Joe Biden celebrates one year in the White House with the challenge of raising his internal support

A year ago Joe Biden was sworn in in the United States Congress as the 46th president after a harsh smear campaign against the electoral system of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who still has not accepted his defeat.

During the twelve months that he has been in the White House, his administration has carried out actions against the pandemic with some success, as he advanced rapidly with vaccination, although in conservative regions of the country, his attempts to impose vaccination provoked fierce political opposition and the The Supreme Court eliminated his attempt to make vaccination mandatory in large companies. Although he gave him the green light to do it with health personnel who receive federal funds.

Another point of his administration is to carry out an infrastructure program that would inject a large public investment (1.2 billion dollars) and create jobs. Even having some support in the Republican opposition, recalls analyst Luis Fleischman, co-president of the Palm Beach Democracy and Policy Research Center.

Biden credits the passage of his $1.9 trillion bailout with saving the economy from spiraling downward with mass unemployment and recession.

Fleischman also points out that there is currently a labor deficit, mainly by those who decided to retire during the pandemic, and more employment is seen (the unemployment rate is 3.9%) for qualified and unqualified people. But the problems in the supply chain due to the pandemic creates other problems that mean that there is less variety or quantity of certain products in the supermarket and costs rise. This, without forgetting that the country is experiencing the highest inflation (7%) in 40 years.

“People do not notice that there may be more jobs, but they notice that they are paying for more expensive gasoline, more expensive products, they go to the supermarket and they do not find what they are looking for … (this) can play against Biden and of the Democratic Party in the next elections”, affirms Fleischman.

For analyst Esteban Santos, it is also important to point out that Biden ends his first year with one of the lowest approvals that a country’s president has had at that time.

In accordance with The Voice of America, only a third of Americans generally approve of the president’s work and give him a low score in the fight against the pandemic, the economy and international politics.

“It has been the handling of the entire pandemic problem, the extremism that has been occurring with the Republicans -led by Trump-… inflation and it remains to be seen if he manages to launch his ambitious reconstruction plan,” says Santos, for whom the low note really is the international aspect, in addition to the fact that its vice president, Kamala Harris, has not stood out as expected.

In his inaugural address, Biden promised to unite Americans and put behind Trump’s divisive style, which included fanning hatred against immigrants, journalists and opponents. But now that Trump’s ideology has taken hold in the GOP and the former president is likely to seek re-election in 2024, Biden is inching closer to his own leftist base. Support from independents is waning, he says in an analysis of AFP.

Fleischman recalls that the United States is a federal country where each state has a lot of power, even to confront the federal Executive Power and that causes friction with the states governed by Republicans.

An example of this is that there is criticism of Biden for not confronting more the laws that some states are passing, such as those that place greater technical restrictions on voting. He was pressured to pass a federal law on this subject that he failed to pass.

Another point against it is that immigration reform is already off the radar and since this is a year with legislative elections in recent months, it is very difficult for it to happen.

In addition, other social programs for three billion dollars cannot be approved because more conservative legislators of his party see this as an oversight of the fiscal responsibility that should be had.

outside its borders

Internationally, Biden has shown himself to be a president who wants the United States to return to the world and project greater influence than his two immediate predecessors wanted. However, this is a difficult task, especially since a large part of the population is more concerned and wants more attention for internal problems.

Perhaps what caused him the most criticism was the exit from Afghanistan, which ended a failed 20-year war and was something that previous presidents had only talked about. However, the dangerous and chaotic days of withdrawal damaged the image of US military professionalism, making what should have been a moment of relief humiliating.

Now his challenge with China for influence in the world economy and with Russia for its geostrategic intentions are also a latent challenge for Biden -especially for Ukraine-, who wants to put the United States back as the leader of liberal democracies.

Biden has also highlighted the “deep and historic commitment” of the United States with the peoples of the Americas and with Build Back Better World (B3W), an initiative to counteract the new Chinese Silk Road based on disbursement of tens of billions for infrastructure development.

In theory, Biden has three years left to try to achieve his plans. (I)