Joe Biden's strange closing argument for 'democracy'
The president's speech left some problems on the cutting-room floor.
One Democrat is calling President Biden's midterm strategy a "mistake" hours before the midterm elections.
Republicans will likely take the House of Representatives, while key Senate races remain tight, Fox News' Power Rankings finds.
The possibility of a "red wave" is panicking some Democrats, who've blamed President Biden's misplaced priorities to media outlets.
A Pennsylvania voter votes early in Lebanon County. (Fox News)
In USA Today's "Why Biden's closing argument worries some Democrats and could miss the mark with midterm voters," Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., argued the president's midterm focus on democracy instead of the economy was wrong-headed.
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"That was a mistake," he told the outlet. Khanna suggested Biden should've made an economic argument about how he was bringing manufacturing jobs to America.
"I've been saying for months that we need to frame this election as an economic choice," the California Democrat said.
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks to the media as he meets with families from Afghanistan at Warm Springs Community Park on Friday, September 17, 2021, in Fremont, Calif. (Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) (Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Instead, the president has spent the last days on the campaign trail warning that Republicans were dangerous to democracy.
In a speech last Wednesday, President Biden urged Democrats to show up at the polls or "allow the dark forces that thirst for power" to chip away at American democracy. He's repeatedly warned that "extreme MAGA" Republicans were threatening the country.
"Yet there are serious doubts, including among Democrats, whether Biden's doomsday portrayal of Republicans has broken through as stubborn inflation and pocketbook issues weigh on voters. Some in the party say Democrats should have touched more on economic concerns earlier in the campaign and less about restoring abortion rights…," the USA Today piece noted.
President Biden (Fox News)
The article highlighted other Democrats who worried that Biden's messaging wasn't resonating with voters.
Former Obama White House Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the current inflation problems were a more pressing problem to voters than future threats of what could happen if Republicans takeover.
"It's just tough to make the argument of, 'If these guys get into power, here's the things they'll end up doing' versus, 'Hey, bread was really expensive in Aisle 4,'" he told David Axelrod.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also fretted his party was getting "destroyed" on messaging heading into the midterms.
"We're going to have to do better," he told CBS News.
A Democratic strategist agreed that the party didn't convince voters to care about Republicans' "assaults on American freedom" very well, referring to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and election integrity laws.
"We probably should have done a better job of pulling it all together," Craig Varoga told the outlet.
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Fox News' Haris Alic contributed to this report.
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