Biden's "political achievements" in the year of administration are difficult to be recognized by the public

Washington, 20 Jan (Xinhua) -- Biden's one-year", "political achievements" in power, are difficult to be recognized by the people

Xinhua News Agency reporter Deng Xianlai

US President Joe Biden ushered in the first anniversary of his administration on the 20th. Over the past year, the Biden administration's achievements in epidemic prevention and control, economic recovery, easing social conflicts, and diplomacy have been lackluster. The range of problems he promised to solve not only had little to improve, but was even worse.

Policy is blocked

In terms of fighting the epidemic, Biden took the scientific prevention and control of the new crown epidemic and the restoration of normal life as soon as possible as a policy focus at the beginning of his presidency. He invited infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci to serve as the president's chief medical adviser, prompting Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan to rapidly advance vaccination, which was recognized by many voters. But since then, in an effort to contain the backlash caused by variants of the coronavirus such as Delta and Olmikeron, the White House has issued a mandatory vaccine order for employees of large private companies, which has been strongly resisted by Republican states and some business groups. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the injunction could not be enforced, which frustrated the biden administration's policies.

On the economic front, although Biden pushed Congress to pass a large-scale infrastructure bill, problems such as high inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages continue to be difficult to solve, and the road to U.S. economic recovery is full of thorns. The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 7 percent year-over-year in December, the biggest year-over-year increase in nearly 40 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the same month, only 199,000 new jobs were created in the non-agricultural sector, and the number of people who lost their jobs due to the epidemic was still as high as 3.1 million, and the employment situation remained grim.

On the political front, the bipartisan feud and social rift in the United States have not eased, resulting in Biden's inability to achieve policy goals such as easing racial tensions, controlling gun proliferation, controlling immigration at the border, and stopping violent law enforcement through congressional legislation. Recently, the two parties in Congress have launched a fierce confrontation around the two election reform bills proposed by Democrats to protect voters' voting rights. The election reform controversy may further deepen some conservative Republican voters' doubts about the Biden administration's "legitimacy to govern."

On the diplomatic front, Biden promised to repeal a series of unilateral policies during the Trump administration, proving to allies that "America is back." However, he has "broken more and established less" in diplomacy and lacked constructive policies. Some analysts believe that although Biden has fulfilled his commitment to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the withdrawal plan has been sloppy, chaotic, and serious consequences, and has been widely criticized; he emphasized stability and predictability in relations with Russia, but ignored Russia's security concerns on issues related to Russia's core interests such as the Ukraine crisis, resulting in the continuous deterioration of US-Russian relations; he promised to let the United States return to the Iranian nuclear agreement, but did not show enough flexibility in negotiations with Iran, so that the prospects for the two sides to reach an agreement are still unclear.

Difficult to recognize

When Biden took office, he made many promises: to cure American "democracy," to defeat COVID-19, to address deep-seated racial and economic problems, and to restore America's place in the world. However, a year later, his performance in epidemic prevention and control, inflation suppression, policy legislation and other aspects has not been recognized by the American people.

According to the poll results released by the University of Quinnipiac in the United States, voters' satisfaction with Biden's administration has fallen to 33%. The US media pointed out that Biden broke the record of popular votes in the 2020 US presidential election, but now he has become one of the most unpopular US presidents.

Bill Galston, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in the United States, said that Biden has failed to live up to the expectations of voters, and his anti-epidemic performance has been particularly disappointing. At the same time, the chaos of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan has also seriously damaged the image of the Biden administration.

After a year of interviews with Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist in the United States, found that voters' ratings of Biden continued to decline, and even "failed", and many people who were dissatisfied with Biden were Democratic voters. Longwell believes that the survey results reflect the general dissatisfaction of the public with the long-term continuation of the epidemic and the rising inflation.

The Atlantic Monthly recently wrote that compared with the consistent strong dissatisfaction of Republican voters with Biden, the rapid decline in Biden's support rate among Democratic and independent voters is more worthy of attention. Internal divisions and conflicts among Democratic voters have become increasingly pronounced, with some voters arguing that democrats are not moving forward quickly enough to advance the New Deal, while others disagree with the ideas that Democrats are currently pursuing.

The division remains

In recent years, partisan struggles in the United States have become increasingly acute, popular antagonism has become more intense, and the Capitol Hill riots at the beginning of last year marked a new high in the division of American society from the top down. At the moment after a year in office, this polarization and tearing has not only not eased, but has further intensified.

Republicans completely rejected Biden's policy, the US media is keen to play up antagonistic sentiments, and former President Trump still has influence in the Republican Party, which are the reasons why the United States is deeply involved in the abyss of confrontation and tearing.

Republican strategist Rick Taylor argues that Biden's Democratic Party has a very weak predominance in Congress, often making it difficult to implement policy ideas through legislation, and that the presidential executive orders he signed lack overwhelming persuasiveness. This means that Biden will not have the ability to unite the United States.

Analysts point out that in the past year, the division in the United States has been intensifying, Biden's patience with Republicans has been almost exhausted, and the two parties have debated the reasons for the split. Some have even questioned the need for a bipartisan consensus. In this context, bridging differences and uniting the United States seems doomed to be an unattainable dream.