Nine months into his presidency, Joe Biden is in political trouble.
After four years of chaos under Donald Trump’s mandate, in 2020, after a successful electoral campaign, Joe Biden was elected president of the United States of America as the most voted candidate among young people between the age 18-24 as well as 25-29, a clear sign that the younger generation was hopeful and saw in him a breath of fresh air.
Amidst his promises to the electorate, there was a fast and steady return to normalcy after the effects that the worldwide pandemic had on both the American population and the economy, but it seems that this virus took a massive toll on his presidency instead, seen that the Democrats in Congress are struggling to pass their agenda, as a consequence, the United States president’s approval rating is plummeting raising new and numerous doubts about his capability to govern effectively.
Just days after the announcement of the unexpected withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is already considered as a dark stain on Biden’s chairmanship that will follow him during his mandate, and after, as a foreign policy crisis, and given the circumstances of the troubled relationship between the two states, his doing it’s currently receiving Bipartisan criticism and it’s making his co-workers wonder if this will eventually translate into a political liability as well.
Something that will definitely clarify how the American citizens stand in terms of Biden’s decision regarding the recent happenings in Afghanistan will surely be the results of the upcoming polls on the matter, furthermore, a factor that will most probably play in this decision will be how much are the American people worried that this decision would backfire and lead to another tumultuous attack.
Those issues, combined with the growing concerns about inflation, a sudden rise in violent crime in many major American cities as well as a quick escalation in the migration crisis alongside the Mexican border, where July’s numbers of incomers in the area were the highest ones registered since the start of the whole debate focusing on the said frontier, all combined they have already tarnished Biden’s widespread approval.
Therefore, the current American president is in imminent need of a win from the Democrats in Congress who are already struggling to pass his domestic agenda and, at the same time, fearing to lose their already small majority in both the House of Representatives and the US Senate; the problems that Biden is having are specifically concerning the “Build Back Better” bill together with the fact that the fifty-three percent of the members oppose the passage of the $3.5 trillion bill, if this happens, Biden’s presidency will suffer a huge setback and the American Rescue Plan, his biggest accomplishment to date, could become a fading memory for many voters by the time 2022 comes around.
The eventuality that sees the Democrats not being able to pass the bill will show the world that the party is divided internally and ineffective and this will surely impact the 2022 presidential elections, in the opposite case the party would gain back some of the initial excitement expressed when welcoming Joe Biden to the white house and simultaneously it would ease the tensions created by the retreat from Afghanistan; Even if this happens though, it may not help Democrats’ prospects that much for the approaching elections.
Furthermore, The Democratic struggle is actually benefiting the Republican party and it’s allowing its members to pressure Democrats to compromise on the infrastructure bill, which eventually passed in the Senate with bipartisan support after endless negotiations.
In addition, while the Republicans gather support to oppose the bill, Biden, with the help of well-known Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has to figure out a way to reconcile both the progressive and centrist sides of the party, needless to say, that the president’s agenda would take a huge hit, with little opportunity to bounce back if Republicans take advantage of his failures and completely regain control of the House or Senate.
It seems that his extensive experience as both a senator and vice president will prove to be meaningless if his dysfunctional political system remains in its current state only resulting in what political scientists refer to as “the asymmetries of American politics”.
Regardless, if indeed bad news is to be welcomed after the end of the week it won’t just be the President’s problem, but a widespread sign of the broader problems that afflict liberalism and the ability of his government to respond to a superior kind of crises such as many heartfelt present issues like the fact that justice systems perpetuates and plays its part in sustaining racial injustice as well as widespread economic inequality which is only getting worse.
Meanwhile, the question remains, will the White House succeed in restoring its credibility?
References:
Joe Biden faces defining moment in US presidency, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/28/biden-faces-defining-moment-in-presidency
Democrats in late-night dash to salvage Biden’s $3.5T deal, available at: https://www.wtap.com/2021/09/30/biden-goals-risk-1t-public-works-bill-splits-democrats/
Biden arrives at the Capitol in desperate bid to salvage agenda, available at: https://nypost.com/2021/10/01/biden-scrambling-to-congress-in-bid-to-salvage-agenda/
Biden’s Build Back Broke Agenda Deserves to Die in Congress, available at: https://townhall.com/columnists/tommyhicks/2021/10/01/bidens-build-back-broke-agenda-deserves-to-die-in-congress-n2596833
Joe Biden’s Difficulties On The Battlefield, available at: https://thecongressionalinsider.com/joe-bidens-difficulties-on-the-battlefield/
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
