With the 2024 presidential election now less than a year away, it is remarkable that the Democratic Party and their allies in the legacy media are experiencing such a state of distress. One might inquire as to the rationale behind this sudden urgency.
It is unlikely that the sudden decline in President Biden’s job approval ratings is the cause. The figures have fluctuated between a low of 37% and a high of 43% over the course of several months, with no discernible trend.
One might inquire as to the extent of confidence in the president’s stewardship of the economy, a policy approach that has been the subject of considerable criticism, colloquially referred to as “Bidenomics.” The figures have deteriorated significantly. A recent New York Times headline reads, “A new Times/Sienna poll shows the president behind in five of six key states.” Voters cite his economic track record, despite the indicators.
It is of significant importance to note that: The poll revealed that a mere 2% of respondents rated the economy as excellent. It is a matter of concern for Biden that this discontent is being reflected in demographics that are crucial to his re-election. In the Times/Siena poll, 48 percent of Black voters rated the economy as poor, as did 59 percent of voters under 30. Not a single respondent in the aforementioned age group in Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin rated the economy as excellent.
The same point could be made regarding the question of whether we are on the right or wrong track. A poll conducted by NBC News revealed that 72% of respondents believed that the country was on the right track. A mere 22 percent of respondents indicated that they believe that the country is heading in the right direction.
Nevertheless, it seems plausible to suggest that the Democrats are experiencing a degree of anxiety as a consequence of the findings of the aforementioned New York Times/Sienna College poll, which indicates that the President is currently trailing in five of the six key states.
It was inevitable that the prospect of a pro-abortion President Biden running for a second term would cause a significant degree of concern within the Democratic political establishment. This was a view expressed by columnist Byron York. (It is, therefore, unsurprising that there was considerable concern.)
This was the pivotal moment. However,
If that were not the case, I would propose that a column by Politico’s Jonathan Martin is worthy of consideration. (In fact, the entire column was devoted to the question of how the President might extricate himself from the situation.)
2024 will be an extraordinary election, and it will require extraordinary measures. That’s partly for reasons Biden refuses to accept: his ability to do the job. As the oldest president in history when he takes the oath, Biden will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents. He simply doesn’t have the capacity to do it, and his staff don’t trust him to even try, as they make clear by blocking him from the press. Biden’s candidacy will give a new meaning to a Rose Garden campaign, and it will require an adjustment to this inescapable fact of life.
Charles W. Cooke of National Review Online had a classic response:
When Martin describes “how Biden can turn it around”, he is not talking about the remaining 14 months of Biden’s first term, but about how Biden can win re-election and remain president for the next five years, two months and seven days.
Stop and look at those figures: Five years, two months and seven days. That’s 1,895 days. It’s 62 months. It’s 270 weeks. It’s 45,480 hours, or 2,728,800 minutes, or 163,728,000 seconds. If Joe Biden is not trusted by his staff now, what do we think things will be like as those years, months, weeks, days, minutes and seconds count down?
What kind of articles will be written in Politico two years from now, in November 2025? How will Biden be described in 2027? What level of autonomy and drive can we expect from him in 2028?
Yowzah!
More tomorrow.
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
