White House Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the first year of the Biden administration, the president's defensive stances on the economy and inflation, and push for unity in monetary policy.

Video Transcript

- Joe Biden's presidency, one year later. A new poll reveals the president's approval rating has hit a new low amid rising inflation and Omicron cases jumping in the US. 56% of Americans disapprove of Biden's performance according to the AP.

[? Akiko, ?] that is a stark change from his 59% approval rating. That was back in July.

- Yeah, no question about that, Brad. And if you listen to what the president had to say yesterday in that near two hour press conference, you get the sense that the White House is really playing defense on these issues. And when you look at the economic data as a whole, it really points to this disconnect that we're seeing between what the White House says they have accomplished and then what voters see. 6.4 million jobs created over the last year. We're talking about employment, near full employment. Unemployment below 4% now.

And yet, here we are talking about every day the headline being about inflation at near 40-year highs. We had a chance to speak with Brian Deese, who's the director of White House National Economic Council, and asked him specifically about that disconnect and how the White House shifts the conversation ahead of the midterms.

BRIAN DEESE: It has been a tough couple of years. And the American people are understandably frustrated and anxious across the board. And so what the president is making clear is that the way to best address that is, number one, act in their interest and try to deliver on those outstanding issues that have yet to be resolved. On COVID, on prices, you hear him with a clear plan on that. And get out of the Washington bubble and more clearly communicate where we are making progress.

Because as difficult and as challenging as these circumstances are, it's important, for example, that we note that this past year we saw 30% more applications for new small businesses in America than we saw even before the pandemic. That's important to try to make sure that people understand there's real opportunity in this economy. There's new opportunity associated with changes that are happening that people are already taking advantage of and others can too as well, in a period where wages are increasing as well.

So it's important that we make those arguments while also meeting people where they are and show people concrete actions on the ground. I would say the last thing, you saw a president with a clear plan, with action steps. People may like them or not, but he is acting every day in concrete ways. And he's going to make the case that he wants Democrats and Republicans to join him. But for those who are solely focused on trying to stall progress, he's going to also put to the question that he raised yesterday of what is their plan as well?

- The president's top economic advisor Brian Deese there, talking about the challenges the White House faces in trying to get the positive economic message out. And Brad, that is something we heard from the President yesterday, saying that, you know, maybe I have been holed up a little too much in the Washington bubble. And he did talk about the need to get out into communities, get that messaging out there.

And certainly, they've got a tight timeline here. Because you know, all expectations here going into the midterms is that Republicans will take back Congress. And that could certainly derail the president's agenda in a big way.

- And that's certainly the historical context that we've seen in the past too. And it comes back to this question of where for certain responsibilities in responding to everything from the coronavirus pandemic, to the economy, and even the correlations that we've seen therein-- but also on all of the things that the president campaigned on where they're looking to see even more progress, where some of those tasks are also delegated to among other members within the president's cabinet.

And so on that front, we've heard, even on the front of-- and the discussion that we had earlier about where the delegation of the responsibilities for the Federal Reserve and their dual mandate. And he spoke about this yesterday in his address, full employment and stable prices. And really trying to bring them into the chat and into the conversation, saying that he can't do it alone. However, I think for many people going into the midterm elections they are going to be looking at this track record and trying to figure out which boxes they can check to see where there has actually been improvement in their household, in their local entities, in their state, and at their businesses as well.

And many of those question marks still linger going into that critical midterm election period in time.

- Yeah. And the president can talk about the Fed mandate. But if you think about the average voter, they're looking at prices going up at the grocery store. They're looking at how much they've been paying for gas. And they look at the White House. They've got the president there. And that's what's showing up in these poll numbers we've been seeing, which is the president getting hit for those higher prices, regardless of where the responsibility lies.