President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party finally have a plan to get inflation under control and address the economic anxiety felt by millions of Americans. It's not a plan in the conventional sense, but rather a public relations campaign to convince the American people that "despite their current misgivings, the economy is actually doing quite well."
Inflation is soaring and gas prices are through the roof, but Americans are wrong to be concerned about the direction of the country, the president and his allies will argue this month. Politico reports that Biden has assembled a team of experts and professional communicators to make the case that, actually, the economy is good. The White House effort to "communicate on our accomplishments" kicked off on Monday with a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which Biden touted his stewardship of "the most robust recovery in modern history" and cited a bunch of macroeconomic statistics to make his case.
Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans don't think Biden is doing a good job handling the economy. These Americans are wrong, Biden argued in his op-ed. "According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. economy will be larger at the end of this year—relative to its prepandemic size—than any other Group of 7 economy," he wrote. Maybe that will convince them. In case the op-ed wasn't compelling enough to change hearts and minds, Biden will deliver remarks in response to the May jobs report on Friday that will highlight "the remarkable progress we've made."
The dubious public relations campaign is in keeping with the Democratic Party's longstanding belief that all of their electoral problems could be solved by simply explaining to skeptical voters that they have no good reason to be skeptical. It is also indicative of a White House in disarray. Biden is reportedly furious at his subordinates for failing to come up with a winning message ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and White House chief of staff Ron Klain is rumored to be on the chopping block. Anita Dunn, a longtime Biden aide who once provided "damage control advice" to disgraced Hollywood rapist Harvey Weinstein, could take his place after the midterms.