As reported in a wide variety of news sources, former President Barack Obama urged Joe Biden not to run for president. During the campaign Obama even quipped to a fellow Democrat, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to …” uh, let’s just say “mess things up.” In his memoir, Obama’s defense secretary Robert Gates wrote that Biden had been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” That was then.
This is now, one year into President Biden’s first term. Biden enjoyed a 61-percent approval rating coming into office last January. In the last quarter of 2021 his approval numbers had plunged to 48-percent. Last week’s AP-NORC poll showed only 43-percent approval versus 56-percent who disapproved of Biden’s performance.
The “good news” is that Biden’s poll numbers are higher than Trump’s numbers after his first year in office. Mr. Trump averaged 38.4-percent in his first year as president. So maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem.
Social scientists have known for years how big a role media have played influencing polls. In the past decade social media have likely played the largest role in swinging the public’s feelings about popular people and politicians. As an avid user of Twitter, Trump routinely lowered his popularity with stinging tweets. Popularity is not all it’s cracked up to be. That was then.
Now under President Biden we have open borders. More than 400,000 got-aways have entered the U.S. since last January. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, total encounters rose more than 400-percent from 405,036 to 1,662,167 this past year.
When Biden entered office America was energy independent. He ended that when he stopped the Keystone Pipeline and renewed limitations for drilling on public lands. He also shut down tens of thousands of good paying jobs in a vital industry. Now the whole nation is suffering from high gas and energy prices compounded by the highest inflation rate in 40 years.
If a president really wanted to mess things up, he would show the world his weakness on foreign stages like Afghanistan, China, Iran, and Russia. He would draw fake “red lines” and label adversaries “the JV team.” That was then. But, now it’s then again.
However Americans felt about President Trump, we know competing nations did not want to challenge him. Somehow, their leaders feared the strength Trump projected. One year into President Biden’s term we are seeing how not only competing nations but also allies view Mr. Biden. American polls have little influence on other nations’ views of our presidents.
In the past year multiple crises have popped up around the world and Americans have suffered. How will Russia’s actions against Ukraine affect Americans? How about China’s actions toward Taiwan? Or, Iran’s actions toward Israel? What happens to Americans when international chaos mushrooms around the globe? Can President Biden and VP Harris deal with these crises? Are they capable?
Some people have said it really doesn’t matter who’s president. Things generally take care of themselves. All of those people voted for President Biden. And, they are largely unaffected by Biden’s mishandling of the economy and so many other domestic crises. Nevertheless, all Americans will truly suffer if our leaders falter and are cowed in the face of global chaos.
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Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
