Opinion
By Steve Nicklas, 9-9-24
If the economic parody called “Bidenomics” is working, why is Kamala Harris running away from it faster than a criminal migrant being chased by ICE?
In her topsy-turvy run for U.S. president, Harris has been distancing herself from President Joe Biden and his abysmal economic record. This strategy has an undeniable shortcoming, however. Harris is an integral part of the problem.
She is still the vice president, albeit in absentia. It is comical when she campaigns on “a new way forward,” which she and Biden started in January 2021 when they took office. And subsequently squandered it.
“This is like a cook complaining about the food,” cracked Jesse Watters of Fox News. “You cooked it.”
Harris cast the final vote on mega-inflationary spending bills and was the last person in the room during the horrendous evacuation from Afghanistan. Heralded as the border czar, she was tasked with fixing illegal immigration on the southern border. She failed catastrophically. And now denies any responsibility.
Only a month ago, she gloated about Biden’s economic record. “Bidenomics is working,” Harris said matter-of-factly. Come to think of it, she also swore Biden was coherent – until he was ousted in a political coup. (It’s hard to believe someone who supposedly received 81 million votes in the last election is now exiled by his own party.)
Harris is flip-flopping on her positions so frequently that she is being called “Kama-Chameleon,” a play on the Boy George song. She apparently wants a “do-over” from the past four years. Likewise, much of America would like a do-over from the Biden-Harris regime.
The record under Biden and Harris is broken. The numbers are terrifying: some 10 million illegal aliens crossing our borders, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Violent Venezuelan gangs infiltrating cities and towns, accelerating migrant crime. The highest inflation in 40 years.
Seven trillion dollars added to the national debt – and Biden wanted to pile on more before Republicans took control of the House in 2022. A quagmire of overseas wars and tensions under a passive foreign policy. And the list goes on, ad nauseum.
Meanwhile, Harris changes her positions like the sun in the sky. She has more faces than Mount Rushmore. She has reversed positions on everything from plastic straws to electric-vehicle mandates to “Medicare for all” to illegal border crossings. She even wants to continue building a wall along the southern border now.
Despite an adoring national media, Harris hides. She is employing a similar “basement strategy” that worked for Biden. She now wears ear buds so she can’t hear questions yelled out by reporters. She has done only one interview – which was recorded – since being anointed the Democrat presidential candidate.
“The bottom line is that her flip-flops and her record during the 2020 presidential campaign can’t stand up to scrutiny,” says conservative commentator Katie Pavlich. “She’s more of a liability on the campaign trail, in a press conference, than she would be just hiding behind the scenes and not taking questions.”
The “unbiased” media is a willing participant. According to surveys, 90 percent of the media coverage of Harris has been positive; it’s exactly the opposite for opponent Donald Trump. And the media complies with Harris changing her positions and beliefs.
“An election is coming and she has to change her mind,” says Greg Gutfeld of Fox News. “Which leads to the bigger question. If you’re changing your mind because a majority of voters who reside in the sensible middle prefer those positions, why don’t you take those positions in times when there aren’t elections?”
Maybe Harris is onto something by trashing “Bidenomics.” By many accounts, it deserves a place in the trash bin of history.
Steve Nicklas is a financial advisor on Amelia Island and an award-winning columnist. His columns appear in weekly newspapers in Northeast Florida. He has published a book of his favorite columns, “All About Money.” He has also done financial reports for area radio stations. He can be reached at 904-753-0236 at [email protected].
