Inflation burst, epidemic and polls broke Biden’s self-confidence that he performed better than expected
Affected by the recent severe rebound of the epidemic and the continued rise in inflationary pressures, U.S. consumer confidence has fallen, and multiple polls have shown that the American public’s approval rating for Biden has also fallen sharply.
Author: Sun Zhuo
The challenges are severe, but the United States has made “tremendous progress” in responding to the epidemic and the economy-January 20, which is the first anniversary of US President Joe Biden, is his summary.
On January 19, Biden held a White House press conference on the first anniversary of his presidency. He reviewed the work performance and achievements of the current administration in the past year, and talked regarding many challenges such as the U.S. economy, the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the obstruction of key legislative agendas.
Biden began by reviewing his achievements in the year, including the completion of vaccinating 210 million Americans, creating 6 million new jobs, passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill, and dropping the unemployment rate to 3.9 percent and the child poverty rate to nearly 50 percent. Forty percent and so on. Biden admitted that the United States still faces many “difficult challenges” such as the severe situation of the new crown epidemic, persistently high inflation, and the shelving of the “Build Back Better Act”.
During the question-and-answer session, Biden was asked by reporters to self-evaluate his performance over the past year. Biden said: “I (previously) did not overpromise, and my performance may have exceeded everyone’s expectations. In fact, we have Huge progress has been made.”
However, due to the recent severe rebound of the epidemic and the continued rise in inflationary pressures, U.S. consumer confidence has fallen, and multiple polls show that the American public’s approval rating for Biden has also fallen sharply.
A poll released by CBS on the 16th showed that only 25% of the American people said they were “average” and “satisfied” with Biden’s performance one year following he was elected president, and 40% said that Biden’s presidency has made them “nervous.” The poll also showed that 75% of the American public said they felt the country as a whole was “somewhat” or “very” bad.
Support the Fed to adjust policy to fight inflation
Biden said in his speech that the ravages of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the world have also dragged down the economic growth of the United States. Biden promises that the U.S. will not lock down once more and will not close schools once more. Biden also warned that the epidemic is not over, but the United States is moving towards a direction where the epidemic will no longer affect life or cause a crisis.
At the press conference that day, several reporters asked regarding rising prices and oil prices, the severe inflation situation, and whether the Biden administration still has policy tools to deal with it.
Biden said that the new crown epidemic has triggered rapid price increases around the world. The Fed has a dual mandate to achieve full employment and maintain price stability, and the key responsibility for ensuring that inflation does not become entrenched lies with the Fed.
Biden praised the “extraordinary support” the Fed has provided over the past year and a half. Given the direction of the U.S. economy and the magnitude of recent price increases, a recalibration of policy support is necessary, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has hinted. He respects the independence of the Fed.
Biden called on the Fed to act responsibly while maintaining its independence. When talking regarding the government’s plan to deal with inflation, Biden proposed three specific measures, including addressing supply chain bottlenecks, reducing the cost of living for American families through the Build Back Better Act, and enhancing the level of fair competition in the market.
Powell said at a U.S. congressional hearing last week that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates more often and shrink its balance sheet earlier and faster to deal with persistent high inflation. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that the U.S. consumer price index rose 7 percent in December from a year earlier, the largest year-on-year increase in nearly 40 years.
The biggest challenge is the inability to win cooperation with the Republican Party
In addition to a number of questions regarding the national economy and people’s livelihood, questions regarding Biden’s individual and his performance were also asked by many reporters.
Biden said his administration has made tremendous progress on a number of issues, especially the response to the new crown epidemic. “Despite these achievements, I know that there is still a lot of frustration and fatigue. We know that the reason is: the new crown pneumonia epidemic.” Biden pointed out that he will not accept the current status of the United States as a “new normal”.
Biden added: “But one thing I haven’t been able to do is get my Republican friends involved in making this country a better place.”
Biden said his biggest challenge during his one-year term came from not being able to win the cooperation of the Republican Party. “I didn’t expect that there would be such a force ‘just to make President Biden do nothing’,” Biden said. “What do you want the Republican Party to do? What are they doing?”
When talking regarding the next work plan, Biden said that he will travel across the United States in the next few weeks to discuss the achievements of the current administration, and to show the Republican Party “what the government is going to do.”
“I’m going to tell my Republican friends that I’m here. And that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Biden said.
Biden was also asked if he was satisfied with the work performance of US Vice President Harris and whether he would still choose Harris as his partner in the 2024 presidential election. Biden answered in the affirmative.
yes yes no one year
At his inauguration a year ago, Biden listed four major crises facing the United States: the new crown epidemic, climate change, the economy and racial equality. At that time, Biden vowed in his speech that he would become “the president of all Americans”, lead the United States out of the epidemic crisis, revive the American economy, fight climate change and address racial injustice in the United States. He has also said he will “heal” for a divided country.
However, one year later, the status quo faced by the United States is that the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia is still high every day, and the cumulative death toll has exceeded 800,000; the US inflation rate in December last year rose by 7% year-on-year, the highest in 39 years; Because the Build Back Better Act has been shelved in Congress, Biden’s emissions reduction goals and commitments at the International Climate Change Conference are largely empty talk, and the social spending to combat income and wealth inequality included in the bill will not materialize.
Just last week, Biden had just experienced “Black Thursday.” Despite Biden’s personal lobbying to Congress, two moderate Democratic senators said they were opposed to Biden’s proposed “modification of the ‘obstruction’ rule,” and Republicans later warned Biden and Democrats hard at a news conference, Republicans will fight back if Senate rules are changed.
That day’s trip to Capitol Hill was Biden’s third trip to Congress in the last three months and the third time he has failed to persuade Democrats to support his plan.
“Actually, he’s had a bad year,” Utah Republican Senator Romney said when asked by the media if “last week was a bad week for Biden”, “52 weeks for him. It’s all very bad.”
Romney said that inflation, high oil prices, the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border, insufficient testing for the new crown, and the catastrophic withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan are all thorny issues that Biden needs to face.
“It’s not very good. The president (Biden) needs to stop and think regarding what the hell he’s going to do,” Romney said. “If he’s going to remake America, he’s not able to bring us together. Bringing everyone together means to find a way of bipartisanship.”
Only 25% of Americans are satisfied with Biden’s job performance
A poll released by CBS on the 16th showed that only 25% of the American people were satisfied with Biden’s job for one year.
The poll showed that nearly 75% of respondents in the economy said they thought the U.S. as a whole was “somewhat” or “very” bad, and 58% of them believed that the Biden administration did not get the U.S. economy right. 70% of the people are dissatisfied with the way Biden handles inflation; 69% of the people believe that the Biden administration needs to strengthen the release of accurate information in response to the new crown epidemic, and 61% of the people are dissatisfied with the government Mandatory vaccinations are dissatisfied, with 47% of the public saying that Biden is not doing well in dealing with the Omicron strain.
On the 17th, the topic “#the worst president” related to Biden’s first anniversary performance became a hot search term on American social media.
“Inflation is the highest in 39 years, and it took Biden only one year to do it.” One netizen wrote on Twitter.
“I can summarize Biden’s first year in office with the photo below,” one netizen tweeted under a sold-out supermarket shelf.
Some netizens pointed out that her biggest dissatisfaction with Biden came from Biden’s “not understanding the situation”. “After taking office, he hopes to unite the country and extend a hand to the opposite (Republican).” One netizen wrote, “However, I hope he should have realized long ago that under the current situation, cross-party cooperation is basically non-existent.”
