Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
President Joe Biden’s angry address to the country Thursday night exhibited yet again why Americans have a “crisis of confidence” in the Biden administration.
After a late start to his State of the Union speech, Biden urged Americans to appreciate the languishing economy and record-high inflation his administration has ushered in.
“Our economy is literally the envy of the world!” Biden yelled.
Prices have increased more than 17 percent since Biden took office, according to a December consumer price index report from the House Budget Committee.
The president then bragged about “15 million new jobs in just three years,” “800,000 new manufacturing jobs” and “unemployment at 50-year lows.”
Of those 800,000 new manufacturing jobs Biden likes to tout, however, “the first three-quarters of those job gains represented a return to pre-recession levels,” as Politifact notes. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that prior to the Covid lockdowns, the economy saw a dramatic increase in job growth under former President Donald Trump. After the economy took a hit during largely Democrat-enforced Covid shutdowns, it has returned to just slightly above pre-Covid levels. In February of 2020 there were 12,780,000 jobs, compared to 12,964,000 in February of this year.
“Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down!” Biden bragged. “Inflation has dropped from 9 percent to 3 percent — the lowest in the world!”
Sure, inflation is coming down from its peak that Biden created, but that’s like a grocery store doubling the price of milk and then asking you to be excited about a 10 percent discount. Plus, Americans say their wages are not keeping up with the pace of inflation.
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Biden also showed less urgency about the invasion at the southern border than he did about the need to keep sending Ukraine billions of American tax dollars to fight a proxy war against Russia.
But the biggest crisis on display in the address wasn’t the open border or dismal economy. It was the “crisis of confidence” Americans have in a dementia-addled president and his equally incompetent administration. Biden’s incompetence is only rivaled by that of former President Jimmy Carter. Like Biden, Carter oversaw crises at home and abroad, and failed to inspire confidence with his infamous 1979 “Malaise Speech.”
From inflation to terrorism, Carter faced a nation in crisis, and also tried to soothe Americans’ “crisis of confidence” in their government. Americans felt a lack of unity and had no confidence in Carter’s leadership.
But at least Carter conveyed to his listeners a message of understanding that average Americans were dissatisfied and hopeless. In contrast, Biden’s State of the Union Thursday night — like his administration’s messaging in general — told Americans to disbelieve their lying eyes instead of addressing their concerns.
Instead of sincerely acknowledging the economic challenges Americans face, Biden insists the economy is just fine. He bragged about “turning setback into comeback,” but that’s not how many voters feel when they look at Biden’s America.
A whopping 72 percent of adults “say they are very concerned about the price of food and consumer goods,” according to a Pew Research survey. Roughly 8 in 10 Americans think federal authorities are doing a bad job dealing with the invasion by illegal aliens at our southern border. Americans’ fears about crime have risen under Biden, too.
But instead of honestly acknowledging voters’ dissatisfaction with the true state of the country under his administration, Biden’s tactic is to yell at Americans that “the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger” until they believe it.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.