Media narratives are driven by trajectory.
Things get better or worse. People rise and fall. Maybe there is an upstart sensation who threatens the establishment. Maybe there is a spectacular fall from grace. Maybe there is a comeback. Regardless of the story, the direction of movement is what matters.
Joe Biden got caught in one of those narratives: that things were going badly and people were losing confidence. Then, of course, the polls backed up that narrative, which provided a patina of proof.
But the truth is that news narratives and polls are symbiotic. The narratives help shape what people believe, which is then captured by the polls, and those polling results are then fed back into news narratives as separate, objective and independent fact.
“Joe Biden can’t catch a break” was a neat narrative. Every new disappointing data point fit snugly within it. But reality doesn’t play by media rules. It is often much more nuanced.
As legendary football coach Lou Holtz once put it: “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”
Biden has had some bad months, to be sure, but there is no way to get around the fact the last month or so has been stellar for the administration.
On the economic front, gas prices have fallen for 50 consecutive days (as of last Wednesday), down 86 cents from the record average high of $5.02 on June 14, according to CNN. The jobs market has also shown incredible resilience. Friday’s jobs report alone far outpaced expectations.
There are challenges. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation increased “9.1% for the 12 months ending June, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending November 1981.” This doesn’t invalidate that Biden has had a good month; it only underscores the complexities of any news story.
On the legislative front, in June, Biden signed the most significant federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. Two weeks ago, his big spending bill, Build Back Better, which everyone thought was dead, was resurrected in the trimmed-down form of the Inflation Reduction Act. Now, all Senate Democrats have gotten behind the bill, and it has passed in that body.
There are foreign policy wins, like the killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan and the overwhelming vote in the Senate in favor of expanding NATO to include Finland and Sweden, a direct reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here, again, there are challenges. For instance, tensions are heating up with China, particularly after a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Then, there is the uber issue of the Supreme Court striking down the right to an abortion. Many have accused the White House of not reacting strongly enough. But it appears that the issue has roused some otherwise disinterested or dispassionate voters and may help Democrats to hold off a massive wave of Republican wins in the midterms.
The White House must shift its messaging, from defensive to offensive. The administration must seize this moment and not be shy about shouting about its wins.
This is one area in which Donald Trump succeeded: boasting. When he was campaigning in 2016, he claimed that if he was elected, people might even “get tired of winning.”
We now know that the Trump presidency was a disaster that nearly destroyed the country, but, if a failure like Trump can crow about all he did, even when the evidence wasn’t there, then surely Biden can find a way to do a little crowing of his own, particularly during one of the most successful stretches of his presidency.
Biden, you did it. Boast about it.
The New York Times