He can’t stop the omicron variant, whip inflation quickly, convince Congress to pass his agenda – or even to get along. But can President Joe Biden save Christmas?
He seems optimistic that he can, telling Americans on Wednesday that all the scary talk about empty store shelves and the natural consequence – toyless, crying children – was overblown.
“Those shelves are gonna be stocked,” Biden said, noting reassurances given to him earlier this week during a meeting with CEOs of major retailers.
“I can’t promise you that every person will get every gift they want on time,” the president added. “Only Santa Claus can make that promise.”
There are always shortages of popular items, even when there is not a global supply chain disruption, Biden said, noting the frenzy to buy Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies in the past. He said actions the administration and the private sector have taken recently – such as having two West Coast ports operating 24/7 and easing restrictions on truckers – are already alleviating the shortage of goods caused by the supply chain problem.
The CEOs of stores including Walmart, Best Buy, CVS and others “reported their inventories are up, shelves are well stocked, and they’re ready to meet consumer demand for the holidays,” Biden said.
Political Cartoons on the Economy
Republicans have relentlessly attacked the Biden administration on both inflation and reports of unavailable goods, tweeting out photos of empty store shelves that recall scenes from Soviet-era Eastern Europe.
That is immensely maddening to the Biden administration, which notes the current historically strong economic indicators, such as low unemployment, record job creation and higher average wages. Biden ticked off the numbers Wednesday, including the fact that child poverty has been cut by 40% since his COVID-19 relief bill was signed earlier this year.
“Millions of children who spent last Christmas in poverty will not bear that burden this holiday season,” the president said.
Despite those gains, the national narrative is still one that foresees a skimpy Christmas, handing the White House a frustrating political challenge.
A September poll by Oracle found that 82% of Americans worried the supply chain disruption would damage their life plans, and 89% believe it will continue to affect their futures in a negative way. Two-thirds (66%) said they feared it would never end and would ruin their holidays.
More recently, a CNBC/Momentive poll taken the week before Thanksgiving found that 62% of people said they have seen low or out-of-stock inventory, and 43% said they were worried that supply chain issues will mean they won’t be able to buy what they want for the holidays.
Biden sought to reassure hopeful merry-makers Wednesday, saying shelves were better stocked than they were last year and saying higher inflation – a worldwide trend – will ease as the markets adjust to the reopening of things after the worst of the pandemic.
In reality, experts say, there’s not much a president can do to ease the supply chain logjam – which is due to myriad factors and involves markets and industries around the world. But since the president is the most visible figure during a crisis, it falls on Biden, says Patrick Penfield, a professor of practice – supply chain management at Syracuse University.
And Penfield has a more pessimistic view of the coming shopping season.
“They’re scrambling,” Penfield says of retailers, adding that the crunch time comes about Dec. 15. “Customers will not get what they want. Stuff will be late.”
Martin Dresner, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith’s School of Business, notes that supply problems are not remotely as drastic as they were early in the pandemic, when people hoarded toilet paper.
“We haven’t seen whole product categories wiped out,” he says.
But Dresner cautions that shortages are still happening, not only because of supply chain disruption but because of the closure of factories in places like Vietnam because of the pandemic – things Biden cannot change.
“With politicians, they make the mistake of claiming credit for stuff they have nothing to do with. And then they get blamed for stuff they have nothing to do with,” Dresner says.
With three and a half weeks to go until Christmas, any blame is likely to fall on the president.
