President Biden’s bid to win re-election is troubled on several fronts and borders, both domestically and abroad. The ongoing rage in the Middle East—the war between Israel and Hamas—and the crisis on the southern border are enough to make even the most robust and youngest candidate sleepless.
Each problem has an impact on his campaign to marshal voters, particularly the young, no matter their race when it comes to warfare abroad, and Latinos on the immigration dilemma.
Several months ago, Biden confronted the immigration issue during a meeting with the National Governors Association, where he mentioned the possibility of executive action to stifle the flood of migration across the southern border.
“Over time, our laws and our resources haven’t kept up with our immigration system, and it’s broken,” Biden told the governors. He placed the blame on the “petty politics” that “intervened” to kill a congressional bill, as well as on his attorneys.
According to the latest reports, Democrats are preparing an aggressive new strategy to challenge the Republican rebuke of the proposal put forth months ago. The new strategy would include forcing Republicans to vote on a measure they are likely to oppose. “Democrats have made it clear that the situation at the border is unacceptable,” said New York’s Sen. Chuck Schumer. “That’s why we worked in a bipartisan fashion to craft the strongest border security bill in a generation, endorsed by the border patrol union.”
Schumer blamed Trump for the defeat of the bill, suggesting that the Republicans “need to get serious about fixing the border and ignore Donald Trump. After all, you can’t say it’s an emergency and then refuse to take action,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite the bump at the border, Biden’s attention—rightfully—has been focused on the crisis in Gaza, where an impasse looms and no resolution seems possible at the moment.
Six months from the election, the candidates are neck and neck, according to the latest polls, although Trump has the edge in the battleground states. That means, from Gaza to Georgia, Biden has to step up his campaign, particularly when it comes to policy and initiatives.