There is little alternative to fighting inflation before the elections, predicts Biden’s team

The US government increasingly feels it has little control over short-term inflation, officials say, and is looking for ways to offset the political risk of rising prices in the months leading up to the midterm elections in November.

Last week’s data showed inflation was still at 40-year highs, but slightly below its previous peak.

The economy and President Joe Biden’s handling of it are key issues for voters, and lowering the cost of meat, gas and other household staples is a key way Biden and his fellow Democrats defend control of the economy. Congress in November’s midterm elections, strategists say.

But any US president’s ability to cut short-term prices in global markets for products like oil and grain is limited, White House advisers say.

The influence on supply chain bottlenecks related to China’s Covid-19 lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both of which drive up prices, are even further out of reach, they say.

The government expects inflation to ease further from its recent rapid pace as the year progresses, advisers said, but not to a level that would be considered acceptable.

In response, the White House, which until recently described rising inflation as transitory, has developed a three-pronged strategy: acting as aggressively as possible on prices it believes could impact margins, emphasizing the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the pandemic, and attack Republicans, suggesting that their economic policies would be worse.

The untested change in message comes after some Democrats told the White House it was being too slow to take the political problem of inflation seriously.

Democrats say it is too early to say whether the new message will sway voters.

“There was an excess of promises and a lack of delivery,” said Jason Furman, a professor of economics at Harvard University and a former adviser to President Barack Obama.

“Now the message is more realistic.” But he said it was unclear whether the new message would satisfy voters.

Political strategists say it’s important for Biden to convey empathy and action, even in the absence of good options, as a Republican party rallies around attacking the president for “Bidenflation.”

“They need to communicate that families are struggling, but here’s what we’re doing today,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who added that voters in focus groups were identifying the issue as being critical for Democrats to address.

“Just being relentlessly out there doing something every week, every day about these issues.”

Republicans blame Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and other policies for fueling inflation, even though prices began to rise before he took office and the phenomenon has been global.