The Washington Post reports that:
After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it.
This, it seems, has become a theme:
For months, the president and first lady Jill Biden have told aides and friends they are frustrated by the president’s low approval rating and the polls that show him trailing former president Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination — and in recent weeks, they have grown upset that they are not making more progress.
I wonder: Has Joe Biden considered not being a terrible president?
I ask this because Joe Biden’s dire poll numbers are always presented as if they’re a mystery. Look at the Post‘s language: “frustrated,” “unacceptably low,” “upset that they are not making more progress.” Clearly, President Biden thinks that he should be more popular than he is — and so, evidently, does the press, which has taken in some quarters to the most preposterous conspiracy theorizing. Week in, week out, this topic is covered as if the public is failing the president, rather than the other way around. He’s a good leader, we’re informed, but, for some reason, the public just hasn’t noticed it.
The problem with this is that it simply isn’t true. Joe Biden is not a good leader. His approval rating is not unacceptably low. And the public has no obligation to develop a different view of him than the one it has at present. Had he wished to, Biden could have been a mediocre president. Having come into office after the bipartisan Covid-era spending binge, he could have refused his party’s request for trillions of dollars in unnecessary spending, and thereby avoided much of the inflation that has haunted him since 2021. Having been invited to violate his oath of office by issuing an illegal eviction moratorium, an illegal student loan amnesty, and an illegal vaccine mandate, he could have publicly explained that he lacked that authority and would not be illegitimately claiming it. And having inherited a southern border that was more stable than it had been in a while, he could have played the adult in the room and informed the loudest voices within the progressive movement that he had no interest in deliberately re-opening the flow. But he didn’t do those things. Instead, he did the opposite of those things. And while he was doing them, he adopted a sour, petty, bitchy, partisan affect that the American electorate simply does not like. “Dark Brandon” is popular among left-leaning political obsessives who spend much too much time on the Internet. The rest of us think he’s a loser. Yes, Joe Biden is very old. No, there’s nothing he can do about that. But his behavior has rendered his age far more of a liability than it would have been otherwise. People like kindly old men. They don’t like grumpy, impatient, entitled old men — especially when they believe that they are incompetent and corrupt.
A few months ago, I wrote about Joe Biden in a manner that some people thought was too salty and others insisted was part of some clever plan to convey my clandestine support for Donald Trump. I regret nothing. The word I used in that piece was accurate in and of itself, and it was necessary to convey my point. The Post records that, in private meetings, Joe Biden wants “to know what his team and his campaign were doing about” his terrible approval rating. This is comically naive. Joe Biden’s presidential approval rating is terrible because Joe Biden has been a terrible president. Had Joe Biden not been a terrible president, Joe Biden’s presidential approval rating would not be terrible. But Joe Biden was a terrible president, so it is. His team can’t fix that. Marketing can’t fix that. Not even the press — which is trying manfully — has been able to fix it. That die is cast. Joe Biden came into office with an opportunity to act in accordance with his rhetoric, and he immediately refused to do so. Given how feckless the Republican Party remains, it is possible that he will win a second term. But, if he does, he won’t suddenly become popular. Sometimes, politics is straightforward. This is one of those times. If he so wishes, Joe Biden can deliver to his team all the “stern words” he likes. It won’t change a thing. He’s made his decisions. Now he has to live with them.
Joe Biden’s Poll Numbers Are Not ‘Unacceptably Low’
7
14
18.12.2023
The Washington Post reports that:
After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it.
This, it seems, has become a theme:
For months, the president and first lady Jill Biden have told aides and friends they are frustrated by the president’s low approval rating and the polls that show him trailing former president Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination — and in recent weeks, they have grown upset that they are not making more progress.
I wonder: Has Joe Biden considered not being a terrible president?
I ask this because Joe Biden’s dire poll numbers are always presented as if they’re a mystery. Look at the Post‘s language: “frustrated,” “unacceptably low,” “upset that they are not making more progress.” Clearly, President Biden thinks that he should be more popular than he is — and so, evidently, does the press, which has taken in some quarters to the........
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