This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden being hobbled by a new surge of consumer inflation, threatening his reelection chances and delaying an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Instead of reversing his high-spending ways, however, the president unveiled plans for more to be dumped into deadbeat student loans, an election-year move aimed at winning back younger voters who have been nonplussed by his presidency.
He did get a boost politically when abortion surged back into the top issues after Arizona’s highest court cited a Civil War-era law to ban most of the procedures in the state.
But his continued scolding of Israel and Iran’s threat to attack the Jewish state again has the world on edge.
There was some humor during the week thanks to the State Visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his funny references to current culture.
Conservative grader Jed Babbin gave the week a “D-minus,” and cited high inflation and the administration’s weak support for Israel. “For shame,” he wrote of Biden’s approach to Israel.
Democratic pollster John Zogby graded the week a “C,” and highlighted the problems the Republicans and former President Donald Trump are having and how that’s helping keep Biden tied in his reelection bid. Yet, he added, “he’s not running away with the election.”
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
There’s not a lot to be said for this week and certainly nothing good.
Bidenomics has continued to cause inflation which is reflected in the prices of groceries, gasoline and pretty much everything else. Gasoline has gone up to $3.59 per gallon in the town I live in, about 20 cents higher than it was a month ago.
The interest on the federal debt was $1.06 trillion in the first six months of FY 2024. That’s higher than the entire defense budget for the year of $825 billion. We’re going broke fast and President Joe Biden is doing everything he can to accelerate it.
And, of course, Old Joe wants to keep spending recklessly. His new student loan “forgiveness” will cost hundreds of billions. And that, of course, is happening after the Supreme Court told Biden he didn’t have any authority to “forgive” student loans. He’s doing it in defiance of the law, but that’s Joe. (BTW, “loan forgiveness” is only possible when it’s your money that you tell someone he doesn’t have to pay back.) Ain’t Bidenomics great?
And, of course, Biden is still trying to prevent Israel from attacking the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah City. Biden — really, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and whoever else is pulling his strings — want Israel to lose the war Hamas started on October 7. For shame.
John Zogby
Grade: C
The rate of inflation turned in the wrong direction this week, higher than the previous month and postponing a Fed decision to lower interest rates.
The specter of war in the Middle East is also causing a lot of anxiety in D.C., and President Joe Biden, while still critical of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, is embracing Israel a little more closely than his base feels he needs to.
While his approval ratings are static and low, there are more polls showing him leading former President Donald Trump nationwide in the 2024 presidential race. Still, Biden continues to close the gap with Trump in the battleground states.
Meanwhile, his opposition party is a mess. Another dumped speaker coming soon? An 1864 abortion ban in Arizona. Really? A former president on trial for paying hush money to a porn star? Say it ain’t so, Joe. But it is so. But he’s not running away with the election.
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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.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Their firm polls for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies.
