sounds like the cops in the Uvalde school.
It’s so bad even liberal news outlets are taking aim. NBC News posted a piece last week headlined, “Inside a Biden White House adrift,” which said, “Amid a rolling series of calamities and sinking approval ratings, the president’s feeling lately is that he just can’t catch a break — and that angst is rippling through his party.”
“Faced with a worsening political predicament, President Joe Biden is pressing aides for a more compelling message and a sharper strategy while bristling at how they’ve tried to stifle the plain-speaking persona that has long been one of his most potent assets,” NBC News wrote. “Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say.”
The Washington Post piled on with a piece headlined, “White House scrambles on inflation after Biden complains to aides,” which said Mr. Biden “fumes privately that administration isn’t doing enough to show concern on high prices.”
“The White House launched a new push Tuesday to contain the political damage caused by inflation after President Biden complained for weeks to aides that his administration was not doing enough to publicly explain the fastest price increases in roughly four decades,” the Post wrote.
Mr. Biden has gone so far as “reminding his staff that he’s the one who is president,” NBC wrote.
He is — for now. But when members of your own party start openly ripping you — and tell you to “be the f——— president,” you’ve got some very serious problems.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times.
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