Biden’s Afghanistan Speech Fails to Fool America
His approval numbers are plummeting and taking his party’s 2022 prospects with them.
by David Catron
September 5, 2021, 11:12 PM
President Biden’s address to the nation concerning his surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban was obviously a desperate attempt to convince the public that it wasn’t the disaster we watched in real time. The actual effect of his weirdly belligerent speech was to confirm that he is unable to grasp the military and foreign policy complexities associated with his role as Commander in Chief. This has sent his approval numbers into a nosedive from which it will be difficult to recover. A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, for example, shows his approval rating at an all time low of 44 percent and that only a third of Americans believe he handled Afghanistan properly.
A new ABC/Washington Post survey shows Biden with a comparably dismal overall rating and even worse numbers on Afghanistan. According to that poll, only 26 percent of U.S. adults approve of his management of the withdrawal. The most significant overall damage has been among Independents, whose disapproval of Biden has risen from 43 to 57 percent. Several other recent polls, including NPR/PBS/Marist and Rasmussen, also show the bottom falling out of his approval ratings. This is about more than the Afghanistan debacle itself. It is clearly connected to ludicrous claims Biden made about it during last week’s speech. As Alex Thompson and Christopher Cadelago phrase it at Politico,
Biden’s remarks served as the latest instance of the president digging his heels in on Afghanistan in the face of an unprecedented wave of criticism from traditional allies in the Democratic Party and the media. In fact, Biden has appeared more resolute and defensive the louder his critics became, appearing convinced that voters and history will ultimately reward him for ending the war despite the chaotic withdrawal.… The drawdown of the war in Afghanistan represents the most significant failure Biden has confronted in his presidency — one where he repeatedly failed to meet his lofty promises and flawed predictions.
more
https://spectator.org/bidens-afghanistan-speech-fails-to-fool-america/
