During CBS’s election coverage on Wednesday, “CBS Evening News” host and Managing Editor Norah O’Donnell responded to criticism of President Joe Biden predicting that inflation would be transitory by saying that “Well, in three years, he did bring inflation down from 9% down to 3%.” And CBS “Face the Nation” host and CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan declared, “The facts were in Joe Biden’s favor. The facts were in Kamala Harris’ favor on the economy.”
CBS News Chief Political analyst, host, Senior National Correspondent, and “CBS Sunday Morning” Contributor John Dickerson stated, “[T]here’s never been a modern campaign I can think of that was able to change the numbers on the economy when they were bad, no matter how great an orator you were, it can’t be done.”
Brennan then stated, “But he also told — the President, not Vice President Harris — but the President told the public it was transitory, that it was going to go away quickly, gave them the impression of that, right? Again, an academic textbook definition of transitory, not the real world.”
O’Donnell then said, “Well, in three years, he did bring inflation down from 9% down to 3%.”
CBS News Senior White House and Political Correspondent Ed O’Keefe then stated, “But it wasn’t fast enough.”
Brennan responded, “Right. It’s the messaging around it.”
Dickerson then said, “Well, it wasn’t fast enough for voters.” Which Brennan and O’Donnell agreed with.
Dickerson added, “[I]t set the record in the world for recovery from the pandemic.”
O’Keefe responded that voters don’t care.
O’Donnell then stated, “I read The Wall Street Journal every day, and in the past week, there were so many articles, the United States’ economy is the envy of the world, GDP growth, Donald Trump, whoever becomes president will be inheriting an economy that is on fire. It is roaring. It is awesome. And while some people may not feel it just yet, it is a great economy and it is the envy of the world.”
Brennan responded, “Yes, but that’s not the argument that Trump is making. It’s, your jobs are going away in Western Pennsylvania because they want to restrict the energy industry. It wasn’t, — we are the dominant economy in the world. The argument being made wasn’t around that. It’s almost like an experience argument. It’s a messaging thing. The facts were in Joe Biden’s favor. The facts were in Kamala Harris’ favor on the economy. But the explanation and the messaging, even just this past week, the speaker of the House coming out and saying and then kind of walking back that they would repeal the CHIPS Act, that massive investment, that was bipartisan, in a tremendous way, because it was viewed as investing here to ward off China if they tried to cut off the world’s access to computer chips in Taiwan.”
O’Donnell cut in to state, “And an investment in manufacturing.”
Brennan responded, “And an investment in manufacturing, huge jobs in Arizona.”
O’Donnell added, “And in Michigan.”
Brennan added that the market surge seems to be due to an expectation of less regulation, but “We’re, again, back to individuals who say they’re going to fix things, and they don’t actually know how those agencies are run, like Elon Musk.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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