Republicans' secret weapon

President Biden's job performance is making him the most serious political threat to Democrats' election chances in 2022. It's almost as if Biden is a GOP secret weapon, ensuring that Republicans retake control of the House and Senate. It's not just Biden's mishandling of multiple crises; it's the way he's mishandling them. Flip-flops, contradictions, denials, blame shifting, political tone-deafness and refusal to concede facts - not to mention a kind of spacy-ness in his public responses.

For example: The Afghanistan withdrawal disaster: Biden sold himself as one of the country's top foreign policy experts, one who would restore America's standing in the world and among our allies. How's that going, Joe?

Even many Democrats, both elected and former political appointees and policy experts, are criticizing the president. NATO allies are appalled at the chaotic exit from Afghanistan, which threatens their own credibility and the safety of their citizens. And allies increasingly wonder whether they can depend on the U.S. if a military threat arises.

For example, China is hinting that Afghanistan proves the U.S. would not stand up for Taiwan should the Chinese invade. And after the Afghanistan debacle, who's to say they would? And there are the recurring headlines and pictures of Islamic jihadists who are cheering the Taliban's defeat of the world's greatest military power.

You know it's bad when even the mainstream media have begun highlighting Biden and his administration's misstatements, contradictions, errors and flip-flops.

The past few weeks have understandably lowered the public's already timid confidence in Biden's ability and fitness to do the job of president. And that skepticism is likely to affect Democratic campaigns.

COVID-19 surges: As a presidential candidate, Biden claimed thousands of Americans were dying because President Trump mishandled the pandemic. Biden assured us he had a plan to turn it around.

While Trump surely made mistakes, so did other world leaders - which is exactly what you would expect when a new, not-well-understood virus arises. But Trump also got some things right, including the government's backing for pharmaceutical manufacturers' efforts to create a COVID-19 vaccine in record time.

Biden inherited that success and has largely tried to take credit for it. The declining number of COVID-19 cases over the spring and early summer is one of the reasons for the public's generally favorable opinion of the Biden presidency.

But COVID cases and deaths are rising again, and many hospitals are filling up or are already full. If Biden has a plan to slow or stop the spread - as he claimed as a candidate - where is it? All he's been able to do so far is double down on what has been done: encourage vaccinations and urge mask wearing and social distancing.

Hopefully the delta variant peaks soon and we begin to see a decline in new cases and deaths - and the lambda or some other variant doesn't take its place. But if the virus continues its spread, it will make Biden look as feckless as he appears on TV.

Inflation fears: A recent The Hill-HarrisX poll revealed that inflation is the top economic concern on voters' minds: 31 percent of registered voters. The national debt came in second at 22 percent. Thus, over half of voters see inflation and the national debt as the biggest economic challenges.

Only 9 percent said they weren't concerned about the economy.

Inflation is real. It may be temporary - as Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell keeps telling us but consumers are seeing it daily.

Biden's big-spending push means that Democrats will own any negative economic blowback if inflation explodes.