* Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the leading liberal voices in the country,
wrote an op-ed in the New York Times suggesting that Biden and the Democrats need to start playing offense, legislatively speaking. "Despite pandemic relief, infrastructure investments and the historic Supreme Court confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, we promised more — and voters remember those promises," wrote Warren. And this bit of frank talk: "To put it bluntly: if we fail to use the months remaining before the elections to deliver on more of our agenda, Democrats are headed toward big losses in the midterms."
All of this comes as Biden is at or near his low ebb in terms of job approval during his term. In
CNN's latest poll of polls -- an average of the last four national polls -- Biden's approval rating is at just 39% among Americans, with his disapproval at 55%.
In short: Biden didn't have a lot of goodwill left with the public before this week. But the conflicting messages coming out of the White House -- and the broader Democratic Party -- make it look like there is no plan to turn things around in advance of the midterm elections, which are now just over 200 days off.
Perhaps in an attempt to address this sense of a lack of direction, Biden put out a series of tweets Wednesday morning blaming inflation on Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and urging Congress to take action. "I've called on Congress to move immediately to lower the cost of families' utility bills, prescription drugs, and more — while lowering the deficit to reduce inflationary pressure,"
Biden tweeted.It's not clear that there is much desire among Democrats -- many of whom are eager to get home and campaign before the midterm elections -- to follow through on Biden's push.
It's all a mess for Democrats. And a mess without any clear -- or easy -- solutions.
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