for The Hill

The U.S. economy is rebounding vigorously from the COVID-19 recession. That ought to be lifting the public's spirits, but Americans instead are increasingly preoccupied by two distressing pandemic legacies — soaring prices and gun violence. 

In New York City, for example, serious crimes jumped by nearly 39 percent in January, prompting civil rights leader Al Sharpton to call the situation “out of control.” President Biden traveled to Manhattan last week for a high-profile confab with newly-elected Mayor Eric Adams, who has made public safety his top priority.

It was a smart move, because Adams is just what Biden and his party need now to refurbish their credentials as credible crime fighters. He’s a pragmatic Black mayor and former police officer who has been an outspoken critic of both police brutality and racial profiling as well as the activist left’s demands to “defund the police.”