Joe Biden has been stuck in a bad news cycle, says Charles Blow in The New York Times. Media outlets drone on about voters losing confidence in him, with every disappointing poll providing a “patina of proof”. But this doom-laden narrative is out of date: the President has enjoyed a “stellar” few weeks. Fuel prices have fallen for 58 consecutive days. Job growth has “far outpaced expectations”. Biden has signed the “most significant federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years”, and last week the Senate passed his epic climate, tax and healthcare bill.
He is also racking up foreign policy wins. The CIA finally killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri after two decades of hunting him down. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to stand up to Russia by letting Finland and Sweden join Nato; the Russians themselves have suggested a potential prisoner swap that would free American basketball player Brittney Griner. The repeal of Roe v Wade, while a “gutting disappointment”, has galvanised liberal voters ahead of the midterm elections in November. Kansas, a state that voted strongly for Trump in 2020, last week “voted even more strongly” to protect abortion rights. Biden’s administration “must seize this moment” and make sure voters know about these wins. If Trump could “crow about all he did” as the country fell apart around him, Biden’s remarkable summer surely entitles him to “a little crowing of his own”.