David Axelrod, the political consultant best known for his work as chief strategist for the successful campaigns of former President Barack Obama, recently expressed frustration with President Joe Biden’s economic messaging, saying that his tactics were driving him “crazy.”
Biden is currently running for reelection and is the presumptive 2024 nominee for the Democratic Party, setting up a likely 2020 rematch in November against the presumptive GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump. Despite his conservative opponents frequently claiming that the economy has withered under his leadership, Biden has made the topic of economic growth during his term a key point of his reelection pitch.
Under the Biden administration, the United States has seen consistent job growth as it emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the most recent Labor Department report finding that 303,000 new jobs were created in March, bringing unemployment down to 3.8 percent. Last February, the unemployment rate hit its lowest point in over 50 years, 3.4 percent. Biden has overseen considerable drops in inflation and gas prices since they spiked in 2022, though the metrics remain temperamental. The Dow Jones stock market index also hit its highest point in U.S. history in late February.
Despite this, perceptions about the economy among working-class voters have remained grim. Biden’s supporters have often pinned this discrepancy on persistent media narratives about economic troubles that have failed to credit the president for his successes. Others have countered, pointing out that working-class people are still struggling with high prices in the areas that most impact their daily lives, such as groceries, housing, and automotive costs.
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Among those criticizing Biden’s economic messaging has been Axelrod, his one-time ally from his days as vice president in the Obama administration. During an interview with Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol last week, the political consultant said that Biden’s economic message “drives [him] crazy,” and urged him to adopt one that is more empathetic with the struggles of the working class, while still touting his economic accomplishments.
The remarks came in response to a recent comment Biden gave to NBC’s Today when asked by Al Roker about people’s concerns that their economic prospects are dwindling, to which the president said, “I would tell [them] we’ve got the strongest economy in the world.”
“That is the wrong strategy,” Axelrod said about Biden’s response. “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. 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, [and] 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.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.