President Joe Biden is contending with a Democratic whispering campaign, and some considerably louder protests, ahead of November’s midterm elections and expectations the party will sustain severe losses at the polls.
But as Democrats express their frustrations over abortion access and others position themselves for their future political ambitions, the party is not working together to ease the pain it is anticipated to experience in the fall.
OBAMA AND CLINTON MIDTERM POLLING OMINOUS FOR BIDEN’S NOVEMBER ELECTION PROSPECTS
Biden has not “risen to the occasion” after the Supreme Court reversed abortion rights precedent Roe v. Wade, according to Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin, whose comments echo the concerns of Democrats quoted in numerous articles complaining about the president.
“We definitively do not live in normal times,” he told the Washington Examiner. “The measured approach now comes across as either uncaring and/or not meeting anyone where they are.”
“If you’re the head of the coalition, you want everyone in the coalition to feel like they have a connection to what you’re saying,” Hankin said. “His responses so far have been a milquetoast.”
At the same time, Hankin implored liberals lobbying Biden to support far-left policies to, “like, stop” because a “big and bold” agenda will not pass Congress, “certainly not this year.” Negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) over a compromise social welfare and climate spending bill have notched progress on drug costs and methane emission fees. Biden is additionally considering forgiving $10,000 in federal student loan debt for people earning less than $150,000 per annum.
“Please do not give me this s*** about whether we should move left, or right, or center,” Hankin said. “Anyone who’s talking about that needs to shut the f*** up, sit down, and start talking about winning. We need to win.”
One Democratic Senate aide defended Biden’s record. He did concede, though, that many Democrats are rankled “that they have not been able to enact as much change as they had hoped.”
“Democrats are displaying their usual level of internal bickering and jockeying, but that pales in comparison to the unifying anger that Democrats are feeling toward the Trump Supreme Court,” the staffer said.
Democratic political analyst Paul Henderson agreed. The lawyer called for “at least” the exploration of federal abortion legislation, a constitutional amendment, or court reform. He urged Democrats, too, to “meet Republican maneuvering head-on with some maneuvering of their own.”
“I, myself, am incensed,” Henderson said. “However, I believe the key to effecting a positive outcome as a result of this is to translate that passionate advocacy into action for the upcoming midterms.”
Why Democrats are discussing anything other than abortion is “beyond” Hankin’s “comprehension,” according to the consultant, because “women should not be second-class citizens.”
“What are we going to say about the economy?” Hankin said. “Inflation is happening around the world, whether the country invested more money, or less money, or no money. There’s a war going on that is disrupting oil, grain, everything else. The global supply chain needs to get back down to a level place for prices to come down.”
Yet Democratic campaigns preoccupied with abortion are “shortsighted” based on the popularity of “some restrictions,” according to Republican pollster Ed Goeas.
“They see it as a way to raise the intensity of their voters, which is lower than Republicans at this point,” he said. “But all they’ve done is also stir the pot to keep the intensity even higher amongst the Republicans. It is strategically a very unsmart move on their part.”
The White House has been repeatedly needled on Democratic grumblings about Biden as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) launches TV ads in Florida and his Illinois counterpart, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), adopts a tougher anti-gun stance than the president after the Highland Park shooting.
“The president understands what the American people are going through,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday. “We’re doing everything that we can. We have a plan.”
“The president is not done speaking on how he’s going to continue to fight for women’s freedoms and women’s rights,” she went on. “You will hear from him in a short order, in a short order.”
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High-profile Democrats, such as actress Debra Messing, were cited in a CNN article this week regarding a “fatalistic” phone call the White House hosted after the Supreme Court’s Roe decision. The conversation captured the party’s exasperation with Biden concerning abortion.
“Messing said she’d gotten Joe Biden elected and wanted to know why she was being asked to do anything at all, yelling that there didn’t even seem a point to voting,” CNN reported.
