Battered Biden under siege as crises confound the White House

Remarkable Five days of bad developments stretching from Israel to Mexican boundary , up East Coast via Colonial Pipeline

Israel is erupting, Americans are utterly confused when masks should be worn for COVID-19 security and then there are the agita-inducing long lines for gasoline.

And that was only Tuesday.

A whole lot has changed in a matter of days.

The most recent employment numbers were set to be published, and economists were gushing that a million new jobs had likely been created in April by exuberant employers and their recently vaccinated employees.

His group no doubt was prepared to unleash Biden to carry out a small victory dance in the White House observing the stupendous number. However, the show had to be revamped when the actual tally came in nearly three-quarters-of-a-million jobs lower than expected; only 266,000 jobs generated and unemployment unexpectedly rising to 6.1 percent.

"You might believe we ought to be disappointed," Biden said, which was indeed something people might think. Nevertheless, the American Rescue Plan he signed into law in March"was designed to help us over the span of a year -- not 60 days," he explained.

Far from being a disappointment, a jobs report which comprised 734,000 jobs fewer than expected was great news.

"Today, there is more proof our economy is moving in the ideal direction," Biden said. "That is progress. That is a testament to our newest strategy," he said. "We've got work to do, to state the obvious, we have work to do."

You could think.

The jobs characters were just the first in a series of out-of-nowhere body blows hitting the president through a remarkable five times of bad developments that extended from Israel to the Mexican border as well as the East Coast via the Colonial Pipeline.

He was prepared for a break, but the world wasn't prepared to give him one.

From Saturday morning, the Colonial Pipeline, which transports nearly half of the East Coast's gas supplies upwards from Texas, had been turned off, the victim of some ransomware cyberattack with a bunch of hackers who, incidentally, might be working together with the Russian government. Biden was"briefed" on the specific situation Saturday morning.

Tuesday, governors throughout the Southeast have been declaring states of emergency, and the Biden administration was begging drivers not to hoard gas.

Meantime, Palestinians had started brutally clashing with Israeli authorities at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, an escalation of tensions that had been simmering and occasionally boiling around for weeks.

Back in Washington, Republicans began accusing Biden of leaning too far toward the Palestinians while failing to at least verbally sock it to Hamas. From the opposite side, leftists within his own party hit on the White House for allegedly coddling Israel, together with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., accusing Biden of"enabling" Israel with overseas help.

From Tuesday, an echo of this violence had spread into the streets of New York, where there were dustups between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters before the Israeli consulate.

As new crises broke out all around the area, there were searing reminders that an old one was still festering.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection disclosed Tuesday that migrant encounters jumped yet again this past April: finished 178,000 in all, almost a tenfold increase from 2020 and still above levels observed from the 2019 surge at the Mexico border.

In a heartbreaking scene, five star migrant girls were discovered abandoned with a Texas farmer on his property. And reports emerged that border representatives in Texas had captured $4.6 million in methamphetamine and cocaine, even though a member of the National Guard had discovered an abandoned luggage of"AK-47-style pistols" at the border area.

A new poll advised the president that the border crisis was yanking him down, with just 43% of the surveyed approving of the immigration policy.

At a bit of beguiling partisan moves that has befuddled many Americans, Senate Democrats pushed ahead Tuesday with their plans to overhaul the nation's election laws -- after many states, for example GOP-guided governments in Florida and Georgia, enacted distinct changes for their constituents. Divisive racial undercurrents have grown all this, all on the watch of this so-called unity president.

The ACLU quickly weighed into tie new voting laws to race:"This dreadful bill was drafted as a direct swipe at Georgians' engaging in the Dark Lives Matter protests that are claiming due to their inherent rights," Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said in a statement posted on the team's site.

On the COVID-19 front, the once-unimpeachable Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was shooting shots on the chin for some questionable recommendations into a populace ready to return to normal.

During a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, medium GOP Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, lambasted CDC main Rochelle Walensky on"conflicting" advice linked to school reopenings, sporting masks outdoors, and summer camps.

"I used to have the utmost respect for the advice from the CDC. I considered the CDC to be the gold standard. I don't anymore," Collins said, providing examples where she said she thinks"the conflicting, confusing guidance from the bureau has jeopardized public confidence and contradicts the scientific advice of many specialists."

"Unnecessary obstacles to reopening schools, exaggerating the possibility of external transmission and unworkable restrictions on summer camps," Collins continued.

"It matters because it undermines public confidence in your recommendations, in the recommendations which do make sense, in the recommendations that Americans should be following."

To add insult to the various harms, there was criticism of the way Biden looked -- at least when he was wearing a mask.

"Is it really required for a fully vaccinated individual to put on a mask in a limited indoor assembly if everyone there is vaccinated?" Tapper wanted to know. "Why does President Biden in an area full of vaccinated journalists, everyone in that room vaccinated, why does he want to wear a mask?"

Zients mumbled something about following CDC guidance and all Americans being eligible for shots.

By Tuesday, Biden was hearing against Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox that completely vaccinated people ought to begin acting like it so that Americans might see the advantages of the vaccine and go get their arms jabbed.

"One area where we could use some help from the White House and others is mimicking what a fully vaccinated person can do," Cox stated.

The beleaguered Biden could muster little in the way of a defense.

"That is a fantastic point," he explained.