In her Saturday column, Peggy Noonan scolded President Biden for unfinished sentences, for an unconvincing retreat from his prior comparisons of those who were opposed to voting rights legislation with Southern racists, for his handling of Afghanistan, and for being old and tired. She maintained that Biden’s new strategy of going over the heads of Congress to communicate with the people will be a failure.
She said: “He is misdiagnosing his problem. It isn’t that his stands and decisions haven’t been fully understood and will be embraced if comprehended more fully. It’s that his stands and decisions the past year were basically understood and disliked. It’s not a communications problem, it’s a substance problem. It would be better if he spent his second year readjusting his positions.”
Noonan’s column is embarrassing. First, it is misdescribes Biden’s strategy. Second, her claim about the popular reception of Biden’s policies is wholly at odds with the evidence.
Part of Biden’s strategy is to take the large pieces of legislation and break them up into smaller achievable pieces. He made this clear at the press conference. Where was Peggy Noonan?
When he goes to the public, he plans to criticize Mitch McConnell and the Republicans for their failure to offer a program of any kind. He asked, “What is Mitch for?” Peggy Noonan’s response? Silence.
Finally, where is the evidence for her claim that his stands were understood and disliked? Whether the issue is voting rights (including the filibuster) or the Build Back Better program), Biden’s policies have enjoyed broad popular support. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/new-polls-suggest-broad-support-democrats-voting-rights-bills-n1277837 ; https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-fails-dent-popularity-biden-s-build-back-better-plan-n1285656 (discussing Monmouth polls). Yes, his retreat from Afghanistan was badly bungled. But he’s not going on the road to talk about Afghanistan. He’s going on the road to build even more support for voting rights and parts of the build back better program, to energize the base for the midterms, and to put the let’s-do-nothing-Republicans on the defensive.
Even if Putin sends troops into Ukraine and Biden cannot go on the road, it is way too early for the Republicans to break out the bubbly. The Republicans have much to fear in the coming months: The January 6th Report, the forthcoming indictments of Republican leaders, the blizzard of lawsuits against the states’ voting restrictions, restrictions that would have a deliberate disproportionate impact on people of color, the possibility that Trump will be further disgraced by criminal and civil actions against him and his family, and the public recognition that the Supreme Court has become too extreme to command institutional respect.
Excellent, Steve!
Posted by: Michael Perry | 01/27/2022 at 06:07 AM