Democrats' Inflation Anguish

Legislators are appealing to the White House to "do more" to contain prices

- Cristina Lindblad

As Ronald Reagan might have put it: Here we go again. Forty-two years after inflation helped sweep the former California governor into the White House and return the Senate to GOP control, surging prices threaten once again to upend a Democratic administration.

President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in Congress are desperate to avoid the fate of President Jimmy Carter, ousted after one term. But Biden so far has had little success in either figuring out how to douse inflation that’s running at a four-decade high or even convincing voters that it wasn’t his $1,400 stimulus check that acted as kindling.

Inside the administration, there’s a sense of frustration, doom, and some say magical thinking about inflation, but no clear path on the best way for the White House to grapple with an economic phenomenon that’s been more severe and lasted longer than officials expected. Unfortunately for Biden and Democrats, the lesson from the 1970s and ’80s is that US presidents are fairly limited in what they can do on their own to tamp down price pressures, especially if they’re driven by supply-side factors like an energy shock or production bottlenecks.

In the approach to November’s midterm elections, Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, has argued that the president and his allies should talk more about the president’s accomplishments, especially the rapid rebound in employment, along with laws he signed to provide families with pandemic relief and rebuild US infrastructure. Klain also advocates that Biden contrast his policies with Republican proposals on taxes and the deficit.