It's more than messaging, stupid


President Biden's subordinates and well-wishers are increasingly convinced things are turning around, with veteran Clintonite John Podesta calling last week the White House's "best week since the spring." A number of Democrats previously told The Washington Post they thought Biden's numbers, and perhaps the country's problems, had hit rock bottom.
The difference? Better salesmanship! "I don't think Democrats brag enough," Montgomery, Alabama, Mayor Steven Reed told the newspaper. Now Biden is going on a victory tour touting his recently enacted infrastructure program and teasing the Democrats' social welfare package. "There hasn't been great communication about what these bills mean for people," added Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D) of New Jersey, a state where Democrats were stunned in this year's election.
Democrats have been sure messaging is their main problem ever since they started losing elections to a retired movie actor in the 1980s. "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it" isn't just a clumsy quote from House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — it's part of a larger liberal mentality that if the people only understood Democratic policies, they would support them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But much of what has brought Biden to his recent lows isn't messaging. Inflation, a migrant surge at the border, the sloppy exit from Afghanistan — whatever the merits of Biden's spending, immigration, and foreign policies, Americans see these real, observable phenomena and are concerned Biden doesn't know what he's doing. He was warned in every case, and his predictions about how all of these things would play out have so far been wrong. The very Post story in which so many Democrats complained about insufficient administration braggadocio is itself premised on the idea that Biden underestimated the country's problems.
Even many challenges that aren't strictly speaking Biden's fault — the COVID variants, the global supply chain bottlenecks, and some of what is going on in international energy markets — are tangible problems people experience far apart from whatever the well-credentialed experts or honey-tongued spinners at the White House tell them. These matters aren't mere abstractions that would be understood differently if only Democrats had better slogans.
Of course, Biden isn't at his peak as a public salesman. But that was also true when his job approval ratings were higher than they are now. They've fallen not because of Biden's persona or rhetoric but because people don't like the direction we're headed — and because Biden's answer has been to keep on going.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.
-
Critics push back as the government goes after Job Corps
The Explainer For at-risk teens, the program has been a lifeline
-
5 horror movies to sweat out this summer
The Week Recommends A sequel, a reboot and a follow up from the director of 'Barbarian' highlight the upcoming scary movie slate
-
Bryan Burrough's 6 favorite books about Old West gunfighters
Feature The Texas-raised author recommends works by T.J. Stiles, John Boessenecker, and more
-
Time's up: The Democratic gerontocracy
Feature The Democratic party is losing key seats as they refuse to retire aging leaders
-
The Biden cover-up: a 'near-treasonous' conspiracy
Talking Point Using 'Trumpian' tactics, the former president's inner circle maintained a conspiracy of silence around his cognitive and physical decline
-
Democrats are on the hunt for their own Joe Rogan
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Party leaders and mega-donors want to counter MAGA's online momentum by recreating a digital right-wing ecosystem for the left
-
Democrats grapple with Biden cover-up fallout ahead of 2028
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Even before his cancer diagnosis, Dems have been grappling with whether the White House's alleged effort to hide Biden's failing health is worth relitigating
-
Trump DOJ charging House Democrat in ICE fracas
speed read Rep. LaMonica McIver is being charged with assault over a clash outside an immigration detention facility in Newark
-
Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
speed read The diagnosis hits close to home, as the former president 'dedicated much of his later career to cancer research'
-
Is Trump trying to take over Congress?
Talking Points Separation of powers at stake in Library of Congress fight
-
Democrats: How to rebuild a damaged brand
Feature Trump's approval rating is sinking, but so is the Democratic brand