President Joe Biden held another event focused on the economy on Wednesday, as he continues struggling with low approval ratings on the issue.
“I’m optimistic. It’s gonna take some time, and I appreciate the frustration of the American people,” he said, after acknowledging the American public was suffering from inflation.
The president delivered his remarks at the White House about the importance of getting banks and airlines to end hidden unexpected fees for consumers. But at the end of his speech, he closed his notes and tried to empathize with the American people amid their frustrations with the economy.
“One of the things that I think frustrates the American people is they know the world’s in a bit of disarray, they know Putin’s war has imposed a lot of strains on Europe and the rest of the world and the United States,” Biden said, pointing to the disruption of oil and grain markets. “They want to know what we’re doing.”
Biden has spent recent days warning voters that Republicans will “crash the economy” if they take power in Congress, despite the ongoing surge in inflation and two consecutive quarters of economic contraction that took place in the first half of this year.
He has also tried to claim the economy is “strong as hell” despite 78 percent of Americans saying the economy is fair to poor, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll.
Biden previewed future announcements on the economy, but said he did not know whether he would actually deliver speeches on the issue or just issue a release from the White House.
“There’s a lot going on that we’re doin’ and it adds up,” he insisted.
He also tried to connect to the reporters in the room on an emotional level.
“I say to the press here, a lot of you come from backgrounds that I came from,” he said, referring to lower- and middle-class families.
Biden said most people were thinking about whether or not they could afford to visit family during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“What’s the charge if they’re going to come home from school?” he asked. “I mean there’s a lot of money, these are billions of dollars that doesn’t add up to billions from the individual but it adds up to 2-3-400 bucks for average families,” he said.