Biden’s Excuses For His Many Failures Are Getting Worn Out

Throughout the summer and into the beginning of fall, Joe Biden’s presidency has been marred by a number of debacles. For example, he is constantly changing his stance on the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the disastrous withdrawal of the military from Afghanistan, a potential government shutdown, fighting among Democrats over the Build Back Better plan, a bipartisan infrastructure bill, the border crisis, and many more.

“What do you say to Americans who say that you have not delivered on that promise?” NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked Biden on Friday, citing the president’s “message of competence and unity” when he first took office.

The president began his answer by making excuses and deferring blame.

“I said it’s going to take me a year to deliver everything I’m looking at here,” he said.

Almost immediately Biden laid blame on former President Donald Trump saying that Americans need to “take a look at what he inherited” when he took office. “When I came into office, the state of affairs, and where we were: We had four million people vaccinated. We had no plan. We had – I mean, I can go down the list,” Biden said.

Biden’s approval rating has taken a significant hit as well. According to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday, his approval rating is at 43% – a low for his presidency and six points lower than that of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Biden administration continually blames former president Trump for current crises including the COVID-19 vaccines and the nightmare at the border.

Biden touted his economic plan claiming that it is “overwhelmingly popular” saying the difficulty in getting it passed is that “not everybody knows what’s in the plan.” He claimed it has all the answers Americans are looking for and that “at the end of the day” the plan will get it done.

The president defended the cost, which has been scrutinized by some Democrats, such as Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin who expressed concern over the $3.5 trillion budget plan and cautioned that it would have “grave consequences” for future generations.

“It’s simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession – not an economy that is on the verge of overheating,” Manchin said in August.

Publicly, the White House has downplayed those concerns. White House Director of the National Economic Council Brian Reese said that the reports that Manchin had given a definite no on the bill were untrue.

Biden also defended the budget concerns saying Friday that the cost is “going to be zero.”

“You know, people, understandably say, ‘Well, you know, it started off at $6 trillion, now it’s $3.5 trillion. Now it’s – is it going to be $2.9? Is it…It’s going to be zero. Zero,” Biden said. “Because in the – in that plan that I put forward – and I said from the outset – I said, “I’m running to change the dynamic of how the economy grows.”

“It’s all paid for. It’s all paid for,” he added.

Biden pointed out that he “hadn’t planned on” the number of natural disasters that have befallen America in the past few months. Americans have been hit by hurricanes, mass floods and wildfires. At the same time, Biden said that he “kind of anticipated it might happen.”

“And so, what I had hoped I would be doing, I do what I did in the campaign: I’d be out making the case about what my plan proposal contained. And it’s been very much curtailed by a whole range of things,” he said.

The president allowed that it’s “understandable” that Americans are “frustrated” and cited that it’s not only members of Congress saying that they “thought this was going to be better.” He briefly touched on Afghanistan, telling reporters that he expects it to come up in his meeting with leaders of Japan, India and Australia.

“So, I guess, I think it’s a totally legit – obviously, it’s a legitimate question you’ve asked – but I think, putting into context here, it’s going to take some time here,” the president answered.