As the world burns and the inadequacies of President Joe Biden become increasingly evident, Democrats comfort themselves with the belief that next year’s voters will prioritize domestic issues.
And in that regard, they believe Biden has something to be proud of: Bidenomics.
In recent months, the economy has delivered positive news – inflation is slowing down and employment is booming.
The latest jobs report has been widely celebrated in the media. CNN’s headline reads, “Jobs report shock: American economy added a stunning 336,000 jobs in September.”
However, the same web page that highlights this achievement also includes an analysis by CNN’s David Goldman, who acknowledges that the economy still “feels lousy for many people.” Additionally, according to CNN’s own polling, “A majority of Americans say President Joe Biden’s policies have made economic conditions worse.”
Reflecting on the last days of the Roman republic, the historian Titus Livy concluded, “We can endure neither our vices nor their cure.”
In our case, we can endure neither inflation nor its cure – and voters are angry about both.
A year ago, Democrats were relieved: Yes, they lost control of the House of Representatives, but the midterms were not the devastating blow that everyone expected, despite the soaring inflation rate.
Republicans were perplexed: Were Americans truly indifferent to rising prices and the decreasing value of their money?
Equally puzzling was the fact that voters did not seem to punish Democrats for the escalating levels of violent crime.
In 2020, even with all the challenges faced by Donald Trump, many in the GOP believed that the riots and increasing crime during that summer and autumn would secure his re-election.
It was reminiscent of 1968, and Trump was the new Nixon.
By the midterms of last year, Joe Biden was supposed to be the new Jimmy Carter, presiding over a country plagued by a sense of hopelessness, with its best days seemingly in the past.
Yet only now does inflation seem to be causing the damage that conservatives predicted from the start, even though economists claim the worst is over.
Crime is also catching up with the Democrats, despite assurances from liberals that murder rates are stabilizing or decreasing in many areas.
What both sides of the political spectrum, including myself, get wrong is the concept of “latency” in American politics.
Those of us who closely follow politics assume that ordinary voters will react as quickly as we do to the latest numbers and trends.
However, the current mood of the public and their reactions in 2020 and 2022 can be better understood by taking into account a lag in their response.
Voters do care about crime and inflation, but only after experiencing the effects of these problems for a certain period of time.
And when it comes to inflation, the cure can be just as painful as the affliction.
Higher interest rates harm homebuyers, and bringing down prices means limiting wage growth as well.
Every visit to the supermarket and gas station serves as a reminder of how inflation has affected daily life. The pain doesn’t disappear just because professional economists claim the outlook is improving.
And as measures to reduce inflation take effect, the cost of groceries and gasoline remains high while new constraints are felt.
This has been going on for long enough that Americans are fed up with it and with the president under whose leadership it has happened.
Biden cannot complain about any injustice here: if he is not receiving credit for the good news, he did not receive the full blame he deserved for the earlier bad news either.
Americans essentially gave Biden a loan in 2020 and 2022. Now, the payments are coming due – and those interest rates are rising.
After three years, Bidenomics translates to Bidenflation for most voters.
Meanwhile, cities remain unsafe, even if not every neighborhood is experiencing increased violence, and there are bloody events around the world that are spiraling out of the president’s control.
Will things improve in the next 12 months? And will Americans experience that improvement quickly enough to reward the octogenarian incumbent with four more years?
On paper, Joe Biden seemed like the perfect man to restore a sense of stability to the citizens after the tumultuous Trump years.
He was a familiar figure from the past – a link to the Obama years and beyond – at a time when voters were deeply concerned about the present.
Now, their concerns remain, and their most recent memories of peace and prosperity are from the Trump era.
Bidenomics offers little hope for saving Biden, regardless of what happens next.
The damage has already been done, and now that voters have had time to process it, they are prepared to deliver a damning verdict.
Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review.
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