Better Than His Predecessor

 

As time passes, the contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump gets starker. Jennifer Rubin writes:

In the first two weeks of the new Congress, MAGA extremists have neutered House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.); gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics; tried to help tax cheats by voting to repeal funding for the IRS; and set up a committee to obstruct criminal investigations and gin up scandals about Biden and his family.

Voters are predictably disgusted. Navigator, a Democratic polling and messaging operation, found that “sizable majorities believe Republicans are focused on consolidating their power and fighting among themselves rather than serving the public.” Only 14 percent want Republicans to spend time investigating the Bidens. And just 44 percent of independents view McCarthy favorably, a 20-point drop from November.

Meanwhile, Biden’s approval ratings have improved. For that, he can likely thank inflation rates, which have declined for six months relative to the year prior. He can also boast about unemployment, which has fallen to a 53-year low.

Biden has spent much of his time over the past few weeks highlighting economic progress, demonstrating the benefits of his infrastructure program and touting new tech investment. He has also rolled out an enforcement plan for the border and vowed to regulate Big Tech companies to protect Americans’ privacy, prevent practices harmful to children, go after anti-competitive practices and demand greater transparency. These are all things Republicans say they are concerned about.

The result is that Biden and the Democrats keep looking better than the MAGA Republicans:

Biden has always benefited from context and contrast. In the 2020 Democratic primaries, his centrism gave him broad-based appeal and convinced voters he was more electable than the raft of more progressive contenders. In the 2020 general election, his sanity, decency and even “boringness” were the antithesis of the radical, mean and unhinged incumbent president.

Now Biden has the opportunity to contrast himself with House Republicans, who are living up to Democrats’ characterization as unethical, power-hungry, chaotic and clueless. It’s as if they took Biden’s speech in Philadelphia last year decrying extreme MAGA Republicans as a playbook, not an indictment.

Biden is no orator. And he has little charisma. But he's competent -- and clearly a much better person than his predecessor.

Image: CNN