When it comes to the departing senator, the old joke rings true: For Joe Biden, neglect is not just a valley in Africa.
Biden attempted to defend his failed leadership in an exit interview with USA Today’s Susan Page, claiming that the electorate simply did not comprehend what he and other Democrats had accomplished. It isn’t a new tactic because Democrats have used it for decades to defend their unhappy policies, but it explains why working-class voters left Biden’s celebration in droves next November and good will do so unless they change their mind.
Didn’t Get Enough Credit?? ?
In the meeting, Biden claimed his administration floundered because he didn’t get ample credit for what he had accomplished:
BIDEN: I don’t acknowledge this, but I did. Donald Trump, in my opinion, is not as knowledgeable about these subjects as I am. But when we incorporated the evacuation plan, you can tell what? He gave his name to that search, which was the first to be issued to those people, which he currently opposes. But ]inaudible ]” Trump gave me$ 7, 500 for my family”. So I don’t believe I’ve been really nice at-
Site: Taking credit?
BIDEN: Or not so little me, but demonstrate that the government did this for you. It wasn’t … It was … Anyway…
Due to his incomprehensible “anyway” trail-off, Biden appeared almost as self-serving as a job candidate who claimed his greatest problem was that he worked very hard and cared too much in an interview.
Common Democrat Excuses
Fortunately or sadly, Biden’s statement is only the most recent example of a line of Democrat justifications, where they attack voters by claiming that the electorate simply didn’t know what government had done for them.  ,
Barack Obama claimed in an appointment with Charlie Rose that his biggest mistake as senator was being overly focused on “getting the legislation best” as he campaigned for election in 2012. The purpose of this business is to tell a tale to the American citizens that gives them a sense of cohesion, function, and optimism, especially in difficult times.
As I noted at the time of the Rose meeting, Obama spent most of the conversation around Obamacare “telling stories” as part of his attempt to sell the law — for instance, what in 2013 became Politifact’s” Lay of the Year”:” If you like your plan, you may keep it”. Obama continued to make claims that his problem was more with his plan messaging than with the actual policies.
Two years before Obamacare, another Chicago-based politician even blamed citizens for political backlash to unpopular guidelines, in a less delicate manner than his Windy City leader. While being chased down a street by a mob of seniors angry that their taxes were being raised to pay for a new Medicare benefit ( which Congress eventually repealed ), Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., then the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, responded,” I don’t think they ]i. e., his constituents ] understand what, you know, what the government’s trying to do for them, is the problem. … I don’t assume they understand what’s going on”.
I don’t assume they understand what the president’s trying to do for them. If actually a series of thoughts exemplified Ronald Reagan’s assumption that the nine most dreadful words in the English language are,” I’m from the state, and I’m here to enable”, Rostenkowski’s did.
Taking’ Credit’ for Bad Policies ,
When it comes to the departing president, he can take all the” credit” he wants for his policies. Because, as the title of a recent Wall Street Journal column on this issue explained, the problem doesn’t lie in Joe Biden’s messaging:” It’s Biden’s Policies, Stupid”!
Biden’s comments to Page suggested that he should have strongly promoted Democrats ‘ Covid spending binge and that he believed that “free” handouts will appease voters. However, those trillions in government spending, which were originally started under President Trump, sparked the inflation that has stifled the US economy over the past few years. All of this was both predictable and predicted, even by Democrats like Larry Summers.
Of course, Biden “forgot” this history during his interview, claiming that” the interest rate was 9 % when we came into office in the beginning”. Although interest rates later had to rise to counteract the gusher of spending coming from Joe Biden’s Washington, the inflation rate was likely meant by Biden, not the interest rate, but neither was anywhere near 9 percent when Biden took office in January 2021.
Americans voted for Trump because he allowed them to prosper themselves, not because he gave them government subsidies. Real ( i. e., inflation-adjusted ) incomes rose to record levels during the first few years of his presidency. Because of the crushing effects of” Bidenflation”, family incomes still have yet to recover to their pre-Covid levels. Most Americans when they entered the voting booth on November 5 thought about that history and not anything about a government check.
Democrats won’t have much of a chance of regaining control of the political aisle until they realize that their unpopularity comes from both their messaging and the policies they have proposed. Perhaps the party should remember that one of the best self-help tools is also one of the simplest: a mirror. Democrats and Joe Biden ought to use it.
