6427

The media does seem to love the failure narrative, they’ve been trying to push it pretty hard. Given it’s been barely a year and the country has been ravaged by first Delta and then Omicron and somehow we’ve managed to keep the economy humming along without mass homelessness (at least more than before) and other hardship? Seems pretty good, all things considered.

6428

Right, but why hasn’t Biden tapped the strategic milk reserves to help those normal families of 9 who buy 40 gallons of milk a week?

6429

I’m just surprised nobody asked when infrastructure week will finally happen.

6430

But seriously though, I wonder if the reality is that media want clicks and engagement, but during Trump they didn’t have to say or do anything to help with that. Just printing Trump’s words and running his videos did all the work. Under Biden, though, they have to actively create a controversial narrative because he’s pretty boring.

6431

Considering the right’s penchant for “hang the journalists” propaganda you’d think news services might be a little more motivated to at least preserve their own skins. Short term clicks over long term survival, I guess.

6432

I think it’s partly that and partly fear of losing access. They know Biden isn’t going to kick them out for asking stupid questions.

6433
6434

Anyone writing off Biden already was in cryo during the Trump years.

6435

Ooh, many people on both sides are saying! Double whammy!

6436

I’m still a little nonplussed on how he’s supposed to be a failed president.

6437

Part of the perception is the left’s fault, for downplaying the infrastructure bill as an accomplishment.

6438

It’s almost like it didn’t pass (but it did pass!) and he failed because of that too.

6439

I mean, it’s COVID. Voters never remember what legislation passed and which didn’t. They look around at the current situation — the economy, normally, but this time it’s COVID — and either credit or blame the person in the White House.

6440

Even on this forum (this thread I think) we had folks calling the infrastructure bill a “GOP bill”, which was insane.

6441

It was bi-partisan, so… the GOP passed it. ;)

6442

Just because someone tweets something that says that “people are saying X”, it doesn’t mean that any of us need to give a single fuck about it.

6443

Actual donors are threatening Sinema for her position on this.

6444

demanded that the senator refund their contributions.

Haha thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning.

6445

There’s a newsletter I follow that has a nice brief summary of Biden’s first year. (The Daily Brew)

Economy: Biden’s overseen a historic recovery in the labor market, where the unemployment rate has plunged to 3.9% from a pandemic high of 14.8%. Problem is, there is currently too much money chasing too few goods. Inflation hit its highest rate since 1982 in December, while wages haven’t kept up with price growth.

  • Median earnings for full-time workers grew 2.6% annually in the fourth quarter. Consumer prices, on the other hand, gained 7% in December.

Climate: Biden had the US rejoin the Paris climate agreement to reassert American leadership on environmental issues. But reaching his goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030 will be a monumental challenge: Emissions climbed 6.2% last year as coal plants revved back to life.

Covid: The pandemic continued to rage throughout Biden’s first year in office. Despite the availability of vaccines, more people died of Covid in the US in 2021 than in 2020.

  • Getting Americans vaccinated has proven to be a major challenge. Biden’s vaccine mandate on large employers was blocked by the Supreme Court, and only 63.8% of Americans are fully vaxed, putting it behind virtually all of its wealthy peers.

Geopolitics: Biden withdrew all US troops from Afghanistan in chaotic fashion and has maintained an adversarial relationship with China and Russia. He said yesterday that he expects Russia to invade Ukraine.

Domestic agenda: Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill last spring and a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which represents the biggest federal investment in the nation’s roads, trains, and other important nuts-and-bolts networks in more than a decade. He also extended a moratorium on student loan payments through May 1.

  • Other priorities have run out of steam on Capitol Hill, where the Democrats have the slimmest of majorities in the Senate. The Build Back Better Act, which would have poured huge sums into environmental, health, and social programs, didn’t get enough support.
  • Biden told reporters yesterday that he thinks Democrats can get “pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better law signed into law.”

Looking ahead… Biden’s approval rating is in the dumps at 40% (Obama’s was 49% at the same point in his presidency). Democrats are hopeful that by taming inflation and the pandemic, Biden will get a popularity boost ahead of pivotal midterm elections in November.— NF

Mostly Covid and inflation will kill the dems if they don’t improve asap, but international politics isn’t looking great either.

6446

Damn the left and their control of the media.

Meanwhile on the front page of CNN