XPost: alt.culture.alaska, alt.society.mental-health, alt.business.insurance   
   XPost: alt.business.accountability   
   From: email@dont-email.me   
      
   Back in July, CNN polling expert Harry Enten noticed something   
   remarkable: President Biden’s job approval rating hadn’t budged   
   during his first six months in office. This was good news for   
   the White House. Unlike his predecessor, who never cracked 50   
   percent approval in a major poll conducted during his   
   presidency, Biden was somewhat popular. His numbers had neither   
   gone higher than 55 percent nor sunk below 51 percent. “It’s   
   been the most stable for any president since the end of World   
   War II,” Enten wrote.   
      
   It didn’t last. Enten’s column appeared just as Biden’s approval   
   rating began a downhill slide. According to FiveThirtyEight’s   
   polling average, on July 26, Biden’s net approval was 10 points.   
   Less than two months later, on September 13, his net approval   
   was underwater at -3 points. In other words: By the time   
   Americans returned from summer vacation, they had realized that   
   Joe Biden’s version of “normalcy” isn’t what they’d had in mind.   
   Maybe the sea breeze awakened their senses.   
      
   Pundits tried to explain how the president’s August went   
   terribly wrong. Was it COVID-19, the economy, or Afghanistan?   
   Try all the above. Biden is in trouble not because of his   
   failures in any one crisis, but because of his general   
   incompetence. His positive approval rating wasn’t merely the   
   victim of unfortunate events. It vanished as the public watched   
   Biden respond to those events—and flail.   
      
   Like bankruptcy, the 13-point swing against Biden happened in   
   two stages: first gradually, then suddenly. It started like   
   this. Biden’s numbers declined in early August as deaths from   
   the Delta variant of the coronavirus increased at a geometric   
   rate. At the same time, voters soured on the economy. Consumer   
   pessimism wasn’t simply a function of virus-related capacity   
   restrictions, mask requirements, labor shortages, and supply-   
   chain slowdowns. It was also a consequence of rising inflation.   
      
   “Spontaneous references to high prices for homes, vehicles, and   
   household durables rose to its worst level since the all-time   
   record in November 1974,” wrote Richard Curtin of the University   
   of Michigan in a June consumer survey. “These unfavorable   
   perceptions of market prices reduced overall buying attitudes   
   for vehicles and homes to their lowest point since 1982.” For   
   months, the White House and its allies dismissed inflation   
   concerns as scaremongering. They said the rise in prices was   
   only temporary. But “temporary” is now looking more like   
   “indefinite.” And as consumer sentiment depreciated, so did   
   Biden’s job approval.   
      
   Then came stage two of Biden’s collapse. His approval rating   
   dropped dramatically in the catastrophic weeks after the Taliban   
   stormed Kabul on August 15. Voters watched the botched American   
   retreat with horror and disgust. They recoiled at the   
   administration’s reliance on terrorists for security around   
   Kabul Airport during the evacuation. They reacted with sadness   
   and fury when terrorists killed 13 U.S. servicemen and at least   
   60 Afghans. They couldn’t believe that the president left behind   
   hundreds of American citizens, thousands of U.S. legal permanent   
   residents, and tens of thousands of Afghan partners in the 20-   
   year war against Islamic militancy and al-Qaeda. According to   
   FiveThirtyEight, Biden’s disapproval rating overtook his   
   approval rating on August 30—the same day that the last U.S.   
   troops left Afghanistan. As of this writing, he hasn’t recovered.   
      
   Will he? There is plenty of time before next year’s midterm   
   elections for the public to reassess its views of the Biden   
   presidency and put him above 50 percent approval once more. The   
   best-case scenario for the White House looks like the following:   
   The Delta wave passes, caseloads fall, and Americans forget   
   about Biden’s farkakteh withdrawal from Afghanistan. The fading   
   away of inflation would be nice, too. And if Democrats pull off   
   the legislative logroll of the century and pass what the New   
   York Times refers to euphemistically as a multitrillion-dollar   
   “social policy bill,” voters may reward the creators of new   
   entitlements to paid leave, universal pre-K, and two years of   
   community college.   
      
   Still, there’s reason to doubt that Biden will regain his   
   footing easily. There’s reason to believe he won’t defy historic   
   precedent in 2022 by maintaining Democratic control of the House   
   and Senate. That reason is Biden himself. Biden’s tough talk and   
   bold plans are cover for a chief executive who’s just not very   
   good at his job.   
      
   Nine months into office, the president has found it much easier   
   to blame his predecessor and Republican governors for setbacks   
   and mistakes than to change course and moderate his ambitions.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)