“It’s the economy stupid” was a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992, when he was advising Bill Clinton in his successful run for the White House. It’s been winning advice for Presidential candidates ever since — until now. Now it ‘s not “the economy”, that’s just a bunch of statistics like Gross National Product. It’s not abstract, statistical stuff like that; it’s the prices of groceries, which are just awful.
The Democrats are telling us via government statistics that inflation is over and now we are all well off economically. But people who buy groceries know better. Prices went up — many doubled – with inflation. But they haven’t come down. Maybe inflation has ebbed statistically, but prices are staying up.
So the first of three reasons Biden is losing is that he’s trying to run on a fugazi. He and his supporters are giving us rosy macroeconomic data when what we actually experience are dreadful microeconomic prices. They need someone like Carville to come to them and say “It’s the prices people pay, Stupid.”
Reason Number 2: The border. The reason Biden hasn’t addressed the border issue for the past three years is that he has had to appease the Progressives in his party to keep their support for other things. Progressives like the border open for all kinds of legal or illegal immigration. Now the Republicans are forcing Biden, if he wants aid for Israel and Ukraine, to try to do some things the Progressives don’t like. How this will shake out we don’t know yet. Probably little will be done, thus giving Trump a big vote-getting issue in the election. It’s a mistake to underestimate the power of this issue. It trumps (forgive the pun) abortion and democracy as a vote-getter for many independents.
Reason Number 3: Biden’s Persona. I don’t know what the word is for this, but there’s a reason beyond the policy issues for Biden’s poll numbers being so low. His age is only part of it, and might even be a small part. I call it ‘persona’ because I don’t know what else to call it. I think it’s that he’s a politician, has been for fifty or so years. He looks like a politician, talks like a politician, and walks like an old politician. (Remember this? “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck?” That gem of an idea was probably first coined by James Whitcomb Riley.)
Believe it or not, lots of people don’t much like politicians because politicians seem to rank low on integrity and intelligent scales. People also don’t much like lawyers, maybe for the same reasons, and Biden is also a lawyer. (Most politicians are.)
Hunter Biden is part of Joe Biden’s persona. So is Kamala Harris. And Trump won’t let us forget either one.
Biden’s robotic gait reminds us of his age. And his eyes are often just slits. Maybe the bright lights?
Think about Jack Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, even FDR if you’re old enough. How they looked, how they spoke, what they said. Who they were. Their persona. How they dealt with things. Could Biden do a ‘fireside chat”? Could he say “I’m the guy who accompanied Jill Biden to Omaha”? Could he sing “Amazing Grace” impromptu and a cappella? Could he say “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall?” Or “Mr. Putin, end this war.”?
I’d love to have JFK, Ron Reagan, or Barack, to dinner with or without their wives. But Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.? Not without Jill; with her there, we could at least talk about teaching.
I feel bad giving Joe Biden this persona rap. He’s nice guy, a good man, at least smart enough to be President. He has his hands full, as anyone would, with two or three wars, facing Trump in an election, and a Nation at odds with itself.
Maybe I should do the persona rap thing on Donald Trump? Or Ron DeSantis? Or Mitch McConnell?
Just Sayin’
John R. Dixon 