WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has stopped talking so much about inflation worries.
His remarks in Columbus, Ohio, in suburban Washington at a Democratic fundraiser, at a Cabinet meeting and in Labor Day speeches in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh were all missing a once-common refrain about families at the kitchen table straining under the rising costs of food and gasoline.#democracy #freedom
It’s a self-edit ahead of the midterm elections in November, prompted in part by the easing of inflationary pressures. But Biden is also attempting to shift the spotlight to his legislative wins, the loss of abortion protections and the threats he says are posed to democracy by the many Republican leaders still under the sway of former President Donald Trump.
When Biden did address inflation in a Monday speech at Boston’s airport, he stressed progress, rather than financial pain on what he says is his top economic priority. Biden has largely put the blame for inflation on global forces such as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February invasion of Ukraine, even as he says his own policies are reducing the burdens of higher prices.
“We’re on the right track,” the president said Monday, noting the lower gas costs but adding the caveat: “There’s more to do, a lot more to do.”