Biden Report Card: Inflation surge, DACA decision offset gains

This week’s White House Report Card finds President Biden battling inflation and congressional stalling on his infrastructure requests.

Our Democratic grader, pollster John Zogby, gave Biden a “C,” noting his above average polling and voting rights speech in Philadelphia being offset by the surge in inflation and court loss on the fate of “Dreamers,” immigrant children brought into the U.S. who Democrats have sought to grant amnesty to.

Conservative grader Jed Babbin gave Biden an “F” and said he wanted to go lower, citing the same Philadelphia speech as “vituperative nonsense,” and the administration’s continued conflicting message on immigration.

John ZogbyGrade C

President Joe Biden’s job approval is holding at 52% and he had some successes this week.

The first monthly child tax credit checks hit the bank accounts of millions of parents of children 16 and under living at home. These parents are a key voting base for Democrats who will now receive monthly reminders that in politics it is always better to receive than to give. The fact that Biden, majority leaders in Congress, and the Treasury secretary want to make these permanent is as much about a lesson learned from FDR about party loyalty as it is a boon to the economy.

Biden had an inspirational moment in Philadelphia with a speech that strongly condemned GOP voter suppression efforts. And Congress seems closer (but still no cigar) on passing a hard infrastructure bill with some bipartisan support as well as a soft infrastructure bill with none.

On the other hand, there was some decidedly bad news. The Delta (and other variant) strains of COVID-19 are spreading and increasing in at least 40 states. A federal judge has ruled against migrant Dreamers, a policy strongly favored by Democrats. And Washington says that inflation is growing at a 5% rate — the largest growth in two decades. Even worse, consumers feel inflation is growing at a faster pace.

Jed BabbinGrade F

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To cram as many actions damaging to America into one week took a lot of effort by the Biden administration but they managed it all too well beginning with the president’s speech on voting rights and ending with White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announcing collusion with Facebook to censor free speech.

Biden’s speech was the most radical of his presidency to date. Accusing Republicans of raw and sustained election subversion, he accused them of reviving the Jim Crow era. He accused them of the “most dangerous threat to voting in our history.” Biden also said that rioters in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were worse than slave-owning states in the Civil War. It was vituperative nonsense. The proposed Texas voter ID law would firmly sustain voters’ choices and access to voting both early and on Election Day. Vice President Kamala Harris was praising the Democrat Texas legislators who fled the states to deny Republicans a quorum necessary to pass the bill.

Biden made a short statement in support of Cuban freedom demonstrators who have been protesting — hundreds of thousands of them — against the communist regime. He clearly didn’t mean it. Homeland Secretary Alejandro Majorkas warned Cubans to not come to America illegally, threatening to turn them away. The difference between the illegals flooding our southern border and the Cubans is that the latter could try to flee oppression while the former are coming here to take advantage of what America offers. Cubans might become Republicans, so Biden doesn’t want them.

Inflation accelerated to about 5.4% over June of last year. Prices of everything from food to gasoline are climbing fast, but Biden is still proposing more trillions in spending. His latest multi-trillion dollar bill also includes most of the “green new deal,” Bernie Sanders’s idea to reduce states’ ability to maintain right to work laws and a lot more including tax hikes. The Democrat’s plan to cram it through Congress without Republican support.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked the United Nations to investigate human rights in the United States. That is an insult to the Constitution and the rule of law in the United States. The U.N. Human Rights Commission, which will run the investigation, is dominated by human rights abusers including Cuba, China, Libya, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela. Blinken’s action is an outrage.

Psaki had a very busy week. First she said that Biden would support local mandates requiring vaccinations against COVID. Then she admitted that the White House was flagging individuals’ posts on Facebook so the Facebook managers — who already censor or ban a lot of Republicans — can remove or censor the posts. Obviously, there’s no belief in the First Amendment in the White House.

If there were a grade lower than an “F”, they’d have earned it this week.

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin

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Tags: Washington Secrets, Biden Administration, Coronavirus, John Zogby, Voting rights

Original Author: Paul Bedard

Original Location: Biden Report Card: Inflation surge, DACA decision offset gains