His biggest problem is the loss of credibility.
(Photo: AP)
Washington The first political sentiment test in Joe Biden’s tenure ends in disaster for the US Democrats. They have to surrender the state of Virginia, which they believed to be safe, to the Republicans, and even the democratic bastion of New Jersey is experiencing a shift to the right.
This is due to the government crisis in Washington, which allows the Republicans an unexpected rise. If the Democrats don’t come up with a mobilizing topic soon, they’ll lose their hard-won Congress majority in the coming year. Hundreds of mandates will be available for election in autumn 2022.
Biden’s meager track record leaves its mark. At the moment, the Republican opposition doesn’t have to do much, the chaotic image of the Democrats is the best campaign aid. Only this week, the US Congress postponed another vote on two trillion packages. The longer the blockade on Capitol Hill lasts, the more embarrassing for Biden.
The last four months have completely changed his presidency: the bearer of hope, who promised a new start after Donald Trump, became a disenchanted president. Every predecessor had to contend with crises, but Biden’s biggest problem is the loss of credibility.
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The first left grassroots moves that helped Biden win in 2020 are turning away from him in frustration. Biden had promised the big redistribution. His visions were ground up in Congress.
Arrogance doesn’t win elections
The Virginia elections will reignite the war of direction. Are the Democrats too timid – or are they too left and no longer understand their electorate?
The party has to find answers for itself, but instead it went into the Virginia election campaign with arrogance. Exciting debates about racism and schools passed the Democrats by, instead they relied on Donald Trump as the enemy. That is no longer enough.
The Democrats fail at a crucial point. It is true that they brought two trillion dollars in Covid aid through Congress in March. As a result, the US economy recovered faster than any other industrialized country.
But it was a temporary emergency program, the effect of which is already wearing off. The three trillion dollars now planned for infrastructure, climate and social issues are Biden’s only chance to initiate a possible turnaround. After that, the time window for major political projects will close, and the congressional election campaign will overshadow everything.
America is back is dead
Biden’s credibility has also suffered abroad. His mantra “America is back” has run out of steam, you could say: the much-touted return of the USA was a fraudulent label.
It is true that it is a great step forward that the US government appears more professional and constructive on the world stage than under Trump. But the partners in the West are rightly skeptical that Biden could be the man of new beginnings that many believed him to be – and as whom he portrayed himself.
It is possible that the modern USA only knows two aggregate states: Populism à la Trump or powerless administration such as von Biden. Without reasonable majorities in Congress, hardly anything can be done, but that is only part of the problem.
If the Democrats want to inspire again, whether at home or internationally, they will have to do a lot of persuading. For the fact that it is still worth believing in the party – and in Biden as president.
More: “Let’s go, Brandon” – the new battle cry of the right shows Biden’s problems