• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

West Haven Voice

West Haven’s only independent news source - By and For West Haven

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Advertise With Us!
  • Classified
  • Announcements
  • Contact Us
  • Web Exclusive
    • Kids Activity Pages

Joe’s shrinking presidency

November 24, 2021 By whvoice

By Rich Lowry

Syndicated Columnist

Joe Biden was never exactly a colossus bestriding the Earth, but he’s been getting smaller by the day.A Washington Post poll over the weekend suggested that his presidency is, for now, a smoking political crater. It had him at a 41% approval rating, despite the passage of his long-sought infrastructure bill that was supposed to buoy him and his party.

Even more striking, the survey found that Republicans lead Democrats on the generic congressional ballot by 10 points, 51% to 41%, an unprecedentedly strong showing for the GOP that forecasts an earthquake, tsunami, and maybe a few more natural disasters for Democrats come next fall.And who can be surprised? Biden is stumbling, out of touch, and weak. Two of his major initiatives, at the border and in Afghanistan, created completely avoidable catastrophes. He has given no sense of being in control of events or even his own party. He is an accidental president who is running smack into his own inadequacies and absurd pretensions.

No one in Washington over the last four decades ever said that Joe Biden was just the man with the foresight, wisdom and deft political touch to lead the free world.No, he was an average senatorial bloviator whose first two presidential campaigns flamed out in embarrassing fashion, before he hit the jackpot when Barack Obama choose him as his running mate in 2008.

Showing the advantage of hanging around for a very long time, Biden won both the 2020 Democratic nomination and the presidency by default. In the primaries, the former vice president looked good in comparison to Bernie Sanders, and he ran in the general on not being Donald Trump.

Now, Biden is allied with Bernie Sanders, who helped write the first version of his Build Back Better plan, and Donald Trump no longer looms as large as Biden’s foil.

The best case for Biden’s presidency was that he could be a kind of consensus caretaker — restoring a sense of normality and maintaining a low profile while riding in the slipstream of improving economic conditions and a diminishing pandemic.

Instead, he’s been carried along by the left-wing tide of his party and repeatedly engaged in unconstitutional executive overreach. On top of it all, he’s brought his own brand of incompetence, exemplified by the botched pull-out from Afghanistan.

His foremost mistake was overestimating an attenuated electoral mandate for pedestrian governance as a permission slip for passing nearly the entirety of the progressive agenda in the space of less than a year.Not only has there been sticker shock over the price tag of the Biden agenda, but it has little connection to things people truly care about. The infrastructure bill polls well, but no one goes about their daily lives worried about the alleged crisis of crumbling bridges and tunnels.

Meanwhile, the Build Back Better bill started as a $3.5 trillion grab bag of everything that progressives want but couldn’t get in the infrastructure bill. Passing as much spending as you possibly can before you lose Congress a year from now, which is essentially the rationale behind Build Back Better, is not a compelling reason for a historic spate of federal spending.

That legislation has been pared down to largely a childcare and climate change bill. That’s an unnatural pairing that came about not because those are the top two things that the public wants from Washington, but because they happen to be what Democrats think they can pass.

Only now is the White House trying to argue that the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better will address real public concerns, namely the supply chain disruptions and the inflation that is outpacing wage growth. This is clearly a tendentious, after-the-fact argument.

The White House can hope that the supply chain bottlenecks ease and inflation declines, but Biden’s disastrous first year speaks to a more intractable problem with the lackluster occupant of the Oval Office himself.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.(c) 2021 by King Features Synd., Inc.

Filed Under: 112521, Lowry, Opinion

Primary Sidebar

Seach our site

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Historian's Corner ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Historian’s Corner

westhavenvoice.com

Historian’s Corner May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment The West Haven Veterans Museum on Hood Terrace is making an effort to acquaint city students and youth in the history of service in the cit...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 1
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Dear Felicia ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Dear Felicia

westhavenvoice.com

Dear Felicia May 22, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Howdy do, sweets! Hard to believe, but here we are at the downside of May, looking into the Memorial Day weekend already. Of course, like most thin...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$ ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$

westhavenvoice.com

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$ May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment By Richard Hebert and Bonnie Posick Research by Kyle Rich West Haven residents have been vocal about the city’s revaluat...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

HS Frosh cited by Mullins ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

HS frosh cited by Mullins

westhavenvoice.com

HS frosh cited by Mullins May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Steven R. Mullins presents his 10th annual awards to WHHS frosh Bibi Hadi. Steven R. Mullins presents his 10th annual awards to WHHS f...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

 

 

West Haven’s Calendar

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

tockify.com

Fri 23 Jun, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM [EDT]: Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT Old Grove Park Public · Anyone on or off Facebook West Haven summer concerts are back! Join us in West Haven thi...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Mark Your West Haven Calendar

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/442/1686776400000

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum

tockify.com

Wed 14 Jun, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM [EDT]: Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT West Haven Veterans ...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Added for June 10th & 11th

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/443/1686405600000

West Haven Historical Society Open House
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

West Haven Historical Society Open House

tockify.com

Sat 10 Jun, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM [EDT]:
View Comments
  • likes Like 2
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

Footer

Address

West Haven Voice
840 Boston Post Road
West Haven, CT

 

Contact us

Call (203) 934-6397

Contact form

SITE NAVIGATION

HOME
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE!
CLASSIFIED
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTACT US
WEB EXCLUSIVE

FIND US IN PRINT

Our print edition is available each Thursday. Here is a list of locations!

Letters Policy

Information on submitting letters to us.

Our submission deadlines.

Copyright © 2025 West Haven Voice, LLC