Yet another media “hit piece” on the White House, this time from the Washington Post which laments Biden’s inaction and inability to find that “fire in the belly” Democrats feel is needed as they head into a potential midterm crucible. On Tuesday, we highlighted an NBC News article critical along similar lines.
This article, from the Post, is couched as a way to explore the other voices within the party that are bubbling up to the top as Biden seems unable to coalesce the various factions around a winning message. Names like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, seem to be cropping up as potential 2024 replacements for Biden.
What it really boils down to, says the Post, is that Biden’s just not angry enough at the things going on around him:
In the view of many distraught Democrats, the country is facing a full-blown crisis on a range of fronts, and Biden seems unable or unwilling to respond with appropriate force. Democracy is under direct attack, they say, as Republicans change election rules and the Supreme Court rapidly rewrites American law. Shootings are routine, abortion rights have ended and Democrats could suffer big losses in the next election.
Biden’s response is often a mix of scolding Republicans, urging Americans to vote Democratic and voicing broad optimism about the country. For some Democrats, that risks a dangerous failure to meet the moment.
“There is a leadership vacuum right now, and he’s not filling it,” said Adam Jentleson, a Democratic consultant and former top adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid of Nevada. “I sympathize with the argument that there’s very little they can do legislatively. But in moments of crisis, the president is called upon to be a leader. And when people are feeling scared and angry and outraged, they look to him for that, and they’re not getting much.”
So if it’s understood that Biden can’t do much, especially on the legislative front then what else would these impatient Democrats have him doing? More arm-waving and jumping up and down over gas prices, inflation, gun violence, etc…? Put out more empty proposals and words over abortion rights and the recent Dobbs decision? As some have jokingly remarked, Donald Trump’s having a banger second term and he’s not even in the White House.
The bottom line is simply that Biden is a terrible leader and terrible orator. When he tries to sound angry, he comes off as bitter and grouchy, not inspiring. When he constantly blames Republicans and everyone around him for his failures, he sounds inept and feckless.
The White House has pushed back on this narrative, of course, but Democrats see the midterms approach, and even the next presidential cycle and they feel Biden isn’t the person to be carrying the flag up the hill any longer:
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates also touted Biden’s efforts on gun control, attempts to protect abortion rights and his “warning against the ultra MAGA economic nightmare for middle-class families.”
But as the Democratic rank-and-file’s thirst for a more combative attitude becomes increasingly evident, other party leaders are beginning to showcase an alternative tone, one that goes far more sharply at Republican attitudes and tactics. Pritzker mocked the notion that “you have a constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine” — something Biden has done previously — and California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been displaying a notably pugnacious spirit.
Gavin Newsom, on the contrary, has gone on the attack against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to the point where Newsom ran an ad in Florida over the Independence Day holiday weekend. The gist of the ad was to argue that liberal policies are “freedom” and that whatever DeSantis is doing is, well, not. It’s an ad that throws red meat to a Democratic base but wouldn’t appeal to most Floridians who give DeSantis high marks across the board.
The point of the ad, however, is to position Newsom as an alternative liberal fighter to Biden’s ho-hum blame-everyone attitude.
What most Democrats miss here is not that Biden’s too weak necessarily, but also that his policies are bad for the country. It doesn’t matter how good of a salesman you are, people know what kind of money is in their wallet and the cost of a gallon of gas. Inflation is off the chart thanks to Democrat big-spending policies tossing money around as if it came from a monopoly game.
As the midterms approach, and especially if Democrats lose, the dam will break on calls for Biden to step aside in 2024 and let someone else take the reigns. Vice President Kamala Harris may have a serious primary fight on her hands.
