NBC panel hammers the president over 'Bidenomics,' dismal polling: More like 'Clinton in ’16'

NBC's "Meet the Press" panel criticized President Biden on Sunday over his administration's "Bidenomics" push, his refusal to comment on investigations into his son and his low poll numbers. 

Lanhee Chen, a Hoover Institution fellow, said he was "confused" about the "Bidenomics" push.  

"You're trying to convince people of something, you're trying to convince people their own impressions about the economy are wrong," Chen said. "And so, if you look, for example, at how Hispanic and Black voters feel about the economy, they'll tell you it stinks."

"Now they can keep saying, ‘but we have the CHIPS Act, but we have the IRA,' at the end of the day, you can't convince someone that they're feeling, how they're feeling about the economy is wrong," he continued. "And that's what this election is going to come down to. And I get they're trying to present a proactive message but at the end of the day, it's very difficult I think to do that when people feel, they simply feel differently."

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NBC host Chuck Todd said later in the discussion that the issues plaguing the president, such as investigations into his son and the economy, have taken a "toll" on him.

An NBC "Meet the Press" panel sharply criticized President Biden on Sunday over several issues he has yet to address.  (Screenshot/NBC/MeetThePress)

"This stuff has taken a huge toll on him. Biden, right before the 2020 election, he was right side up which in our polarized politics is quite astonishing. But look, Trump and Rudy Giuliani began this campaign to try to tarnish Biden, to try to turn him into the Clinton name with the obsession over the Ukraine businesses with Hunter, and it’s worked. His numbers look more like Hillary Clinton in ’16 than Biden ’20," Todd said, noting that it didn't look good for the president. 

The Boston Globe's Kimberly Atkins Stohr criticized the president over his refusal to comment on an ongoing investigation into his son, Hunter Biden. 

"It’s leaving a massive vacuum, and look, it’s not just that he can talk about the justice system as president," she said. "I know the people around him are very skittish about him doing that. It’s that he must." 

"He’s also a candidate for president, and he has to admit one of the starkest differences between the Republicans and him is that he defends the rule of law, that he defends the justice system and with his son in the middle of it, that’s a perfect opportunity to say, look, I love my son, but I also trust the justice system and I know in the end the right result will come about and all Americans should have that same faith in that system. He keeps missing that opportunity," she added. 

USA Today's Susan Page also said the president's position on Hunter was not "sustainable."

United States President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, exits in J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Delaware, United States on July 26, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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"His son will probably be on trial. There’s every possibility he’ll be on trial during this campaign and we understand Joe Biden loves his son very much and he needs to say something that Gov. Walz said, who was by the way very effective in saying if Hunter Biden violated the law he needs to be held accountable and that’s what an American president should be saying," Page said. 

Politico's Jonathan Martin also had some harsh words for Biden, laying out three issues the president has not figured out how to address. 

"The Biden staff can even get to the president about the issue because they don’t want to address a sensitive topic with the president. They’ve got a challenge. Chuck, I think Biden has basically got three issues where he’s not figured out what to say. One is obviously the questions about Hunter Biden, his son and the other is what to say about the investigations into Donald Trump and the third is about his age. Those are three issues that are clouding his reelection campaign," Martin said. 

President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on August 15, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

He also wondered if Biden was the "riskier play" as the Democrat's nominee. 

"They're rallying around Joe Biden in part because they believe that that’s the safe play, that’s three yards in a cloud of dust to use a seasonal metaphor, Chuck, what if that’s the riskier option? You showed the numbers right there. The Democratic Party thinks Biden is the safe play. Just hope for the best and we’ll get through the next 14 months and I’m not so sure that’s it," he said.

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Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.