On Monday’s MTP Daily, fill-in co-host Garrett Haake and a panel of liberal pundits lamented that President Biden was not seeing a “Zelenskyy bounce” in the polls for his handling of the war Ukraine. For some reason they thought the overwhelming popularity of the heroic Ukrainian leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should transfer to Biden.
“President Biden’s not getting a Zelenskyy bounce. And when you look at the polling, it’s kind of fascinating,” a puzzled Haake observed. While poll numbers appeared on screen, the frustrated anchor proclaimed: “Biden’s wartime policies are popular, but he’s not getting the credit for them....Why doesn’t Joe Biden get credit for doing the popular things Joe Biden does?”
Left-wing activist and Voto Latino president Maria Theresa Kumar whined that Biden was not getting enough credit on a whole “list” of supposed accomplishments: “Well, we could say that, why didn’t he get that bounce right after the infrastructure bill? I mean you actually have a list.”
Haake strategized on how Biden could get that elusive “bounce” in the polls: “...the White House is thinking of sending the President to Europe. I mean, is that the kind of thing that he might capture the Zelenskyy bounce there for taking credit for the things that have been his idea?”
Kumar gushed: “...I think that by going to Europe, he’s going to demonstrate once again that America is back, that leadership is back, and that you can trust our word....And the American people, I think, will follow the lead.”
At that point in the discussion, PBS NewsHour chief Washington correspondent Geoff Bennett, formerly of NBC News, chimed in with this puffery: “I might sound a little Pollyanna-ish, but sometimes presidential leadership is its own reward.” Kumar immediately agreed: “Exactly right.” Bennett continued his fawning: “The history books might reward President Biden’s leadership here in ways that voters may not come November and beyond.”
The reporter then chastised his media colleagues for supposedly being unfair to Biden:
...and the White House also, I think, blames those of us in the media, present company excluded, for shifting the goalposts. That for a year the question was, can this administration get its arms around and wrestle down this 100-year pandemic? And now that the pandemic is shifting, God willing, to an endemic, the question is all about inflation and gas prices.
Moments later, Haake hoped: “...is this the kind of thing that could Democrats capture that sentiment and run on Ukraine and management, foreign policy management, all these issues we’ve talked about as perhaps that solves their messaging problem?”
Kumar responded with a rambling answer in which she tried to equate the invasion of Ukraine with Donald Trump’s presidency and Republican voting reform laws:
Well, I think one place where a lot of Democrats are unique compared to Republicans, is that when Trump was in office, Democrats – Democratic voters felt that our democracy was in trouble. When the President talks about autocracy versus democracy, they understood that the dismantling of our institutions, access to the voting booth, you can go on and on. And so, if he messages that way, that we are living a 21st Century moment of who is going to win and our sacrifice to ensure that democracy’s not eroded abroad and does not come home...
Amid all of the death and destruction in Ukraine, MSNBC is still plotting a way for Democrats to get some kind of political benefit out of the horror of war.
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Here is a transcript of the March 14 panel discussion:
1:49 PM ET
(...)
GARRETT HAAKE: Maria, it is interesting, and Rick [Tyler] made this point that President Biden’s not getting a Zelenskyy bounce. And when you look at the polling, it’s kind of fascinating. We’re gonna put some numbers from Navigator on the screen. Biden’s wartime policies are popular, but he’s not getting the credit for them. I mean, it’s fascinating to me the way these numbers are shaking out. Why doesn’t Joe Biden get credit for doing the popular things Joe Biden does?
MARIA THERESA KUMAR [PRESIDENT & CEO, VOTO LATINO]: Well, we could say that, why didn’t he get that bounce right after the infrastructure bill? I mean you actually have a list. And I think part of it is that one thing that the Biden administration knows how to do so well is that they know what levers to pull inside Congress. He was a legislator for so long, he knows how to pass things quickly when it came to Ukraine. He knows how the sausage is made.
But I do think that his challenge in this administration has been constantly communicating to the American people what is happening. And what he doesn’t want to repeat is what happened in the 1970s. Our generation has never seen inflation historically.
(...)
1:51 PM ET
KUMAR: But they’re missing that beat, so they actually could read the historic tea leaves. And one of the things that sadly that [Jimmy] Carter did not do was constantly communicate to the American people of the why. And if Biden can go head and center and start talking about the why and at the same time go into the place – and I think we discussed this last time – go into communities where the Republicans vetoed, decided not to vote for the infrastructure bill, and actually go in there and say, “This ribbon cutting is because I, the President of the United States, is bringing jobs back [sic].” But inflation is going to be the biggest thing for him.
HAAKE: Well, I’m curious then, when it comes to sending the President somewhere, what do you make of this reporting that we broke here at NBC, that he’s thinking – the White House is thinking of sending the President to Europe. I mean, is that the kind of thing that he might capture the Zelenskyy bounce there for taking credit for the things that have been his idea?
KUMAR: Well, one of the – again, one of the things that we haven’t – we’ve again under-reported is the fact that he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He understands this idea of a complicated world. And then he became vice president and knows a lot of these leaders and the people behind it.
Tony Blinken has done a fantastic job, and I think that by going to Europe, he’s going to demonstrate once again that America is back, that leadership is back, and that you can trust our word. And that, in itself is huge when it comes to soft power. And the American people, I think, will follow the lead. But we need to compete it [sic].
GEOFF BENNETT [PBS NEWSHOUR CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT]: Can I say something? I might sound a little Pollyanna-ish, but sometimes presidential leadership is its own reward.
KUMAR: Exactly right.
HAAKE: Aww. [Laughter]
BENNETT: The history books might reward President Biden’s leadership here in ways that voters may not come November and beyond. And to your great point about how the White House doesn’t necessarily have its act together on messaging. President Biden said that himself to a gathering of Democrats on Friday. He said you ask the American people what the American Rescue Plan is, and they say, “What the heck is that?” Although he didn’t say heck. [Laughter]
And so, you know, it’s – and the White House also, I think, blames those of us in the media, present company excluded, for shifting the goalposts. That for a year the question was, can this administration get its arms around and wrestle down this 100-year pandemic? And now that the pandemic is shifting, God willing, to an endemic, the question is all about inflation and gas prices.
HAAKE: Well, you want to talk about context here. Let’s rewind the tape a little further. You and I covered the first Trump impeachment together, which was all about Ukraine. It just seems like it’s been completely memory-holed.
(...)
1:55 PM ET
HAAKE: Maria, every time you’re on, I like write down six times and underline “inflation.” But IU wonder, I mean, is this the kind of thing that could Democrats capture that sentiment and run on Ukraine and management, foreign policy management, all these issues we’ve talked about as perhaps that solves their messaging problem?
KUMAR: Well, I think one place where a lot of Democrats are unique compared to Republicans, is that when Trump was in office, Democrats – Democratic voters felt that our democracy was in trouble. When the President talks about autocracy versus democracy, they understood that the dismantling of our institutions, access to the voting booth, you can go on and on. And so, if he messages that way, that we are living a 21st Century moment of who is going to win and our sacrifice to ensure that democracy’s not eroded abroad and does not come home is going to be inflationary. Because it’s going to be – we’re going to be talking about gas prices going up, we’re going to be talking about food going up. You know, Ukraine and Russia are the bread baskets of so many people. And if they – if he explains it – and he has to explain it now.
(...)
