STATE OF THE UNION SPINNING
Biden seeks re-election, yet voters not so sure
President Biden will try to take a premature victory lap at his State of the Union address and lay the groundwork for his re-election campaign but who is going to buy it?
Biden comes into the speech as one of the weaker presidents in recent history and faces stiff resistance as he attempts to prop up his administration.
Shooting down a Chinese spy balloon after it’s traversed the country won’t cut it. It’s not even a good patriotic applause line.
Biden won’t have a cheering Nancy Pelosi sitting behind him with a fixed creepy smile.
Instead, it will be new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and more than 200 House Republicans who now control the chamber and have the ability to block anything Biden proposes in his speech.
And sitting in the audience and right behind him will be Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who want Biden to step aside so they can run.
The Democratic president will attempt to focus on good economic news about expanding jobs but with inflation still in the mirror and housing costs skyrocketing, the country is skeptical at best. He will propose a billionaire’s tax — something Elizabeth Warren will love but House Republicans will reject.
Two new polls on the eve of the State of the Union address don’t paint a rosy picture for Biden’s political future.
A majority of Americans say one term is enough for 80-year-old Biden, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Just 37% of Americans want him to run again — a steep decline from a poll taken last fall.
According to the AP, more Americans are focused on Biden’s “coughing, his gait, his gaffes, and the possibility that the world’s most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger” than any legislative successes he’s had.
And a new Washington Post poll — which normally are friendly toward Democrats — shows most Americans don’t believe Biden’s accomplished much.
The 9 p.m. State of the Union — timed for when Biden is usually going to bed — is usually a chance for presidents to trumpet their accomplishments and proclaim proudly that the state of the union is awesome.
Who believes that? The Chinese apparently believe that the U.S. is so weak they can brazenly send a spy balloon over the country and not fear starting an international incident. The communist government might as well have put an “F.U. USA” sign on it.