ANALYSIS: TRUE. We Have Entered the Self-Pity Stage of the Biden Presidency.

There is a familiar gripe at the center of all of this ennui: that Democrats are actually getting things done, they just aren’t calibrating their messaging in a way that gets through to voters. This is typically aired over conversations about the economy: Democratic administrations, the data clearly shows, are better at managing the economy than Republican ones are—and yet voters still believe that the GOP is better for their pocketbook. And so the solution to this problem is obvious: more and better messaging, as quickly as possible.

There’s no doubt that Democrats are seeing a perplexing disconnect with the public: In one particularly daunting example, the onetime recipients of the now-expired expanded child tax credit have, according to polls, moved from supporting the Democrats to supporting Republicans—all despite the fact that no member of the GOP supported the expansion of the credit. But the carping over how the people are failing to truly see the distinction between the parties only underscores the self-pitying tone of the administration and its leader at the moment.

Real Americans prefer an economy with low inflation and increasing wages — like we had under the last American president, before the lockdowns — to an economy that practically requires child tax credits just to get by.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): “The magnitude of Joe Biden’s failures is now so large that even Joe Biden is beginning to grasp it.