The new strategy for dealing with the plummeting poll numbers has gone out, and Joe Biden would like you to feel bad for him.

Presidenting is HARD, everyone. People expect you to DO STUFF. They want SOLUTIONS to their problems. And they want the president to deal with their problems and make life easier for them, not harder. But woe is poor Joe – who could have possibly forseen ALL the problems that he has to deal with?

Soaring global inflation. Rising fuel prices. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Supreme Court poised to take away a constitutional right. A potentially resurgent pandemic. A Congress too deadlocked to tackle sweeping gun safety legislation even amid an onslaught of mass shootings.”

In crisis after crisis, the White House has found itself either limited or helpless in its efforts to combat the forces pummeling them. Morale inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is plummeting amid growing fears that the parallels to Jimmy Carter, another first-term Democrat plagued by soaring prices and a foreign policy morass, will stick.”

“It’s something that has bedeviled quite a few previous presidents. Lots of things happen on your watch but it doesn’t mean there is a magic wand to fix it,” said Robert Gibbs, a press secretary under President Barack Obama. “The limits of the presidency are not well grasped. The responsibility of the president is greater than the tools he has to fix it.”

This is a searing bit of irony, seeing as Biden ran on this particular promise:

I'm not going to shut down the country.

I'm not going to shut down the economy.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2020

And we all know how THAT went, don’t we? Biden based a large part of his presidential campaign on “shutting down COVID-19” and claiming that Donald Trump had not done all he could to do so. Well, now more people have died of COVID during Biden’s time in office – with a vaccine – than died during the end of Trump’s term in office, but that isn’t poor old Joe’s fault, nope!

So, whose fault is it that Joe Biden had no idea that the formula shortage was going to be the next problem that his administration was caught flat-footed and unprepared for? Biden ended up admitting a few days ago that he didn’t know about the problem for months.

Biden said he wasn’t notified about the shortage concerns until April, while company executives said they knew in February that closing the Abbott Nutrition facility in Michigan would lead to major supply issues.”

“They knew, but I didn’t,” Biden told reporters.”

The timeline conflicts with the administration’s insistence that it has been focused on the baby formula shortage with an “all of government response” since the Food and Drug Administration shuttered an Abbott manufacturing plant in February because of safety concerns.”

At a briefing after the meeting, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked repeatedly about the administration’s reaction time given the industry’s earlier awareness of the problem.”

“We’ve been working on this for months and months,” Jean-Pierre insisted. She said she hadn’t seen Biden’s earlier comments to reporters or spoken to him about his remarks. “What I’m trying to say is that his team on very high levels, who run his policy offices, who run his departments, have been working on this since day one.”

Well, behind the scenes, Biden is apparently mad that he DIDN’T know.

Far more prone to salty language behind the scenes than popularly known, Biden also recently erupted over being kept out of the loop about the direness of the baby formula shortage that has gripped parts of the country, according to a White House staffer and a Democrat with knowledge of the conversation. He voiced his frustration in a series of phone calls to allies, his complaints triggered by heart-wrenching cable news coverage of young mothers crying in fear that they could not feed their children.”

Biden didn’t want to be painted as slow to act on a problem affecting the working-class people with whom he closely identifies. Therefore, when aides convened a meeting with formula company executives, the president — against the advice of staffers — publicly declared it took weeks before details of the shortage had reached him, even though the whistleblower complaint that led to the shutdown of a major production facility was issued months ago. Some aides feared the moment made Biden look out of touch, especially after the CEOs in the very same meeting made clear that warnings of the shortage were known for some time.”

Is he going to hold anyone accountable for keeping him in the dark? Nope! As is well known, Biden will apparently not fire anyone who he sees as loyal to him, so he will continue this cycle of only listening to his yes-men and being angry when he looks out of touch.

After all, we’re supposed to feel sorry for Grandpa Joe. This job is just SO hard, but he just needs to get out there and remind everyone just HOW bad it would be if those EEEEEEEVIL ultra-MAGA Republicans were in charge!

Members of Biden’s inner circle, including first lady Jill Biden and the president’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, have complained that West Wing staff has managed Biden with kid gloves, not putting him on the road more or allowing him to flash more of his genuine, relatable, albeit gaffe-prone self. One person close to the president pushed for more “let Biden be Biden” moments, with the president himself complaining he does not get to interact enough with voters. The White House has pointed to both security and Covid concerns in restricting the travel of the 79-year-old president.”

“A lot of things are out of his control and we are frustrated and all Democrats — not just the White House but anyone with a platform — need to do a better of job of reminding Americans of how terrible it would be if Republicans take control,” said Adrienne Elrod, a senior aide on Biden’s transition team and aide to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.”

Oh yes, it was so awful when there was a Republican in the White House. So, so awful. All those mean tweets along with energy independence.

Since Biden took office gas prices have doubled. pic.twitter.com/VEsv6wXe9u

— GOP (@GOP) June 5, 2022

And for all those complaining that “well Biden can’t control gas prices” – he sure was happy to take the credit for a two-cent drop and be thanked for it not long ago.

Six months ago (12/2/21), the Democrats (@DCCC) touted a two-cent decrease in the price of gas, saying "Thanks, @JoeBiden."

Now, Americans are paying the highest prices of all time, over $6 per gallon here in San Diego County.

Using a misleading graph to show a steep decline. pic.twitter.com/o0su4w0Tg4

— KUSI News (@KUSINews) June 3, 2022

Brace yourselves, everyone – November is a long way off and there are plenty of things Biden won’t know about until his staff tells him after the fact. After all, he believes if he just gets out in public more, then people will respond to him and his poll numbers will rise again. Considering he won a presidential campaign from his basement because he wasn’t interacting with the public, this seems like an own goal in progress. But never interrupt your opponent while he’s in the process of making a mistake.

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