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**APRIL 28, 2023**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Biden Versus "Biden"
He's been a terrific president. Why are his ratings so consistently
low?
Biden at his best was on display at the White House Correspondents'
Dinner-witty, energetic, and not bad with the occasional ad lib. The
launch of Biden's run for a second term was also excellent.
His administration has also done almost everything right, managing to
get some $5 trillion of needed spending out of a Congress despite a
nonexistent working majority, restoring needed regulations and the
defense of working people, and taking seriously the need for a drastic
green transition. With a Democratic Congress, he could do a lot more.
Biden benefits from a Republican Party that keeps hitting new lows of
thuggishness blended with clownishness. And whether the issue is book
banning or abortion or defending democracy, public opinion is on his
side.
So what's the problem? Where's the love?
There are really two Joe Bidens. One is Biden, the Administration. The
policy people are excellent, and the political operators are more than
good enough. The speechwriters and makers of TV spots, as we've seen
in the past week, are also first class.
Biden, the administration, is very effective. But it's a construct.
The other part is Biden, the person. For better or for worse, Joe Biden
is not just the leader but the face of his administration.
Most Americans experience Biden as too old, certainly too old to run for
a second term. Whenever he is off-script, Biden supporters and advisers
hold their breath, waiting for the likely gaffe or stumble, which then
reinforces the image that his cognition is not what it once was.
That's why he does so few press conferences, which can only be
rehearsed and scripted to a point. That's why his campaign will have
as few impromptu moments as Team Biden can get away with.
This is all unfair. But then aging is unfair.
The other reason is also unfair, and just as damaging. Not a lot of
Biden's accomplishments reach working class and aspiring middle-class
voters, many of whom defected to Trump, where they live.
Unemployment is low and wages are up slightly on average. But the
once-Democratic counties of the industrial Midwest, which neoliberal
Democrats let go to ruin for four decades, are still hollowed-out
economic husks.
Biden's rejection of globalism in favor of re-industrialization is
exactly the right remedy. But unlike the overnight recovery created by
the far more potent WWII industrial buildup, Biden's programs will
take many years to have dramatic practical impact.
Even for a young voter of liberal tendencies seeking to start a life,
the bleak reality is a gig economy with too few good payroll jobs and
impossible arithmetic when it comes to affording a decent place to live.
So there an appreciation gap, based on lived experience, when it comes
to valuing Biden.
And as our friend Stan Greenberg keeps pointing out
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Biden is justifiably proud of his record and naturally wants to run on
his accomplishments. But if you tell people how great things are when
their own lives are crappy, that creates a kind of cognitive dissonance
that in turn breeds distrust. What else about this leader can't I
believe?
I haven't even mentioned Kamala Harris, or Republican state meddling
with the 2024 election, which will be close at best.
All this said, Biden can probably defeat either Trump or DeSantis,
assuming no further display of cognitive or physical deterioration. But
as in 2021, we will all be waiting until January 20, 2025 to exhale.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Fintech's Latest Scheme
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Earned wage access is pitched as a way to instantly get money for paid
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The supervisors knew exactly what was happening at the bank, and were
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In 2023, Everyone Who Can Go Union Is Doing Just That
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While employers illegally suppress blue-collar, retail and service
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BY HAROLD MEYERSON
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