Assessing The Biden Administration. Steve and Karen welcome historian, author, and friend of the show, Dan Singal, for his thoughts on President Biden’s actions so far. He responds by saying, “Well, surprised more than anything because I think he really has fulfilled his promises in terms of domestic achievements. I mean you look at that $1.9 trillion stimulus covid relief bill. That was very impressive pushing that through under reconciliation. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill – I mean how many presidents could have negotiated that? He did a terrific job as did his various cabinet members. And now it looks like we’re going to have a big reconciliation on social welfare and climate. And that’s going to be close to another $2 trillion, and it covers so many things that need to be addressed. And then there are many, many other things that he has done domestically…so I think the record there has been incredibly good.”
“The problem is that so many things that he doesn’t control have been clobbering his standing with the American voters,” says Singal. “Given the fact that he has all of this expertise in foreign policy, I’m a little bit shocked at how he’s performed in that area. Then I worry about his optics. I think he’s coming across as a very weak old man. That’s how voters perceive him. That’s not really who he is. I mean to do the things that he’s done domestically, to have carried out the duties of the office as well as he has in general, I think shows a lot of strength. And yet that’s not how voters see him.”
As for the future, Singal says, “The positive take is the pandemic is the key controlling factor and there’s a possibility that it may actually get better. I think inflation and the supply chain will straighten themselves out, and I would not be surprised if that happens by the end of Spring or the beginning of Summer.”
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