For the last couple days, I've seen news stories pondering why, despite such overwhelmingly positive economic news, Americans don't think Biden is doing a good job. Some polls suggest Americans think he is doing a dismal job.
The reason, of course, is that things are pretty miserable and we are a diminishing and crumbling society. Part of that trend is watching a growing number of Americans unable to afford the basics. The news keeps saying spending is strong. Yeah. Because the things people need to survive are off the scale expensive, and people are going into historically unprecedented levels of personal debt to keep up with just surviving. Yesterday we had to buy laundry soap, toilet paper and dryer sheets. We bought the smallest packages and got generic brands. The total was almost $19.00. That is unsustainable.
Funny thing people. You can tell them everything is peachy about vague things, but you can't tell people who can barely afford groceries that everything is awesome. They won't believe you. They may just resent you.
In 2016, after the conventions, I caught Fareed Zakaria on CNN. He gave an editorial that had one clear message: The world was officially better than any time in history, and we owe it all to President Obama and his administration (read: Hillary Clinton). The problem? Things weren't great at all. The post-2008 recovery was anemic at best. ISIS was on the rampage and all we were told was to accept the new normal. The African American community had all but been thrown under the bus. And I could drive for weeks, if not months, without seeing a newly purchased car on the road.
You can talk until you're blue in the face, but you can't tell people they never had it so good when they remember not so long ago when they had it so good, if not better. The press made a huge mistake with that in 2016, believing that no matter what, a few propaganda nudges like Zakaria's screed would seal the deal and convince Americans to vote Hillary. After all, Clinton was running against Trump for crying out loud. Yet we saw how that turned out.
You'd think they wouldn't repeat the same mistake again. Fact is, except for hardcore leftwing thralls, most Americans can see the obvious. As much as the press tries to make it about just hating the right groups of those people over there, most are increasingly bothered that things are getting worse and not better. The press trying every other day to run stories about how great the economy is, how Bidenomics is doing a wonderful job, and how the future looks rosy and cheerful will at best not convince people who can't afford food without going into debt. At worst, it will chase them away from the polls come November, or into the arms of you-know-who.
What I can't figure out is who are the 39% who actually approve of his job performance? That number seems awfully high, IMO
ReplyDeleteThat would be the diehards. Those who must support not-Trump no matter what. Or, to be honest, the very well off, those in the upper 1/3 of the nation. I recall back when I was at Patheos, I posted about the sorry state of the recovery. That was back around the 2016/17 period, when talking about the economy under Obama. Several of the very liberal readers chimed in and said so what? So the economy is rotten for people. It wasn't for them, and that's what matters. A far cry from when my democrat parents chastised Carter for the lousy economy in the late 70s, even though by then my dad's position was solid enough and it didn't hurt us terribly. It was still bad for the country and Americans as a whole. But not in 2017. Divisions will do that. So does exalting narcissism and self righteousness.
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DeleteI had large retirement investments through the Obama era, but they hardly budged until Trump's second year, then took off quite nicely until Biden's second year. I retired from teaching 6/10 and have a nice income, but doubt it would look as nice if I live alone, instead of with a Dad on a federal pension in a paid-up house and a working sibling. Local gas is $5.05 a gallon, and I'm fortunate I can go over a month between fill-ups. The economy in the SF Bay Area is not great, yet the Dems are in power without local challenge because of the supremacy of identity politics.
To me the interesting thing is not the poll. Polls can be manipulated and it is more common for them to be manipulated in some way than to be an accurate reflection of reality.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is that CNN would talk about such poll numbers in the first place.
Because the game is afoot by the Dems to remove Biden from running for president.
DeleteI've noticed that. Perhaps as Bob said. Or it could be the old 'get out in front of the story.' Concede the obvious, and then begin framing it by convenience. For instance, regarding polls that find most Democrats think Biden is too old, NBC ran a piece conceding that, but then making it about the GOP having no right to capitalize because of McConnell. For whatever reason, I am sure there is a reason. The only reason I won't believe is that the press is merely wanting to inform me.
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