Biden Warns About Trump, But Here’s Why His Own Presidency Has Failed
Opinion.
Dennis M. Powell
I’ll put it bluntly: Joe Biden is a failed president. He clearly had an opportunity to position himself to do bigger things, but he overlooked or missed that opportunity altogether. Instead, Biden chose to highlight two issues — climate and equity — but could not deliver on them, and throughout his presidency, he has shepherded an administration with an overarching theme of division. In short, Biden hasn’t provided the American people with sound reasons to stay the course beyond his demonizing Donald Trump, the likely Republican to challenge him again.
Four years ago, voters weary of the scourge of COVID-19 hired President Biden to heal the nation and end the scourge of the virus, and Biden seemed to grasp that in his inaugural speech. But once in the Oval Office as the chief executive, he either did not comprehend the full scope of the issues created and exacerbated by the pandemic, or he chose to ignore them. Then domestic woes from inflation and divisive wars in Ukraine and the Middle East added to voters’ angst, and Biden’s polling numbers plummeted to a dismal 39% approval rating.
Let’s consider Biden’s first missed opportunity: education, where the effects of the pandemic have lingered. A May 2023 research report from Harvard Graduate School of Education found sobering results in some of America’s hardest hit communities: “Children have resumed learning, but largely at the same pace as before the pandemic. There’s no hurrying up teaching fractions or the Pythagorean theorem. The hardest hit communities — like Richmond, Virginia, St. Louis, Missouri, and New Haven, Connecticut, where students fell behind by more than 1.5 years in math — have to teach 150 percent of a typical year’s worth of material for three years in a row — just to catch up.”
In October, Baltimore’s City Journal reported that the Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found the number of students there who can perform at the “basic level” in reading and math has dropped precipitously: “Across all grades, 26% of students in Baltimore City are proficient in English and Language Arts (ELA), while only 8% are proficient in math. Even Baltimore City’s ‘gifted and talented’ learners lag behind.”
With a middle-class background and a first lady who is a professor, education could have been a natural launching point for Biden’s presidency to build support and heal the nation, but his instinct — or perhaps his politics as a Democrat with traditional union support — was to take counsel from the leader of a major teachers’ union and keep schools closed as COVID persisted.
The Biden administration also engaged in needless fights with parents over parental rights, LGBTQIA+ issues, and curriculum. In May, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was quoted as saying, “I won’t sit idly while some try to attack our schools or privatize education.” That indicates Biden’s team chose the wrong narrative by defending the status quo and short-changing the crisis facing America’s children.
Then there is Biden’s focus on climate change and racial justice — issues that perhaps mean the most to him, but issues that divide Americans.
Read More
Biden Sharpens Attacks on Trump, Warns His Agenda Would ‘Fundamentally Alter’ Democracy
The General Election Has Already Started — Just Ask Joe Biden and Donald Trump
Most Voters Say Trump, Biden Not Fit To Be President: Poll
Biden Says Trump, MAGA Republicans ‘Are Determined to Destroy American Democracy’ As GOP Candidates Debate
Trump v. Biden: The Factors That Polling Misses
Biden, Trump Tied in 2024 Rematch: Poll
Most people probably would say they care about the environment, but it’s a safe bet that it wasn’t their priority as we began to resume “normal” life after the pandemic’s restrictions. Businesses continue to struggle and downtown business districts across the country are dealing with continued vacancies. Biden’s goal of creating a carbon-free power sector by 2050 was too distant, and the costs and inconvenience of implementing his green agenda were immediately borne by the American people. This profoundly divisive issue produced no immediate — or even near-term — measurable benefits.
U.S. President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 5, 2024.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In fact, Biden’s green strategy was deeply flawed. He placed his big bet on electric vehicles, with neither the infrastructure nor technology to develop and sustain their use sufficiently in place. This was mandated and subsidized, rather than market-driven, change. The results were predictable: Subsidized electric school bus manufacturer Proterra filed for bankruptcy, Ford is drastically cutting production of its F-150 Lightning because of low demand, Hertz is having a “fire sale” on one-third of its fleet of electric vehicles, and many Americans are aghast by reports of electric vehicles not functioning in the cold.
Biden put the issue of reaching net-zero carbon emissions on par with Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” programs, but unlike Roosevelt, he neglected to ask permission from the American people to fundamentally transform the economy — and so has failed.
The second part of Biden’s personal agenda is racial equity, which he viewed in the context of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs. Again, Biden overshot the runway. Johnson’s initiative grew out of the civil rights movement; Biden utilized the protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, which he viewed as equivalent demonstrations.
In his campaign, Biden vowed to consider only Black women for vice president, and he ultimately chose then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). He planned to be a transitional figure and, to do this, Harris would have to excel in her job — but she has not. Great leaders choose lieutenants who demonstrate great promise, but equity is an amorphous term to which it is difficult to assign achievable goals. Biden’s whole-of-government approach to equity has resulted in turmoil, especially in military recruitment.
And now, as the November election creeps closer and Biden potentially faces a rematch with Trump, it’s clear that the president never stopped prosecuting his campaign against his predecessor — and, more importantly, against Trump’s voters. Leaders reconcile differences and move forward; failed leaders hold grudges and blame others. Biden warns that Trump will be vengeful if he returns to the Oval Office, yet until Biden, no modern president has continued to attack those who voted for his opponent.
When assessing the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln quoted Mark 3:25, saying, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Yet Biden has marginalized and ostracized those who disagree with him, castigating anti-vaxxers, issuing pronouncements on white supremacy and systemic racism, and making a divisive appeal for donations following Trump’s recent victory in the Iowa caucuses: “This election was always going to be you and me vs. extreme MAGA Republicans.”
Franklin Roosevelt stormed to victory in 1936 by touting his first-term accomplishments. Lyndon Johnson won overwhelmingly in 1964 by promising to fulfill the legacy of John F. Kennedy. Ronald Reagan carried 49 states in 1984 with his powerful “Morning in America” campaign ad. But Biden is running in 2024 as a leader whose failure is rooted in putting his desire to be “transformational” before the true needs of the American people. In issues management, we emphasize: Never make it about you.
Dennis M. Powell, the founder and president of Massey Powell, is an issues and crisis management consultant and the author of the book, “Leading from the Top: Presidential Lessons in Issues Management.”
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE MESSENGER
The Messenger