Bidens uphill battles against COVID, Putin and populism – Sydney Morning Herald

Meanwhile, rapid antigen and PCR tests are still in short supply despite the White House being warned months ago that it needed to prepare to roll out stock. Federal vaccine mandates for large companies and health facilities are being challenged in court this week, the pandemic-fuelled economy remains fickle, and only 62 per cent of Americans are fully inoculated against COVID - far fewer than the nine out of 10 Australians who are double jabbed.

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Biden also made unity a central plank of his election campaign, portraying himself as a healer-in-chief who could mend the wounds of a deeply fractured nation.

We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature, he said in his inaugural address on January 20.

But Americas divisions didnt start and end with Trump, and the US today still feels as polarised and partisan as ever, on everything from vaccines and voting rights, to the Capitol building attack and critical race theory in schools.

Whats more, simmering tensions between Democratic progressives and moderates have reached boiling point, compounded last month by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchins decision to oppose Bidens $US2 trillion ($2.78 trillion) suite of reforms to healthcare, climate, immigration, education and tax laws.

Manchin, a Democrat centrist, cited concerns about growing federal debt and higher consumer prices as reasons to not support the Build Back Better bill in its current form. Not surprisingly, party progressives such as New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow members of the so-called Squad were livid.

As for the imminent global challenges?

In his first foreign policy speech as President, Biden declared that diplomacy was back, while singling out the advancing authoritarianism of China and Russia as geopolitical priorities.

But diplomacy is a high stakes game for a leader whose approval rating has been in free fall ever since the middle of last year, coinciding with the hasty withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The relationship between the US and Russia was tested again last week, when Biden held a 50-minute telephone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine, ahead of talks between their respective officials this week. They each made threats, Biden warning the US would respond decisively if Russia invaded, while Putin, according to his office, said a breakdown in relations would be a colossal mistake.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden held a 50-minute phone call last week.Credit:AP

These are merely some of the challenges paving the way for a nail-biting midterm election year, which many expect will result in Republicans taking back Congress and further thwarting Bidens first-term agenda.

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After all, history suggests the party that wins the White House is not likely to also control the House of Representatives for a full term. Trump, for example, won office in 2016 but Republicans lost the majority in 2018; Obama became president in 2008 but Republicans took back the chamber in a landslide in 2010.

Boiled down, Democrats currently have 221 votes in the House, while Republicans have 213, and Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi cannot afford to lose more than three votes in the chamber to push through bills.

The 100-member Senate is evenly split, with Vice-President Kamala Harris holding the deciding vote if theres a tie.

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But in a somewhat ominous sign, 23 House Democrats have already announced they will not be seeking re-election this year. Little wonder Republicans are feeling confident about their prospects.

Biden, however, insists he is optimistic about the year ahead, and Democratic strategists say there are indeed good stories to tell: the $US1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that sent much-needed stimulus cheques to millions of people during the pandemic; bipartisan support for a $US1 trillion revamp of the nations infrastructure; the unemployment rate dipping to 4.2 per cent last month.

Maybe so, but much of the message does not appear to be cutting through. The extent to which Democrats can recalibrate and reframe the debate in the next few months will make all the difference for Bidens political fortunes this year and beyond.

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Bidens uphill battles against COVID, Putin and populism - Sydney Morning Herald