Word of the Day: “Bidenomics”

The press is making much of President Joe Biden’s new campaign strategy buzzword “Bidenomics.” Is it working?

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.

The term “Bidenomics” has sprung up everywhere in recent weeks. What it means, and what it means for President Joe Biden’s reelection chances, is sending the U.S. press corps — on both sides of the aisle — into a full-throated whirlwind of affirmation or denial.

And sometimes, a bit of both.

“So what is ‘Bidenomics’ anyway? Certainly not the key to President Biden’s reelection,” huffed Lori Cox Han for the decidedly non-right-leaning Los Angeles Times on July 23, 2023.

“Just before Biden delivered a major economic speech in Chicago last month, his press office announced that Bidenomics is ‘the word of the day, word of the week, word of the month, word of the year,’” she wrote. “As a strategic move, however, this particular presidential coinage might not be as smart as they think it is.”

“The problem with this strategy is multifaceted,” suggested Cox Han. “First, while any White House advisor can tout cherry-picked positive economic indicators, presidents will get blamed when the economy is bad and take credit when it’s good. Yet Presidents have little if any control over the economy. If they did, we wouldn’t have downturns or inflation, which have no political upside.”