Democrats are confused.

Believing that thus far Joe Biden has had a very successful Presidency, they just cannot figure out why public opinion polls continue to show that a clear majority of voters disapprove of his job performance.  Worried that these stubbornly low approval numbers presage electoral wipeouts in 2022 and 2024, Democrats have been casting about for answers and pointing the finger at causes ranging from supposedly unfair media coverage to a simple misunderstanding by voters of just how wonderful President Biden’s policies really are.

As the saying goes, denial is not just a river in Egypt.  Unless Democrats can reckon honestly with the Biden train wreck to this point, it will be impossible to attempt to fix what is broken—if that is even still possible.

Problem number one is Joe Biden himself.  His public appearances as President have run the gamut from confused to lost to cranky—none of which are a good look.  

Moreover, by continuing to blearily read off teleprompters before ducking questions from reporters, Biden encourages more and more speculation about his mental acuity and awareness.  The policies of the hardcore ideologues in his Administration, who are ditching any pretense of the bipartisanship that voters were promised during his Presidential campaign, often seem to surprise him—and are typically totally at odds with Biden’s previously stated viewpoints.  It all seems very odd and concerning, and most Americans have already realized something is seriously awry in Washington.

Many of President Biden’s “senior moments” in front of the cameras conjure up creepy suggestions of elder abuse by his grimly focused handlers, who have often resorted to shutting off his microphone in order to keep him from wandering away from his approved and scripted remarks.  It just looks bad, and no amount of press room happy talk can conceal this troubling reality.

Speaking of efforts to ignore reality, the economy is suffering—despite determined efforts to make it seem otherwise.  Inflation is raging at the highest rate in 39 years, and Americans are being left gasping at the spiraling prices of housing, fuel, and food.  Supply chain snarls are leaving many store shelves empty, making businesses curtail their operations due to shortages of raw materials and critical components, and causing profound shocks to major industries such as automobile manufacturing, construction, and consumer electronics.

We are, of course, supposed to rest assured that Joe Biden and his totally competent advisors will solve any problems that come along.  However, the stupendous screw up of the Afghanistan withdrawal, which turned into a mad dash for the exits that abandoned American citizens and our allies while leaving the door wide open for China to step in, stunned Americans—and the world—with its sheer stupidity and incoherence.

Biden’s debacle in Afghanistan, of course, was not the first instance of his inability to foresee the catastrophic consequences of his failed leadership.  It sadly resembles another cascading sequence of Biden blunders that have destroyed the security of America’s Southern Border, leading to a rampaging crisis of illegal immigration that has only served to encourage others to try their luck crossing our now ridiculously porous national boundaries.  

It is unsurprising and unfortunate that the border chaos mirrors the root cause of the violent crimes destroying lives in so many American cities: a stubborn and shortsighted Woke refusal to enforce our nation’s existing laws.  For this simple reason alone, it is impossible associate the concept of competent leadership with Democrats in general—and Joe Biden in particular—and it is only too easy to imagine the damage we will be facing during the final three years of his rudderless Presidency.

And speaking of competent leadership—or the stunning lack thereof—it is hard to avoid discussing the sad case of Kamala Harris, who is setting a new standard for Vice-Presidential failure.  It is easy to understand that Joe Biden chose her for his running mate in 2020 as a sop to the diversity acolytes in the Democratic Party, but heretofore all she seems to have accomplished as Vice President is to thoroughly turn off Americans with her brittle defensiveness and braying laugh.  Given that she cannot seem to even manage her own office staff, we should all say a prayer that President Biden doesn’t slip in the shower any time soon.  She is a disaster as Vice President; one shudders to contemplate the damage she could do in the Oval Office.

If, as has been widely rumored, Biden seeks to push her out of office and appoint a replacement, we could soon be treated to the kind of meltdowns and mania more commonly associated with reality television shows.  However entertaining the outraged reactions of the Social Justice wing of the Democrats might be, this would also inevitably call Joe Biden’s decision making abilities into even more question.  Given that he seems peculiarly loathe to ever admit a mistake because of his obviously fragile self-esteem, it could be interesting to see how he justifies Harris’s ejection from the second highest office in the land, but it would likely be an explanation as garbled as others we have heard regarding other topics.

As long as we are discussing garbled explanations, does anyone understand Joe Biden’s dogged insistence on Covid-19 vaccination mandates?  Given the many mutations of the virus, the current vaccines are clearly not of much use, and abundant evidence exists that a durable herd immunity is well underway.  His recent setbacks in federal courts and the efforts to pass legislation prohibiting vaccine mandates seem not to have deterred him from plowing forward with these questionable—and likely illegal—tactics, which speaks to a single-mindedness that borders on the foolish obstinacy of the aged.

Recent polls show most Americans are well past worrying about Covid-19 and its many variants.  I live in a Blue State that still considers terrorizing and inconveniencing its citizens a wise public policy, but it is hard to miss all the defiant Midwestern noses peeking out as many of my neighbors do the bare minimum to comply with the performative—and pointless—mask mandates still in effect here.  

When I travel to neighboring states, the level of interest in hand sanitizer, social distancing, and masks can be be easily summed up thusly: Except for the true Covid-19 crazies, no one seems to give a damn.  If someone wants pretend that self-asphyxiation is a health benefit, knock yourself out—but most us want to be left alone.  Unfortunately, President Biden is, for reasons that defy understanding, locked into promoting panic and further damaging the economy with his mandates—because it’s “science” to some—so we can be certain he will continue to pursue his increasingly unpopular and damaging crusade for jabs.

Former President Obama warned us when Joe Biden first announced he was seeking the Presidency: “Don’t Underestimate Joe’s Ability to F— Things Up.”  During his first year in office, President Biden has somehow managed to surpass our lowest expectations for his job performance.  Democrats who insist that voters will eventually come to appreciate his bumbling are fooling no one but themselves, and it seems entirely plausible that the next three years of catastrophe and idiocy are going to place Joe Biden firmly in the pantheon of America’s worst Chief Executives.

All we can do now is hunker down and try to ride out this sh-t storm of utter incompetence as best we can.  Expect pain in the meanwhile.