Toward the end of 2021, President Biden’s approval ratings took a dive. Two things in particular need to improve for Biden to make a turnaround — the pandemic needs to lessen and price increases need to let up.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
From control of Congress and the strength of the Biden presidency to potential Jan. 6 committee revelations and the future of abortion rights, there’s a lot at stake in 2022.
We have lots of questions about what’s ahead. Here are six:
President Biden ended 2021 with the lowest approval ratings of his presidency in the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. The ongoing pandemic, rising inflation, the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and Democratic infighting over legislation hurt how people see his presidency.
In fact, Americans’ view of how Biden’s handling his job is historically bad. His approval rating at the end of his first year in office is the second worst of any president since World War II, according to Gallup. Of course, we’re now in a more polarized time, and politics isn’t static. Other presidents have hit lows and turned it around — Ronald Reagan was at 35% in 1983, and Barack Obama was at 40% in 2011, but both handily won reelection a year later.
Two things in particular need to improve for Biden to make a turnaround — the pandemic needs to lessen and price increases need to let up.
Toward the end of 2021, Biden made his strongest indication yet that he will run for reelection, but if the 79-year-old’s political fortunes don’t get better, there may be a furious effort to find a Democratic replacement.
The coronavirus has taken a big bite out of our sense of normalcy for nearly two years. Americans are understandably fatigued from yo-yo-ing restrictions, mask wearing and school shutdowns.
Even if necessary to protect public health, these measures have been emotionally taxing, especially after what looked like the chance to get back to some degree of normal last summer, only to be largely sidelined again because of the delta and omicron variants.
It’s taken a political toll for sure and exacerbated sharp political divisions. Anger and fear are incredible motivators to vote, but an incumbent needs to give people hope to have a chance to win reelection.
Oh, hello again, Joe Manchin.
For those tired of hearing about the West Virginia senator’s legislative hopes and dreams, we have bad news: They will likely continue to be a topic in Washington for the better part of 2022. He continues to hold the key to Biden’s more expansive legislative agenda. After months of going back and forth with Biden and other congressional Democrats, Manchin jumped ship toward the end of 2021.
There’s a debate going on in Democratic circles over how to deal with Manchin and the party’s legislative agenda. Democrats have to decide whether to try for a further-scaled-down social safety net and climate bill, focusing on a few key parts, like universal pre-K, health care and climate, or to break the measure up into smaller pieces.
There’s a debate going on in Democratic circles over how to deal with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and the party’s legislative agenda.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
What’s more, there is growing pressure on Democratic leaders to address voting rights, which have been scaled back in many GOP-led states. That likely means exploring a carveout of some sort in the legislative filibuster. At any rate, the clock is ticking because Democrats are facing an uphill battle to retain the House.
As noted, Republicans are favored to take back the House. The Senate, which is currently 50-50, is also up for grabs, though Democrats appear to be in a better position for now in the upper chamber. But what are Republicans going to run on, and what would they do with that power should they win?
They have been criticized by some as being more the “party of no” than one interested in governing. When they were last in power, they passed budget-blowing tax cuts, but were unable to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is growing more popular, because they had nothing to replace it with. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell played into the “party of no” narrative. Axios reports he is firmly against releasing any kind of legislative agenda ahead of the midterm elections.
Others, like House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, disagree with that. He released a “Parents Bill of Rights,” a response to the debate over parental control of schools because of how America’s racial history is taught in classrooms. Does that continue to be a main issue, or will there be another outrage flavor of the season?
By the way, elections are right around the corner, with primaries beginning in March. Those primaries will also give us the first look at the power of former President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging endorsements.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, faces a primary challenge from a Trump-backed candidate.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will take a more public role this year with hearings and more potential revelations. It had issued dozens of subpoenas toward the end of last year, with some Trump allies willing and others less willing to participate. We will find out, for instance, if the Justice Department will file more contempt charges, like it did for former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
The committee has gathered lots of information, interviewing some 300 witnesses, for example. It could start public hearings in the coming months, with a report expected ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Committee members feel a sense of urgency to get its findings out because if Republicans win the House, they will in all probability shut down the investigation.
Their evidence and documentation of the siege will be key because Americans are as divided as ever. A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll out Monday reveals that while 9 in 10 Democrats see what happened on Jan. 6 as an insurrection and a threat to democracy, just 1 in 10 Republicans do.
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In late 2021, the high court certainly looked like it was headed in that direction. Questioning from the court’s majority-conservative justices strongly indicated they were in favor of upholding restrictions in Mississippi, making it illegal to have an abortion later than 15 weeks.
Currently, abortions are legal up to about 24 weeks or the first two trimesters. That was a central holding in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
If the court does uphold the Mississippi law, it could open a floodgate of other restrictions in other states. The decision is expected this summer, just as the midterm elections will be heating up.
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
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LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
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