A former official for then-President Barack Obama who also interacted quite a bit at the time with then-Vice President Joe Biden had some hard words for the current commander-in-chief.
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod criticized President Biden’s economic strategies, expressing frustration over the president’s attempts to “extol the miracle” of his economy while many Americans struggle to afford groceries and other essentials, Fox News reported.
Axelrod appeared on Bill Kristol’s podcast and said the president’s strategy would not work.
“I wouldn’t go out there and extol the miracle of the Biden economy. It just drives me crazy when he does that,” Axelrod said.
Axelrod pointed out Biden’s Easter interview with Al Roker, arguing that the president’s emphasis on the “strongest economy in the world” was the wrong strategy.
“Instead of sort of doing what you’d expect Joe Biden to do, because he’s a person of empathy who grew up in a working class circumstance, and identify with the concern, he said, ‘You know, I’d tell them we’ve got the strongest economy in the world and, you know, we’re…’ — and he continues to do that. That is the wrong strategy,” Axelrod said.
Axelrod said Biden should put himself on the side of working people, Fox noted.
“The right strategy is to say, ‘Look, we’ve made a lot of progress from the day I walked in the door as a country and I’m proud of our country for fighting through this pandemic and getting her back to where we’ve got this much employment,” Axelrod continued.
“‘But the fact is, the way people experience this economy is the way I did when I was growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. How much did you pay for the groceries? How do you afford the gas, the rent? And these continue to be a problem and I’m fighting that fight’… So I think he needs to put himself on the side of working people in their economic fight here,” Axelrod said.
Axelrod suggested that the president consider whether it was “wise” for him to remain in the presidential race, as Biden was trailing former President Trump in several hypothetical election matchups, including several important swing states, Fox added.
“Bottom line, be more like Joe from Scranton and less like President Biden from Washington,” he said. “Because those are the voters, Bill, who are going to decide this election. Working class people, Black, White and Hispanic, who are very much scuffling still in an economy that has improved. “