It's no secret, now more than two years into President Joe Biden's term, that Americans are less than thrilled with his economic policies and their ability to deliver on the 2020 campaign promise to "build back better."
According to the latest polling averages from Real Clear Politics, Biden's overall job approval remains more than ten points underwater with more than 53 percent of Americans saying they disapprove of his performance. On his handling of the economy, Americans have an even worse opinion of Biden. RCP's average shows just 39.2 percent of Americans approve of Biden's handling of the economy — what the White House is trying to label "Bidenomics" this week — while 56.3 percent disapprove of Biden's economic policies.
So, as the White House embarks on a week-long push aimed at highlighting Biden's economic policy with the hope — which is feeble at this point — of turning Biden's economic and overall job approval in the right direction, what's the White House's excuse for why supposedly wonderful "Bidenomics" hasn't won over the American people?
"We're just starting to feel the impact of the president's economic agenda," argued Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton in Tuesday's White House briefing:
REPORTER: "Why does the White House think...that Americans grade the president so poorly on his handling of the economy?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 27, 2023
WHITE HOUSE: "We're just starting to feel the impact of the president's economic agenda!" pic.twitter.com/d3wd7qw0pO
In that one response, the White House again attempted to avoid any responsibility for the consequences of Biden's economic policies and inability to deliver a better economy for the American people. You see, it's not that Biden's spending binge triggered inflation and his war on fossil fuels sent gas prices to all-time highs making Americans grow exceedingly disenchanted with Biden's handling of the economy, it's that "Bidenomics" just hasn't kicked in yet.
Well, that doesn't pass the smell test. Biden took swift actions on day one that drove energy costs soaring. He signed a handful of bills — including the American Rescue Plan and the falsely named "Inflation Reduction Act" — that the White House has touted endlessly. Now that Americans have buyer's remorse, the White House spin is: well nothing we've done over the last 30 months has kicked in yet. It's bogus.
But Dalton also argued in Tuesday's briefing that Americans should just "look at where we were when [Biden] came into office...after four years of Donald Trump" in order to see the impacts of "Bidenomics" that she, contradictorily, said had not yet been fully felt.
REPORTER: "54-36% say Donald Trump did a better job handling the economy..."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 27, 2023
WHITE HOUSE: "Look at where we were when we came into office...after four years of Donald Trump..." pic.twitter.com/mjO8bCK6mQ
If the White House really wants Americans to consider where the economy was when Biden took office "after four years of Donald Trump" to inform their opinion of "Bidenomics," why not.
In January 2021, the Consumer Price index pegged the annual growth of inflation at 1.4 percent. In May 2023, the annual rate of inflation was 4.0 percent. That is, "after four years of Donald Trump," inflation was below the Federal Reserve's target of two percent inflation. Under Biden, inflation spiked to 8.9 percent before falling to its current rate of 4.0 percent — twice the Fed's goal.
Americans — by a significant margin — know that they've not been better off economically since Biden took office and implemented his "build back better" or "Bidenomics" or whatever he wants to call his disastrous policies. The White House is not willing, however, to admit what Biden's policies have done or that reversing them is the only quick way to address Americans' disapproval.