The polling data shows a drop in support of US President Joe Biden, and not only is Afghanistan is to blame for this. Even the New York Times is becoming reluctant to update the data on its website as most Americans are becoming increasingly unhappy with Biden. Only 45 percent of people view his leadership positively, which is one of the worst scores of all time after eight months in office. Last Thursday, it was only 39 percent, according to the YouGov survey.
Although public opinion might oscillate, the summer series of disasters and Biden’s unforced errors tells Americans that they do not have the president in the White House they thought they were electing.
He was supposed to be a professional, “finally an adult in the Oval Office,” as he sold himself. A father figure who restores the dignity of the office and brings prudence, experience, and order to the White House while defeating Covid, restoring peace in the United States as well as respect for the country in the world.
But now, the president looks incompetent, and not just when he’s pulling the hooks, like a few days ago in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. As his presidency flounders, a statement attributed to Barack Obama in which the former president said, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up,” have been making the rounds again.
Even Biden’s media, which encompasses most of the major media outlets in the US, do not hide that the withdrawal from Kabul under the conditions dictated by the victorious Taliban was a debacle, a fiasco, and the humiliation of the US. The government seemed incompetent, and the president lost the halo of a lifelong foreign policy expert. Suddenly, there are opinions that even in what many considered to be his “expert” field, he often missed the target.
For example, Biden voted against the first war with Iraq, the right one, but in 2003, he was for the second, the wrong one, and he was also against the operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed. According to Pew Research, nearly 70 percent of Americans think the Biden government blew up in Afghanistan.
Biden was also elected to end the epidemic. In the spring, he promised to return to normal in early July, which did not happen. On the contrary, the numbers are as threatening as last year around the time of presidential elections, when the situation was considered a disaster. Even the president cannot stop the virus, and much of the struggle is in the hands of the governors, but last year, the Democrats and the media, to weaken Trump, described everything as if it was mainly in the hands of the president. That is now turning against Biden. His rating in regards to handling the pandemic dropped by ten-percentage points to 52 percent.
The situation with migration has also spiraled out of control under Biden’s watch. In July, 210,000 people arrived at the Rio Grande, a record for the past 21 years. According to calculations, the number of people expected to cross the border illegally this year would fill San Francisco. It is because, after taking office, Biden gave the impression that the gates were wide open and overturned Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” policy (the Supreme Court recently reinstated the policy, which allegedly pleased the paralyzed government). Even Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, whose job is to deal with this crisis, said the situation was unsustainable. Only 30 percent of people are satisfied with Biden’s performance when it comes to the migration issues.
Furthermore, as the pandemic is still ongoing, the economy is not performing as expected. In August, a surprisingly low number of jobs was created. Biden’s generous state aid policy accelerates inflation and keeps people at home because they do not need to work. Almost 90 percent of people are concerned about rising living costs. For the first time in August, more people were dissatisfied than satisfied with Biden’s performance in the economic area.
In many large cities, crime, homicides, and the feeling of lost security have also been rising. Chaos and anarchy often came with progressive demonstrations, accompanied by looting and calls for restrictions on police powers and resources. That was supported by the left-wing of the Democrats, while Biden tried to distance himself from it. But he is the president during these times, so it is on him. An ABC poll in July showed that only 38 percent of people approve of his action against crime.
Biden can, of course, shake it off, and recover from the Afghanistan debacle over time with the help of the media, as time also erased Kennedy’s fiasco in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. But it can also go another way if there is more than an unfortunate event behind the slump. Almost everything that went wrong was predicted by Biden as a future success. Including Afghanistan. It is not just bad judgment. Even to those who have given him a voice, Biden suddenly looks stubborn but insecure, ambitious but incompetent and inflexible man who thinks he is far smarter than he really is. That is not an opinion of a Trump supporter but of a New York Times commentator who voted for Biden. Now, it turns out that the same commentator is worried that there might be another disappointing presidency.
Title image: President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
