OPINION:
The state of our union is in peril.
Russia is invading Ukraine and threatening nuclear warfare. Inflation is at a 40-year-high, and many grocery store shelves are empty. Millions of illegal aliens crossed our open southern border last year, drug smugglers, gang members and human traffickers among them. Violent crime rates in major metropolitan cities are spiking. Children and parents are under duress from repeated school closures, learning losses, and incoherent and conflicting COVID-19 policies.
According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll, only 29.6% of Americans feel our country is on “the right track,” and they blame President Biden, with his approval rating dipping to the lowest point of his term at 38%. Mr. Biden’s job performance is underwater in all areas: the economy, stimulating jobs, fighting terrorism, foreign affairs, immigration, dealing with violence and crime, and reacting to coronavirus, according to the poll.
It is clear Americans aren’t buying the bill of goods Mr. Biden has tried to sell since entering office. Everything from inflation was “transitory,” immigration “seasonal,” the Afghanistan debacle the “biggest airlift in U.S. history,” and calling the supply chain crisis a “high-class problem” due to Americans consuming too much.
We are witnessing a president who is out of touch with reality, spends his weekends resting in Delaware, refuses to take a leadership position on the world stage, and blames everyone but himself for the problems facing our country. Mr. Biden was primarily elected on his competency and promise to unify the country. He’s failed on both accounts.
Mr. Biden touted last night, in his first State of the Union address, historic low unemployment. However, the jobs gained under his watch are simply those lost because of the COVID-19 shutdown.
It’s not job creation; it’s job recovery. And the country still hasn’t recouped to pre-pandemic levels.
Moreover, it’s red-state governors who are leading the way. Sixteen of the top 20 states for jobs recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic began are led by Republican governors, and 18 of the top 20 states have Republican-controlled legislatures, according to the Labor Department.
On the global stage, Mr. Biden highlighted strengthened U.S. alliances. Yet, Mr. Biden has led from behind during the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. It was Europe, not the U.S., who made the first move in SWIFT banking sanctions and halted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Mr. Biden refused to sanction Russia before its invasion, as Russian President Vladimir Putin was building troops on Ukraine’s border, and slow-walked lethal aid to Ukraine, worrying it would escalate tensions. Both moves were interpreted by Mr. Putin as appeasement, not the strong “deterrence,” Mr. Biden promised.
The Biden administration refuses to unleash American energy, further emboldening Mr. Putin’s regime and punishing the American public. Last year, Americans paid roughly an extra $1 per gallon of gas and homeowners an additional 30% to heat their homes due to Mr. Biden’s Green New Deal priorities. At the same time, the U.S. doubled the amount of crude oil imported from Russia and begged OPEC countries to produce more.
On the domestic front, Mr. Biden touted his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” which, with its heavy price tag and welfare handouts, has contributed to rising inflation. The Penn Wharton Budget model found inflation cost the average American household $3,500 last year. Total household debt across the U.S. increased by $1.02 trillion in 2021 — the most in any year since the 2008-09 financial crisis — mainly due to rising prices for homes and new and used cars.
Mr. Biden’s solution? More government spending. His so-called “Build Back Better” agenda would make soaring prices even worse by requiring tax hikes on many middle-class families, levying a home heating tax and increasing childcare costs by as much as $27,000 per year for many Americans.
Mr. Biden’s own party isn’t even behind him. Squad-member Rep. Rashida Tlaib felt the need to respond to the president’s speech, arguing his policies aren’t radical enough. Thirty-one Democrat Representatives in the U.S. House have decided not to run again this year, fearing a Republican blowout. Others refuse to say whether they want the president to campaign with them. Nearly half of Democrats polled late last year don’t want Mr. Biden to top the 2024 ticket.
So perhaps Mr. Biden has unified the country in one regard: the need for new leadership.
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