Misinformation is Hurting Biden

Misinformation is always a problem in elections.  Specifically, misinformation generated by Republicans about themselves and Democrats.  And as I’ve written previously, both in my book, We Still Hold These Truth, and in blog posts, Democrats have been amazingly ineffective at setting the matter straight for the voters.

Why do Republicans always do this?  The answer is that they know that if the voters knew the truth about them, they would lose national elections because their policies do not in fact support the middle and lower classes, whether white, hispanic, or black.  They are hypocrites posing as the party of the people, and they are expert at this deception.  Unfortunately, they have been very successful in this deception, never more so than under the leadership of Trump.

Democrats must find a way of getting most Republican-leaning voters to understand (forget Trump’s core base - they are lost) that Republicans are not the party of the people.  That they promote policies that support corporations and the upper classes.  A new stump speech must be developed; and a scorecard should be developed showing key measures that support the middle class and poor and Republicans’ position against those measures.

In the current presidential election, there are two major matters of misinformation that have to be countered by Biden and Democrats.  Admittedly, these are not matters that the Republicans can be blamed for.

First, many voters blame Biden for current interest rates and high prices.  This is not unusual - the sitting president is typically blamed or gets credit for current economic conditions, regardless of the actual facts.

When Democrats argue the economy, they tend to focus on jobs and unemployment.  But Democrats must recognize something – it doesn’t matter that the economy by most measures is strong, the job market good, unemployment down, we have not gone into the expected recession. Why do these facts not matter?  Because the middle class and poor are suffering from high prices, and high interest rates make it impossible for them to get the loans that they need..  That is what concerns them most and will impact their voting.  That the economy is strong is irrelevant to them

So while it’s fine to tout Biden’s credit for jobs, their focus must be on saying to voters, “We feel your pain; we know how you are suffering from high prices and interest rates.  Unfortunately these are matters beyond the control of any president.”  They must make clear that while Biden policy initiatives can take some credit for the strong job market and lower unemployment, not only is he not responsible for inflation and high interest rates, but there is virtually nothing he can do about either.  It is instead a function of corporate greed.

Corporations in most areas of commerce found during the pandemic that the old laws of supply and demand no longer apply; that they can raise their prices and have almost no impact on sales - people will pay the increased prices.  And so greed has led them to increase prices far beyond what is justified by their costs and so increase their profits.  Which is good for increasing share prices and thus investor wealth.

So what can the President do to set the matter straight?  He can point the finger of blame where it is appropriate - at corporations.  And which party is the main supporter of corporations and their desire to be free of any regulation?  Republicans.

Regarding high interest rates, that is within the sole control of the Federal Reserve and there is no way for Biden to influence their decisions.  They are historically and legally independent in their mission and authority.  That is a fact and Biden must make that clear.  And here too, the reason why the Fed's high interest rates have not had much of an impact on inflation is because corporate greed is not impacted by interest rates; regardless how high the interest rate, corporations will raise prices out of greed.

Second, a just-out poll reveals a truly shocking finding:  17% of voters nationally blame President BIden for the reversal of Roe v Wade.  This is shocking because Republicans, quite accurately, have taken credit for this reversal; it is something they have fought for for years and Trump as president appointed justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse Roe.

So how can such a large percentage of voters be so confused of something so clear?  The only thing I can think of is that, as with the economy, Biden is the sitting president and so uninformed people are blaming him for the Supreme Court’s reversal.

What can the Democrats do?  They must do even more - they are already focused on this - to pin the blame for Roe’s reversal squarely on Trump by focusing on his nominations to the Supreme Court.  The speeches and ads they have developed are obviously not effective enough or are not reaching this uninformed audience.

There is no question in my mind that if voters knew the truth, Biden would win the election handily.  That must be Biden’s and the Democrats’ task.

Israel's Self-Inflicted Damage

The response by Israel to Spain's, Norway's, and Iceland's recent recognition of Palestine have been predictable.  “A reward for terrorism" has been the criticism and Israel has halted the disbursement of Palestinian tax revenue.

Recognition by these member-states of the EU is not a reward for terrorism.  It is a rebuke of Israel for its overreaching response to the acknowledged horrific Hamas attack of October 7.  It has gone far beyond “an eye for an eye” to unrestricted warfare.

As I stated in my recent post, "The Palestinian/Israel Conflict - A Reality Check"  the international community (at the least the western part) was behind Israel after the attack.  And it understood why Israel had to make a military response.

But as the response turned into a new war and civilian deaths mounted, together with wide-spread destruction and a humanitarian crisis, the sympathy of the world, including a significant portion of the West's population, went to the suffering Palestinians.

What to do when you, either as an individual or a country, strongly support the state of Israel, but have serious problems with its actions.  I must note that this is not just a problem of the current Netanyahu government.  This is a problem that has existed with all Likud-leaded governments and they have been in power for all but 9 years since 1977.  

The international community can no longer ignore what has long been clear - that the current and former Likud-led Israeli governments have and have had no intention to even minimally protecting Palestinians and their interests in the “occupied territories.”  And they have intentionally made the two-state solution almost impossible geographically.

Israeli governments have long snubbed both the international community and international law in its continued occupation of and expansive settlement policies in the West Bank.  Recognition is the one symbolic tool countries have to indicate the extent of their disapproval of Israeli government policy, of a country they otherwise wholeheartedly support.  Would Israel rather countries take more direct action?