President Biden has found himself almost powerless to deal with a series of setbacks in recent weeks that have alarmed Democrats about the state of the country.
Biden has been dealt blow after blow in recent weeks: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade’s constitutional right to abortion; the country has been plagued by gun violence, with the latest example occurring during the Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago; and rising prices for gasoline, food and other goods have frustrated the public for months.
In any case, Biden’s hands are largely tied, frustrating Democrats and adding to the president’s political malaise.
He signed an executive order and a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing gun violence. He has taken some unilateral actions to lower gas prices, such as releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And he urged the Senate to amend the filibuster if necessary to codify Roe v. Wade.
None of these steps were expected to do or will do much to slow the epidemic of gun violence, dramatically reduce prices at the pump, or restore abortion rights in states where the procedure is outlawed.
And all of this has increasingly frustrated Democrats, who say they voted Biden into office to usher in change and are unhappy with the results.
The steps and statements that Biden has taken and made in this context are perceived as too few.
“It’s infuriating,” said one top Democratic strategist, venting his frustrations with Biden and his team. “Our house is on fire and they don’t seem to be doing anything to put the fire out. They just watch it with the rest of us.”
Surveys point to the bleak lives of Americans.
A Gallup poll released Tuesday found that only 23 percent of Americans trust the institution of the presidency, down 15 percentage points from a year ago.
A Monmouth University poll released Tuesday found that 88 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, with just 10 percent saying it’s on the right track, the lowest number reported in a survey by 2013 Monmouth
Democratic strategist Joel Payne said Biden needs to change course.
“There’s an administrative part of the job and a political part of the job, and this president seems to be moving more toward the administrative role at a time when his coalition is hungry for political clarity and leadership,” Paine said. “The president and his team have to be vigilant about ensuring that and balance the need to do both.”
Speaking about the Biden administration’s inaction on abortion, Bacary Sellers, the political commentator and former member of the South Carolina state House, put it this way Friday on CNN: “I’m not sure what he’s doing. I can tell you what he doesn’t do.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm about this for a long time,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (DN.Y.) tweeted after the Supreme Court’s abortion decision. “Some may want to go after the messenger, but we simply cannot make promises, push people to vote and then refuse to use our full power when they do. We still have time to fix this and act. But we must be brave.”
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre was asked repeatedly at a press briefing Tuesday about complaints from Democratic lawmakers, activists and pundits that Biden has shown a lack of urgency and fire on certain issues.
“I can’t speak for them, I can only speak for what we’re trying to do,” Jean-Pierre said.
“This is a president who has worked tirelessly day in and day out since he entered this administration fighting for the American public,” she continued. “That’s what’s important to him. What’s important is that he works in every way possible to make sure we get things done.”
Jean-Pierre pointed to bipartisan gun legislation passed after the Texas school shooting, though Biden did not play a major role in those negotiations. And she noted that Biden announced executive actions to protect access to abortion pills and ordered the Justice Department to protect women who cross state lines for the procedure after Roe was overturned.
“Who knew that bragging about how little you know about the Constitution and undermining the only way to restore Roe’s protections would be such a tempting dopamine hit for the people who supported defunding the police and helped ensure that congressional majorities are so narrow,” one Biden ally said.
Doug Hay, a Republican strategist, said Biden is in a no-win situation.
“I’m not sure there’s a lot of substantial things that he can do,” Haye said, adding that there are several reasons why Biden is in this predicament.
“The base just wants someone who can fight. You don’t have to have a plan to land the punch, win the round or knock the opponent down, you just have to be seen as a fighter,” he said.
But Haye also said expectations for Biden “were too high.”
“They have a small majority in the House and no real majority in the Senate, so what did they expect?” he said.
White House aides dispute the idea that Biden is not fighting to address issues such as climate change, abortion rights, gun violence and inflation. They pointed to his ambitious legislative proposals, the executive actions he’s taken on guns, the climate and voting rights, and his willingness to call for cutting filibusters in the Senate, something he hadn’t done on the campaign trail.
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Aides said Biden shared the public’s sense of frustration that the country is facing a series of setbacks, something the president pointed out in remarks during an Independence Day celebration at the White House.
“In recent days, there has been reason to believe that this country is moving backwards, that freedom has been diminished, that the rights we thought were protected are no longer,” Biden said in remarks to military families on Monday. “A reminder that we continue to fight for America’s soul as we have for over 200 years.”
“I know it can be exhausting and unsettling,” Biden continued. “But tonight I want you to know that we’re going to get through it all — despite everything we’ve faced, that we’re going to get through it and look how far we’ve come.”
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