Cal Thomas - Walk forward better

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday March 31st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Here now is commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: When you’re in trouble, change the subject. It’s an old Washington political trick.

When a president’s poll numbers are low and falling; when the economy has produced the worst inflation in four decades and gas prices in some states have reached record highs; when the president claims we should expect food shortages; and when he produces gaffes instead of gas and then refuses to walk them back, even after aides have tried to correct him, change the subject.

While Biden attempts to persuade us that we are experiencing the best economy in decades, we know otherwise. We should not focus on bad things, he tells us, but look to his budget proposal for fiscal 2023! He claims it will lower the deficit and do all sorts of things for us, while imposing a wealth tax on those evil “billionaires” who just haven’t been paying their “fair share.”

I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times before: The federal government is taking in more cash than ever. It’s the spending that produces deficits and grows the debt. Biden never mentions the debt, nor does he think a single government program or agency should be cut or eliminated.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial suggests Biden’s economic pivot to the left is a bid to “fire-up sullen progressives in November.” No doubt!

The president is again trying to include in this budget monstrosity money to pay for lawyers to assist undocumented immigrants who have broken our laws to get into the country. It’s something he proposed a year ago but couldn’t get through Congress along with the rest of his “Build Back Better” legislation. Hopefully, when Republicans take over one or both legislative branches in the November elections, many of these spending ideas will never again see the light of day.

Two polls demonstrate the deep hole the president has dug for himself and his party. A Gallup poll shows him with the lowest approval rating of his presidency: 40 percent. An NBC News poll found “7 in 10 Americans expressed low confidence in President Joe Biden’s ability to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…and 8 in 10 voiced worry that the war will increase gas prices and possibly involve nuclear weapons.”

Those impressions are unlikely to reverse before November, especially since progressives hope to use high gas prices to drive us into electric vehicles. On average, those cost $40,000 dollars, a price many Americans can’t afford.

It’s now up to Republicans. They should not just point out the obvious failures of the Biden presidency, but propose solutions to reverse disastrous foreign and domestic policies. Maybe they could call it “walk forward better.”

I’m Cal Thomas.

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