Biden breaks campaign promise of no chaos

BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS PREPARE FOR BLAME GAME AS LEGACY BILLS STALL

Democrats criticized Trump for his unpredictability and for undermining the rule of law. Biden is more traditional than his unconventional predecessor, but his leadership regarding his legacy policy negotiations has damaged his credibility, already dented by his botched withdrawal of troops and allies from Afghanistan, according to Republican strategist John Feehery.

“Biden promised a return to normalcy and a unified nation,” said Feehery, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s press secretary. “He is unifying the nation only in their disgust with the current state of affairs.”

Biden’s approval ratings started dipping in the summer as the delta coronavirus variant surged among unvaccinated people, mostly in the South. But his average disapproval numbers began overtaking his approval in mid-August, according to poll aggregator RealClearPolitics , and at the end of August, according to FiveThirtyEight , as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated before the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.

Now, after months of negotiations, Biden is imploring Democrats to compromise following liberals’ refusal this week to support the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal without a framework for the sprawling reconciliation bill. Their protest meant House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to pull the Thursday night vote on the Senate-passed legislation.

Democrats, such as Biden ally Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, had criticized the president’s approach to the negotiations before he left the White House on Friday and drove up Pennsylvania Avenue to meet with House Democrats on Capitol Hill.

“We’re gonna get this done,” Biden said afterward. “It doesn’t matter when. It doesn’t matter if it’s six minutes, six days, or six weeks.”

Aggressive Progressive podcast host and former Democratic consultant Christopher Hahn disagreed that Biden’s incompetence had created the drama, unlike Trump. The president, after all, had been hosting Democrats at the White House.

“Biden is dealing with a world that has its own problems, but his administration doesn’t add to the chaos,” Hahn said.

Jessica Anderson, the executive director of conservative grassroots organization Heritage Action for America, contended the “Biden Doctrine” spelled “disaster for Americans across the country.”

“Between the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that claimed the lives of 13 brave U.S. service members, record-high inflation, the ‘Biden Border Crisis,’ and a multitrillion-dollar spending bill that will reshape America, the Biden administration has had one of the most chaotic first years of a presidency in recent years, and we’re only nine months in,” she said.

Jenny Beth Martin, the honorary chairwoman of right-wing political organization Tea Party Patriots Action, argued Biden’s disorder and confusion extended beyond the border to federal, state, and local COVID-19 responses.

“Americans are stressed and angry that there seems to be little deliberative legislative process in the country now,” she said. “What we are seeing is the height of government overreach and unconstitutional behavior.”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, in particular, was bracing for a legal fight over Biden’s proposed vaccine mandate for private businesses with 1`00 or more employees.

“He’s threatening to destroy businesses and the jobs of 80 million Americans, including teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, police officers, and Customs and Border Patrol agents, who refuse to take an experimental vaccine,” he said.

Rokita’s Arkansas counterpart, Leslie Rutledge, noted Biden’s executive orders, “many of them overreaching.” While not an executive order, she also cited the president and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s attempts to prolong the pandemic-related eviction moratorium.

“The Supreme Court had to come back in again and block the eviction moratorium from remaining in effect,” Rutledge said.

The White House bristled at Biden-Trump comparisons this week despite being been pushed on similarities in the past. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described Biden’s “brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision” to form a national security alliance with the United Kingdom to aid Australia in building nuclear-powered submarines as similar to “a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do.” The pact scuttled France’s contract to supply Australia with diesel-electric versions.

“I think people would be pretty hard-pressed to argue that the president has taken any aspect of the former president’s playbook and used it as a model of his own,” Psaki said .

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Psaki defended Biden’s negotiation tactics Friday, insisting “compromise is necessary,” if not “inevitable.”

“What we’re working toward is unifying a path to get both of these packages,” she said. “There’s healthy debate, discussion, and disagreement about the specifics of the path forward, and that’s not a sign of dysfunction.”