Here’s how bad things are for Joe Biden: the White House is pumping out stories about the new First Puppy as frantically as a fire brigade dousing a raging inferno. Anything to distract from the president’s abysmal polling, stalled agenda, failed COVID management and four-decade-high inflation.
The worst news for Biden is that voters now score him poorly even on those qualities that he has banked on throughout his career, like honesty and empathy.
Bottom line: the first year of Biden’s presidency has been a bust.
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There is no guarantee that 2022 will be any kinder to the president. Inflation will continue to run hot as employers will have to pay up for workers and the Fed’s gentle down-shift on monetary largesse will prove too little, too late. Crime will remain a headline issue, thanks to Democrats who have turned our criminal justice system upside down while defunding the police. The southern border remains wide open as Biden and liberal mayors and governors do everything possible to invite people to enter our country illegally.
Meanwhile, China and Russia see this feeble presidency as an opportune time to press their advantage.
In the midterm elections, Democrats will lose, and probably lose big. That will be, in effect, the end of the Biden presidency.
Can Biden turn around his fortunes? Doubtful, but for the sake of the nation he could try, by adopting these five New Year’s resolutions:
Number one: Fire somebody! When a White House crashes, it’s good to let the public know that the president is angry, too, and demands accountability. Biden has kept his team intact, even as disasters pile up. That is a mistake.
It is outrageous that no one was fired after the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Whoever signed off on closing Bagram Air Base, abandoning that secure airfield and its priceless cache of weapons to the Taliban, should have been dismissed. The intel team that said the Afghan government would hold and the people responsible for leaving behind so many Americans and allies should also lose their jobs.
Thirteen American service members and scores of Afghans died in the bombing at the Kabul Airport; that is unacceptable. Heads should roll.
The State Department could also use a shake-up. Whose idea was it to have Biden ignominiously beg Russian President Vladimir Putin for a one-on-one sit-down earlier this year?
Who “forgot” to tell the French that we were partnering with Australia to help them develop their own nuclear submarines, and that the Aussies would consequently renege on a large and profitable contract with the Elysee Palace?
Which ignorant anti-Trumper decided to undermine the Abraham Accords, the most promising Middle East peace initiative in decades?
Serious errors of judgement and execution need to be punished. Not doing so risks portraying Biden as arrogant or, worse, clueless.
Second: Come out from behind your Teleprompter. Stop telling people you are not “allowed” to talk to the press, or to go off script.
You’re the president!
Hold more press conferences, call on reporters randomly and cope with the resulting surprises. If you cannot handle the give-and-take of such sessions, you should not be president.
Nearly half the nation thinks you are not mentally capable of performing the duties of your office. Either this is true, in which case you must resign, or it is untrue. The best way of demonstrating your abilities is to come out of your bunker, and act like a president.
Third: Watch more television. Yes, you heard that right – tune in, or grab a newspaper, and get up to date. On a live Christmas show with you recently, a caller from Seattle said, “Let’s Go Brandon;” you repeated those words, and then said “I agree.”
Is it actually possible that you haven’t heard that phrase and are ignorant of its meaning? That is an alarming possibility.
Do you rely on your team to filter the information you receive? That is a terrible idea; they will not be honest conduits of news that reflects badly on you, because it also reflects badly on them.You say you do not follow your polling when it turns south; actually, that is exactly when you should be on top of what voters are saying. You need to know.
Many of your comments about inflation, or crime or the surge of people entering the country illegally appear ill-informed; you may not be able to fix these problems but you should surely know about them.
Fourth: Drop the divisiveness. You were elected in part by people tired of constant political wrangling and hoping for comity. You promised to bring the nation together; instead, you have widened our divides. In a new poll, only 15% of the nation thought you could bring the country together; that’s a pathetic vote of no confidence on this, your signature promise.
Suggesting that the unvaccinated are not patriotic, or that Republicans are to blame for inflation because they are blocking passage of your Build Back Better bill may play well to a small part of the electorate, but the majority would like less finger-pointing and more good faith.
So far, you have shown yourself as harshly partisan as your predecessor but with fewer accomplishments to balance the ledger.
Fifth: Stop denigrating the United States. Americans love their country, and they want their president to love it, too. This is not a “systemically racist” nation, we do not need to topple our statues or rewrite our history. Our founding fathers conceived of and delivered a miracle for their time and indeed for all time – a country dedicated to providing opportunity and freedom to all.
That’s who we are, and that’s what we do. To believe otherwise should disqualify anyone from leading this nation.
Including you, Mr. President.
Happy New Year!
Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.