Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain acknowledged Wednesday that prices in the US are “still high,” and warned President Biden that he “needs to make more progress” in bringing costs down — after spending much of his time in the administration talking up the economy.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “All In,” Klain predicted that pocketbook issues will be a big part of the November election as Biden and his allies scramble to fine-tune their messaging on the economy.
“Although inflation has moderated, prices are still high, the price of gasoline is still high, other prices are still high, and people feel that pinch,” Klain said, who was chief of staff for Biden’s first two years in the White House.
“And though wages have gone up, and the statistics say wages have gone up faster than prices, people still feel pinched in their pocketbooks,” he added. “And so, I think the president needs to make more progress on that.”
A Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday night shows Biden, 81, trailing Trump, 77, by 20 percentage points (54% to 34%) among registered voters in seven vital swing states on the question of which man would best be able to handle the economy.
The survey also found that a majority of voters in each state — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — rated national economic conditions as “not so good” or “poor.”
After peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, the annual inflation rate came in at 3.2% in February, the most recent month for which statistics are available.
“I understand that people say, ‘Hey, I’m glad you have all these good things going on in the economy, I’m glad that there are jobs,’” Klain said, “but people want to see that their own personal pocketbook is better off — and that’s what the president is delivering.”
Klain’s admission comes as Democrats grapple over how to message Biden’s economic record, with some wanting to aggressively push the message of a robust recovery — while others are wary of coming off as out-of-touch to Americans struggling with high prices for food, energy and other essentials.
Shortly after Klain left the administration in February 2023, the White House mounted an aggressive economic pitch to voters touting “Bidenomics,” which Klain was happy to promote.
“The economy is getting more productive with Bidenomics!” he posted on X Nov. 2.
In December 2021, while still chief of staff, Klain fronted a 60-second White House video breaking down positive stats about the post-COVID economy under Biden.
The opposite view was expressed by Michael LaRosa, a former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, in an October op-ed published last year by MSNBC.
“Part of the problem with the president boasting of ‘Bidenomics’ is that the economy has not fully recovered and still remains uncertain,” LaRosa wrote, “making the celebration of ‘Bidenomics’ the political equivalent to claiming ‘Mission Accomplished.’”
Elsewhere in the interview, Klain said that Biden must “try to use his tools to try to bring more order at the border” despite the president insisting that Congress had to pass additional supplemental security spending to give him the power to confront a surge in migration.
“I think the president needs to continue what he’s doing to try to get the border under control and use his limited powers if Congress won’t act to try…
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