It Looks Like Biden’s Presidency Will Be as Disastrous for Black America as Obama’s Was

As the economy has reopened in the wake of the pandemic lockdowns, we’ve seen significant job growth (though it could have been better).  Of course, Joe Biden anxiously awaits the moment to jump in front of the media to take credit for the jobs created on his watch.

But the latest jobs report shows that the recovery Biden is trying to taking credit for appears to be emulating the so-called Obama “recovery.”

Obama likely owed his election in 2008 to the global economic recession, which he blamed on George W. Bush and the Republicans. He claimed he could fix the recession, and his first term was defined by a series of economic policies designed to get the economy back on track. They failed. Remember the failed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and Cash for Clunkers? The recovery Obama promised never really came. Eventually, the economy hobbled towards recovery–despite Obama’s economic policies, not because of them. In fact, the unemployment rate was driven down only because of a decline in labor force participation, which typically increases during a recovery.

Another inconvenient truth about the Obama “recovery” is that black Americans were largely left behind.

And Biden seems to be continuing that trend. Just like Obama before him, while most Americans are slowly returning to work, black unemployment has gone up.

“The rise in black unemployment in August is certainly troubling, considering their unemployment rates were already much higher than any other group,” Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould wrote on Twitter. “Black men’s unemployment hit 9.1% in August while white men are now down to 4.4%, lower than Black men’s unemployment ever.”

The rise in Black unemployment in August is certainly troubling, considering their unemployment rates were already much higher than any other group. Black men’s unemployment hit 9.1% in August while white men are now down to 4.4%, lower than Black men’s unemployment ever. pic.twitter.com/OQLfNmjV4P

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 3, 2021

This stands in sharp contrast to the historic gains in black employment under Donald Trump before the pandemic.

But hey, no more mean tweets, right?

Related: Joe Biden’s Excuse for the Horrible Jobs Report Is Ridiculous

Joe Biden defined his campaign and presidency on superficial gestures like having a woman of color as his running mate and naming various women and minorities to serve in his administration, but such acts ring hollow when he can’t even help the people he’s trying to virtue signal to.