Biden’s WaPo Headache

Joe Biden and MBS
Photo: Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
July 15, 2022

It has presumably been one of the longest years of Joe Biden’s life. After a historic presidential victory, a democracy-enshrining rebuttal of January 6th, the professional management of Covid, and some historic legislation, the president has been beset by one political headache after another—Afghanistan, Joe Manchin, Omicron, a slowing economy, inflation, historically high gas prices, and the faint murmurs, louder by the day, that his age disqualifies him from re-election. As my Puck partner Tara Palmeri has noted, the return to the White House of Anita Dunn, the Obama-era messaging guru and SKDK principal, has recently made Biden seem more active and visible, but that’s hardly boosted a 33 percent approval rating.