On Friday, the White House wasn’t hiding it. At a rare Cabinet meeting, the president handed over the leadership to the first lady, sitting at the head of the table, her prepared notes in front of her.

According to the New York Post, Jill Biden “read from a binder about maternal health initiatives for four-and-a-half minutes after her husband spoke for just two minutes off the top of the meeting.”

Said President Joe Biden in introducing his wife, “It’s all yours, kid.”

Later, she also hosted a Rose Garden event without her husband, who has faded into the background since being pushed out of his reelection campaign by Democratic Party elites who preferred Vice President Kamala Harris in the race.

It’s just amazing how Biden’s fitness for office and Harris’ inside knowledge of it just disappeared as an issue https://t.co/4M0pMb0pq1

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) September 21, 2024

Our conservative grader Jed Babbin’s weekly review highlighted the latest failure by Biden-Harris to win a Middle East peace deal, and their plans to impose crushing new regulations on appliances Americans use every day. He also noted a key Harris failure to win the endorsement from the influential Teamsters Union, normally a given in presidential elections

Jed Babbin

Grade: D-

So we’re back after a down week. And there’s lots going on with the two presidential campaigns. 

Former President Donald Trump suffered another assassination attempt while President Joe Biden put on a Trump baseball cap. Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t able to get an endorsement from the Teamsters Union (could they doubt her economic policies?) but she was able to pump up our idiotic diplomats while they’re still pressuring Israel for a ceasefire with Hamas, which Hamas has rejected too many times. And then there are the home appliance regs coming from the Biden-Harris team which won’t change anything climate-wise but will raise prices of the appliances enormously.

The funniest moment of the week was when Harris rolled out her fourth (fifth?) phony accent in a speech. To date, she’s tried a southern accent, a Detroit accent and a French accent. Now she’s speaking with a Latina accent. Well, she did grow up in a middle-class family. In Berkeley, California, and Montreal, Canada. There’s nothing real about this lady. She’ll say and do anything to get elected. 

In an interview with black journalists (one of whom admitted he formulated his questions to help Harris), she again pressed Israel for a ceasefire and a hostage deal. The Israelis have already offered Yayah Sinwar, the head of Hamas, safe conduct out of Gaza in return for hostages and were turned down. What else can they offer? Harris also said she supported Biden’s blocking shipments of 2,000-pound smart bombs to Israel because they are supposedly killing too many civilians. But the smart bombs — precision-guided munitions — are precisely the weapons you need to reduce civilian casualties. 

As the world burns, the Biden-Harris team this week sent about $300 million in military aid to Egypt. That despite Egypt’s helping Hamas by shipping tons of equipment through tunnels under the border between Egypt and Gaza. Egypt has a lot to answer for, but nobody in the Biden-Harris crew is asking the questions.

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The Biden Bunch is about to roll out “environmental” regulations on everything from air conditioners to dishwashers. They won’t accomplish anything the tree-huggers love but they will add an average of $1,000 to the cost of the appliances they’re aimed at.

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.