[Biden's First Year in Office] "Only Virus and Division Remain"... Shutdown Crisis

800,000 Daily COVID-19 Cases Overwhelm Response
Republicans and Democrats' Conflict Intensifies
Employment Rises but Labor Shortage and Inflation Deepen
Escalating Tensions with China and Russia
Afghan Withdrawal Push Adds to Chaos

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] "Only the COVID-19 virus and division remain."

This is the assessment by the U.S. AP News on the achievements of President Joe Biden's first year in office. The COVID-19 situation, which seemed to be improving, actually worsened, and soaring inflation made life difficult for ordinary citizens. Although he promised to heal political conflicts, even within the ruling Democratic Party, voices were not unified.

Diplomatically, conflicts with China and Russia escalated, and the forced withdrawal from Afghanistan raised concerns that it only increased chaos.

President Biden's approval rating in his first year in office has already plummeted to historically low levels. If he fails to turn things around by the midterm elections in November, which are 10 months away, experts predict that the latter half of the Biden administration is likely to face even more difficulties.

◇ Failing to advance key national agendas emphasized at the inauguration = At last year's inauguration, President Biden presented COVID-19, climate change, economic reconstruction, racial discrimination improvement, and the restoration of democracy as core national agendas, emphasizing, "Let's end the (political) civil war. We can overcome the virus." However, the reality one year later was bleak.

Currently, more than 800,000 new COVID-19 infections occur daily in the United States. Thanks to vaccines, hospitalization and death rates have decreased, but the Delta and Omicron variants hit the U.S. hard, and the Biden administration could not avoid criticism for its lack of preparedness for the emergence of variants.

In New York and New Jersey, since the end of last year, people have had to wait in line for hours to get COVID-19 tests. Due to insufficient testing capacity, it takes a week to receive results. Self-test kits were also sold out. President Biden belatedly promised to provide 500 million free self-test kits, but expectations are low that this promise will be fulfilled on time.

Public opinion is spreading that the government's response has been complacent in this situation. The ambitious policy to mandate vaccinations for private companies was struck down by the federal Supreme Court. The campaign promise made by President Biden, "I will shut down the virus, not the country," remains an empty echo.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

American democracy has not improved significantly either. President Biden failed to resolve conflicts with the Republican Party as well as confusion within the Democratic Party.

Although President Biden claimed that cooperation was possible, having served as a senator for over 30 years, the only issue on which the Republicans cooperated was a $1 trillion infrastructure investment bill.

Instead, conflicts within the Democratic Party grew. Conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema repeatedly hindered the White House. Without their cooperation, President Biden cannot implement any policies.

The progressive camp is also dissatisfied. Progressive representatives such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pressured for social infrastructure investment, but no results were achieved.

Experts' views on President Biden are no different. Karl Gilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said, "President Biden is stable but not a strong leader."

Social conflicts in the U.S. have not been resolved. One week before his first anniversary in office, President Biden visited Atlanta, Georgia, which played a decisive role in his administration and the Democratic Party securing the Senate majority, and said, "The war for the soul of America is not over." He admitted that the promises he declared a year ago have not been fulfilled.

◇ Employment increased but inflation and supply chain disruptions persist = President Biden has been obsessed with monthly employment figures since taking office, believing that employment growth would lead to higher approval ratings. Employment figures moved as expected. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, close to pre-COVID-19 levels.

However, another crisis is pressuring President Biden: labor shortages and inflation. American companies still struggle with labor shortages. Ordinary people complain that their livelihoods are difficult. Inflation, which soared to 7%, is considered the worst in 40 years.

President Biden praised himself whenever employment showed good signs but only claimed that inflation was temporary. A major foreign media outlet evaluated that expectations were high for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chair, but she also lost market trust by insisting that inflation was controllable.

The Great Resignation phenomenon in the U.S. has worsened labor shortages, and concerns are widespread that wage increases will further drive inflation. Many argue that immigration should be increased to fill the labor shortage, but immigration law reform is difficult to pass in Congress.

Criticism that the response to supply chain disruptions was inadequate is unavoidable. Although the supply chain chaos was already known, the White House only called private companies such as Samsung in October, just before the year-end shopping season, to seek solutions to the logistics crisis.

The British daily The Guardian said, "President Biden's goal of healing division has encountered barriers such as the spread of COVID-19 and conflicts over mask and vaccine mandates, as well as the expansion of racial conflicts." While President Biden struggles with chaos, former President Donald Trump has begun moves to run for the 2024 presidential election. This means that America's turmoil is ongoing and could spread further.