Has Biden Bounced Back?

It sure looks that way.

President Biden is coming off a good period in his time in office.  Unemployment is down to 3.5 percent, the the reconciliation budget bill that includes important climate and health provisions is undergoing numerous votes thanks to U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) deciding to back it once the bill was tweaked to meet her demands, the PACT Act passed to help veterans affected by burn pits, Biden himself is testing negative for COVID again, he's riding high in the polls, and . . .

All right, I made up that last one.  And I did that to make a point.  My point - and I do have one - is that Biden has gotten no credit for any of these wins or reports.  That's mainly because inflation continues at an unbearable pace, no one is feeling or can expect to feel before the midterms any of the legislation about to be passed, Republicans are still within striking distance of taking back the House, and now the United States leads the world in - you guessed it - monkeypox cases. (Oh, yeah, COVID is still a problem.)  Americans are still in the same funk they've been in for over a year now.  And that's why Biden's poll numbers still stink.

Biden has to keep this new momentum going through the fall and try to address the problems with inflation and with public health in order to make change people can feel, not just believe in, if he wants to get anything done in the second half of his term.  And it's not for himself - it's to help the Democrats in the midterms, as they try to do things for the people while Republicans try to do things for Donald Trump. And the Democrats have to be ready for the next presidential election. A Republican Congress in January 2025 serving under a DeSantis or second Trump Presidency will mean the death knell for American democracy.

And yes, I still think it.  President Biden should announce - preferably at the end of his 2023 State of the Union address - that he will not seek another term.  Does anyone really want him to remain in office until January 2029, when he'll be 86?  Shouldn't a younger Democrat comparable to Biden - say, a former Maryland governor 😉 - take his place?

So - has Biden bounced back?  I'm not sure I can answer that question just yet.    

Pivot Pool

It's the new game being played by Washington Democrats - a game more consequential than Russian roulette. 

President Biden's - and the Democrats' - fortunes in November and beyond hinge on where the pivot cue is going to aim next.  And the cue ball is out of control once the cue goes off.  

Things look pretty good or the party and the President right now.  The bill designed to fund medical care for service personnel in the Iraq War made sick with cancer by burn pits in the front lines just passed the Senate, and the CIA just took out Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's leader and Osama bin Laden's one-time second-in-command, in Kabul - and I don't mean to dinner.  And while all this happens, gasoline prices are slowly inching down.

But right now, things could go either way.  All signs point to a recession, though we're not quite in one just yet.  U.S. Senator Krysten Simena of Arizona still isn't on board with the bill designed to lower prescription drug prices, reduce climate change, and cut inflation - once again reminding Democrats of how they cold have avoided this by winning at least one or two of the three Senate seats Republicans held in Iowa, Maine and North Carolina in 2020.   New York State has declared a state of emergency over monkeypox - 95 percent of the state's cases are in New York City - when the nation still hasn't licked COVID yet.  And, President Biden now has symptoms from his COVID rebound.  (He didn't rebound, his COVID infection did.)  And if the worst happens, we could see . . . President Kamala Harris?

That'll be a boon for Donald Trump's comeback.

The bottom line is, everything could keep going well for the Democrats and at least minimize midterm election losses or everything could unravel again and help election deniers sweep everything in November. 😱

Monkey Pox, Monkey Do

Well, well, well, well, it looks like we have another virus that causes a disease called monkeypox!

Like chickenpox, only worse.  Instead of looking like you were pecked by Foghorn Leghorn, you look like you were pinched by Magilla Gorilla. 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention insists that the risk of this virus, which originated in central Africa, is low and we shouldn't freak out about it.

Funny, that's what they said about COVID in February 2020.  A month later, a global pandemic was declared.

I think I'll stay in my room for the rest of my life . . ..