Biden's bad week and the unreality of great expectations
President Biden acknowledged his administration's recent struggles Friday while speaking about the bipartisan infrastructure bill he signed into law last year.
The bad news keeps on coming for President Biden. He ended 2021 at a low point in his presidency, hoping to turn it around in the new year.
But things have only gotten worse. His spending and voting rights plans are at congressional dead ends. Inflation remains at multi-decade highs. The omicron variant of the coronavirus continues a rapid spread. The Supreme Court ruled against his administration's vaccine-or-test mandate. And there are rising threats from Russia and North Korea.
RACIST WHITE REPUBLICANS ARE THE PROBLEM
Presidents need to be able to do multiple things at once, but that's a lot weighing down Biden. And his approval rating is suffering because of it. Biden's average approval rating sits at about 42%, and a Quinnipiac poll this week had it at 33%.
Numbers like that have to have the White House concerned — and Republicans cheering.
Biden acknowledged the struggles Friday, as he was set to give a speech on failing infrastructure in the country and how the bipartisan infrastructure law he signed in November would rebuild many bridges and roads.
"There's a lot of talk about disappointments and things we haven't gotten done," Biden said. "We're going to get a lot of them done, I might add. But this is something we did get done, and it's of enormous consequence to the country
Considering that Democrats have the narrowest of narrow majorities in the Senate — 50-50 with the vice president breaking ties — it's remarkable in some respects how much they've gotten done: that $1 trillion infrastructure bill, for example, as well as the almost $2 trillion COVID relief bill and a diverse group of dozens of judges.
But with Democrats staring down the midterm elections with Republicans favored to take back the House, there is tremendous frustration within the president's party for not being able to get some big key agenda items passed — namely his Build Back Better bill, which highlighted months of difficult public intra-party negotiations that seemed to go nowhere, and, of course, muscular voting rights legislation.
A tough week
It's not just the legislative frustrations like the filibuster (more on that below); the pandemic is still raging.
ERs are overwhelmed as omicron continues to flood them with patients
ERs are overwhelmed as omicron continues to flood them with patients
Omicron's rapid spread is wreaking havoc across the country. While cases have been milder for those who are vaccinated, hospitals are being flooded with unvaccinated patients and schools are in disarray, trying to figure out a Rubik's cube that keeps on changing colors.
The White House has taken heat for not being prepared for the latest surge and for the messaging shortcomings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Testing has been a major issue. On Thursday, Biden said the administration would raise its purchase of COVID-19 rapid tests from 500 million to 1 billion. On Friday, Biden announced that Americans can begin ordering free at-home tests next week.
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/15/10732...lantern-theory
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