As of this writing, we are only three weeks out from the 2022 mid-terms, and you can feel the panic in the air. The Biden administration is staring at an electoral environment that rivals GOP-friendly 2014, and it is struggling to come up with any type of message to fend off the coming doom.
For months, the president and his handlers stuck their fingers in their ears, believing the laughable summer narrative that Democrats were resurgent due to “Dark Brandon.” Things have devolved in the month of October, though, and a new excuse is being rolled out for the president’s failures: Republicans.
Karine Jean-Pierre was put on the spot by Peter Doocy on inflation and decided to trot that line out.
Look, I’m just a guy who puts his political opinions out on a popular conservative website. I don’t claim to be an expert in all things, and when I try to be, I sometimes get myself in trouble. Still, you don’t need to have outsized political expertise to understand why Jean-Pierre’s claim is such an ineffective message.
She is essentially saying, “yes, we’ve really made a complete mess of things, but those other guys will make it even worse.” Apparent in that statement is the fact that things are actually bad . When a political party is running to hold on to power in a mid-term, that is the last thing they should be admitting. The White House doesn’t have a choice, though. They’ve painted themselves into a corner where they can no longer insist that water isn’t wet.
“Republicans refuse to help us” might have made some sense had the Inflation Reduction Act not passed, but it did. Ironically, though it was a loss overall for conservative ideals (and the nation), the passage of that boondoggle ensured that Democrats would own the issue of inflation going into the election. They said that if they just spent another $800 billion, things would get better, but things have only gotten worse, with inflation rising from August to September.
Besides, exactly what kind of “help” is Jean-Pierre suggesting? Republicans voting for more and more spending? Obviously, the White House isn’t going to work with the GOP to increase domestic energy production or to greenlight more pipelines, nor is the president interested in lowering spending overall. Jean-Pierre’s plea is nonsensical because Democrats have already gotten what they demanded. That it only made inflation worse is now their cross to bear.
They don’t have a timeline? So they passed a massive spending bill and literally named it the “Inflation Reduction Act,” yet they can’t say when it will actually reduce inflation? Also, even though it’s 100 percent their bill, it’s actually the Republicans who are at fault for that bill not working? I mean, come on.
I’ve seen some bad closing messages in my day, but that is right up near the top. It’s a perfect mix of arrogance, falsehood, and disconnect from a White House that has made those things their brand.