President Joe Biden is reportedly not happy that his poll numbers are sinking, and his image as a steady leader is being called into question.
But he appears to be doing little himself to help stop the bleeding.
During an event on Wednesday, Biden convened administration officials to discuss steps they are taking to address the baby formula shortage.
“I want to thank you all,” Biden said, adding, “I’m going to hand it over to Secretary Buh…buh.”
He continued, “Mr. Secretary, I’m going to have you speak now and [give] your remarks, and then we’re going to hand it over.”
Biden appeared to be referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Secretary who? ? pic.twitter.com/HWjG71vAdq
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 1, 2022
During a separate point in his remarks, the president struggled over another sentence.
“The shortage of baby formula is due to the closure back in February of one of Abbott’s infant formula plants,” Biden said.
He continued, “We needed to take immediate action to stop contam… we needed to take immediate action to stop contaminat…contaminated formula from hitting store shelves and putting American children at risk.”
What needed to be done? pic.twitter.com/p4z3hcv1Yg
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 1, 2022
This comes after NBC News reported earlier this week that Biden is frustrated that his communications staff has to repeatedly clean up his comments — which he believes undermines him.
He also apparently feels that he “can’t catch a break.”
“Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say,” per NBC.
And according to NBC, “Biden is annoyed that he wasn’t alerted sooner about the baby formula shortage and that he got his first briefing in the past month, even though the crisis had long been in the making.”
Yes, Biden walked into the White House as the COVID-19 pandemic was raging. And yes, inflation was already rising as demand rebounded from March 2020.
But his policies and his handling of a variety of crises have not helped either. Economists estimate that his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending package fueled inflation.
And while Biden argued that former President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan withdrawal agreement with the Taliban essentially put him in a box, he said in August that he does “not regret my decision” to follow through with the withdrawal at the time.
His image has also suffered as a result of his frequent and awkward gaffes or moments when he appears to have a hard time reading the teleprompter, or forgets the name of his Defense secretary.
And then there are the multiple times the White House had to clean up the president’s pronouncements on major issues, such as when he stated that the U.S. would get militarily involved to defend Taiwan.
Or when he said in Poland in March, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” about Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House clarified that Biden was not calling for regime change.
Biden needs to get some message discipline and start speaking more like the president where his words are treated as U.S. policy and not like a senator — where he can spout off his opinions freely — especially when it comes to issues that could lead to nuclear war.
And he needs to stop deflecting blame and claiming that “no one” predicted a certain outcome, as he did with Afghanistan, or the Omicron surge, or the baby formula shortage.
But he also needs staff who can better prepare for issues before they explode on the national stage, such as a winter surge of Covid cases, or baby formula shortages caused by the Food and Drug Administration shutting down a major plant.
