Washington Post columnist and hysterical NeverTrumper, anti-GOPer Jennifer Rubin ruffled some feathers with her latest column, whose headline read that "Biden can hope the worst is behind him." In sharing the piece, she claimed over Twitter that "President Biden just had one of his better weeks," which is also how she opened up the column.
People were quick to react over Twitter, as our friends at Twitchy highlighted. As of Sunday night, the piece on The Washington Post has close to 3,000 comments, and her tweet has over 1,000 replies, as people let her know how they really feel about such a deranged take.
Joe Biden’s best week will be when he leaves office.
— Abigail Marone ???? (@abigailmarone) March 6, 2022
Compared to what?https://t.co/yd0Ybvj5cX
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) March 7, 2022
you’ve done it! you’ve fully transitioned to parody, and they said it couldn’t be done!
— Jonathon Snyder (@JonathonSnyder) March 7, 2022
Except in the minds of Rubin and her ilk, it's not all that deranged to say he's "just had one of his better weeks." She seems to really believe it. Here's how she begins her piece:
President Biden just had one of his better weeks. He delivered a well-received State of the Union address. His stewardship of the unified democratic alliance has exceeded expectations, while heroic Ukrainians have set off an unexpected outpouring of public excitement and admiration. By week’s end at least one poll showed a substantial lift in Biden’s approval rating, although it might well be an outlier.
...
For months, Biden has received unremittingly negative coverage of his performance, the White House believes. Considering the economic recovery, his success in beating back covid-19, and passage of the American Rescue Plan and a huge bipartisan infrastructure plan, the Biden team should be forgiven for thinking it deserves a bit more credit.
The White House seems to believe it too. As I covered in a VIP piece for Friday, the White House Chief of Staff has tweeted and retweeted about that poll in question, the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll. This is despite how it still shows President Biden underwater, with a 47 percent approval rating and 50 percent disapproval rating among Americans, with that disapproval rising to 51 percent among registered voters.
Rubin reminds us how delusional she is with the focus of her piece, which is lamenting the failure for Build Back Better and voting legislation that the White House sold as being about so-called voting rights, but which in reality would amount to a federal takeover of elections.
Her Twitter feed is plastered with multiple columns about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who killed Build Back Better last December when he signaled his opposition to it. Yet the White House, including Biden directly, keeps trying to revive it. While Manchin, as I reported last week, has started to discuss passing certain proposals that were part of this key agenda item, it doesn't seem like he's getting many takers.
Rubin goes on to write about what she thinks could impact his approval ratings:
Four factors, not all within Biden’s control, will largely determine whether his approval rating improves.
First, Ukraine’s struggle for democracy and self-determination has touched a chord with Americans, promoting hope and pride in democracy. Just as he suffered from the dispiriting scenes of the Afghanistan exit, Biden will benefit from the emotional lift Ukraine has given us, especially if he stands firm as the Free World’s resolute leader. Voters may not know a whole lot about foreign policy, but they still appreciate a president rallying the world to a noble cause.
Second, no one should minimize the impact of the transition to living with covid. Putting away masks, returning to the normal rhythm of life, traveling more easily and simply knowing children’s schools won’t suddenly close should lift spirits and sustain the recovery. Biden can celebrate the sacrifice, grit and endurance of the American people; he, in turn, should benefit from the sense that “normal” is back. (And he deserves credit for the country’s mammoth vaccination program, improved access to testing and delivery of new treatments.)
Third, Biden must avoid initiatives destined to fail (a Build Back Better 2.0). He can focus on popular bipartisan proposals (his unity agenda) and on just a couple of the most popular items — green energy and containment of prescription drug costs. He can pair those with tax reform to shrink the deficit and promote tax “fairness.” He’ll either chalk up some wins or cause Republicans to squirm as they cast “no” votes on popular initiatives. In the same category of “pursuing winning policies,” Biden would be wise to champion a significant crime package that combines community policing, training and funding for additional police officers. (It wouldn’t hurt if he were also to take Republicans to task for venerating violence as “legitimate political discourse.”)
Finally and most important, as long as high inflation dominates the news, Biden and the Democrats will, deserved or not, face voters’ wrath. Demonstrating concern and addressing other drivers of price increases will not insulate Biden from blame if inflation numbers don’t drop.
She even cares about "democracy" at the expense of denigrating voters whose main issue is inflation, which as it turns out, is many of them.
But if Rs now admit that some things much more important than inflation - democracy - then let's have an election about THAT.
— Jennifer 'I stand with Ukraine' Rubin ???????? (@JRubinBlogger) March 7, 2022
In the White House's mind, and in the ilk of Rubin, it's possible they really do think "President Biden just had one of his better weeks," which is really rather sad, and speaks to how poorly he's been doing. They're almost very likely sorely mistaken if they think he "can hope the worst is behind him."
