Joe Biden recognized the anniversary of the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act at an event at the White House on Wednesday, during which he posed a very interesting challenge for those in the audience, and presumably, the entire nation.
“Name me a single objective we’ve ever set out to accomplish that we failed on,” he said. “Name me one!”
Now, it’s worth noting that he wasn’t specifically talking about his administration, but America in general. That said, I can easy provide several objectives of the Biden administration that have failed. I’ll give you eight, though there are certainly plenty more that could be added to this list.
1. Inflation
Biden’s offered his challenge during remarks marking the anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, which, as everyone is painfully aware, has not reduced inflation. Biden even admitted it was poorly named. “I wish I hadn’t called it that because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it does to do with dealing with providing for alternatives that generate economic growth,” Biden conceded last week. Not only is inflation higher today than it was when Biden took office, but inflation ticked up again in July.
2. Government Spending
Joe Biden has not only repeatedly (and falsely) claimed to have lowered inflation, but he also insists that he’s reduced government spending and lowered the deficit. However, spending has surged in FY2023 and has already hit double what it was a year ago.
3. Build Back Better
Joe Biden ran for president pushing his so-called Build Back Better agenda—a hugely expensive plan that would have exploded federal spending. The Biden administration insisted that the plan was popular (even though no poll showed that it was), and despite having a majority in both the House and Senate, it failed to pass. The plan was not only unpopular, it was politically toxic, as Democrats running for reelection in 2022 wouldn’t even run on it, and no one even talks about it anymore.
4. Border Crisis
Joe Biden inherited a secure southern border, and upon taking office, illegal immigrants started flooding into this country in record numbers. Border facilities quickly became overcrowded, and immigrant children are going hungry, unbathed, and without adequate time outside or physical activity. Worse, some are reportedly being sexually assaulted. In fact, the situation got so bad that Jeh Johnson, who was Barack Obama’s DHS Secretary, said that things are out of control and that Biden needed to do something. Despite everything, the Biden administration insists that the border is secure.
5. Energy Independence
Joe Biden inherited a country that was energy independent, thanks to Donald Trump and his small-government approach to energy. By killing ridiculous regulations, domestic oil companies were able to increase supply, and by the end of 2018, the United States was a net exporter of oil for the first time in over 70 years. Following in Obama’s footsteps, Biden prioritized green energy projects at the expense of tried-and-true sources of energy and notoriously killed the Keystone XL pipeline. By stifling America’s oil production, Biden effectively empowered Russia and its Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
6. The COVID Pandemic
Biden repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that “I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.” Indeed, he took office with many advantages, and cases were already trending downward. Eager to be given credit for defeating COVID, Biden declared our “independence” from COVID on July 4, 2021, a mere six months after assuming office. Soon after he proclaimed victory—and thus ownership of the pandemic—the virus came back, and more people ending up dying from COVID during Biden’s first year in office than had died under Trump.
Biden desperately wanted to seen as the slayer of COVID, but he did such a terrible job that when the COVID-19 national emergency officially ended, there was no fanfare at all.
7. Election Overhaul
After the 2020 elections, Democrats were desperate to enshrine their election power grabs into law, and in 2021, House Democrats passed the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the For the People Act. These measures aimed to centralize state election regulations at the federal level, potentially compromising election integrity nationwide. Among various provisions, the bills proposed universal mail-in voting, extending ballot acceptance by up to ten days post-election, automatic voter registration, and restoring voting rights to felons. Democrats even pursued eliminating the Electoral College. This effort thankfully failed, albeit barely.
8. Afghanistan
Perhaps no other moment has been more consequential to Biden’s presidency than his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the hopes of having a victory photo-op for the 9/11 anniversary and enhancing his reputation, Biden disregarded warnings from his military advisors and executed a rushed withdrawal. This led to the rapid Taliban takeover and the tragic loss of 13 American service members in a terrorist attack at Kabul Airport. Biden’s approval ratings have never recovered from that failure, which erased all the progress made in a twenty-year war.