President Biden criticized news coverage of the U.S. economy as he faces growing backlash from voters over his handling of inflation. In brief remarks Saturday before boarding the presidential heli…
If Biden wants the media to cover him better he needs to do what Republicans do: give them a simple message. The other day I saw a Biden “I did that!” sticker on a national park fee payment station. Blatantly untrue? Yes. But it’s simple and people aren’t going to research or even think about whether park fees are Biden’s fault.
“The economy sucks and it’s the president’s fault” is a simple message. But:
The U.S. unemployment rate was just 3.7 percent in November — barely above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 percent, which was a five-decade low. Annual inflation has also fallen sharply from a peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 3.1 percent in November, and the economy has defied widespread predictions of a recession.
These numbers will just be ignored. They don’t fit in a headline or even an unpaid tweet. And I find people’s natural reaction to numbers is to distrust them. “Yeah, but that’s not the real unemployment/inflation/GDP/etc”.
As for what that simple message can be, I have no idea. “Rising employment, plummeting inflation” might be an option, I dunno. But he needs to get someone in charge of messaging who will simplify things.
If Biden wants the media to cover him better he needs to do what Republicans do: give them a simple message. The other day I saw a Biden “I did that!” sticker on a national park fee payment station. Blatantly untrue? Yes. But it’s simple and people aren’t going to research or even think about whether park fees are Biden’s fault.
“The economy sucks and it’s the president’s fault” is a simple message. But:
These numbers will just be ignored. They don’t fit in a headline or even an unpaid tweet. And I find people’s natural reaction to numbers is to distrust them. “Yeah, but that’s not the real unemployment/inflation/GDP/etc”.
As for what that simple message can be, I have no idea. “Rising employment, plummeting inflation” might be an option, I dunno. But he needs to get someone in charge of messaging who will simplify things.