Tuesday, June 15, 2021

A 2022 Backlash?

Charles Kolb served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1990-1992 in the George H.W. Bush White House. In a piece at The Daily Caller he lists a number of reasons why he thinks the Democrats will face a voter backlash in 2022. Here's his list:
  • Biden’s immigration and border policies have brought an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants, eviscerating border security.
  • Ransomware attacks against major American companies and cities are increasing.
  • Violent crime is surging.
  • “Defund the Police” initiatives are increasingly unpopular with citizens of all races.
  • Inflation (which may not be temporary) is rising rapidly in commodities, housing, groceries, and elsewhere.
  • Biden proposes massive new federal spending and record deficits while taking a huge gamble that interest rates will remain near zero.
  • “Woke” policies on college campuses, in schools, hiring, the media and elsewhere are contrary to how most Americans view themselves and our nation.
  • Critical race theory is prompting more American parents to abandon public schools in favor of greater parental choice, including charter and religious schools.
  • Recent polls show more and more Hispanic voters shifting away from the Democrats’ agenda.
  • The vaguely defined “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts underway in many workplaces are raising new questions about whether Americans want equality of opportunity or equality of results.
  • If the civil-rights movement evolves into a demand for reparations based on the sins of slavery, Americans will become further divided.
Kolb could've mentioned more, I think, but perhaps the biggest liability the Democrats face in 2022 is that their leadership simply doesn't inspire. Biden and Harris won in 2020 because Biden wasn't Trump and many who voted for him thought he'd be moderate and competent. He's turned out, however, to be neither of these, and his running mate seems almost a political non-entity.

Without Trump on the ticket to arouse Democrats' passions will enthusiasm for Biden and Harris be enough to motivate Democratic voters to turn out to cast their ballot for congressional candidates? A follow-up question, assuming the Republicans take back the House and maybe the Senate in 2022, is how much harm will this administration's lurch to the far left do to the country before that happens?