President Joe Biden's support in national opinion polls has plummeted, largely because of his poor handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, culminating in Thursday's attack at the Kabul airport. Depending on the national mood, Biden's response to Thursday's suicide bombing could prompt a boost in support or, conversely, deepen Americans' doubts that his withdrawal formula was the best way to handle what always promised to be a difficult and dangerous operation.

Polls indicated widespread support when Biden announced in April that he planned to stick with a plan to fully withdraw troops. But by Thursday, his approval ratings had sunk to a point almost exactly equal to his disapproval ratings, signifying that the era of honeymoon forgiveness is over. "In an era of deep political polarization where we rarely see big shifts in public opinion of presidents, this counts as a pretty big swing," FiveThirtyEight's Geoffrey Skelley wrote.

Despite Biden's efforts to appear resolute in his conviction that a rushed, complete withdrawal was the only way out of Afghanistan, he has come under sharp criticism from Republicans as well as some Democrats. Leading the criticism are members of Congress who served in Afghanistan and do not buy his characterization of the options as an either/or proposition: Either withdraw by an artificial deadline of Sept. 11 (the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks) or risk staying in Afghanistan for another 20 years.

Those were never the only options, and poll results suggest Americans don't accept the administration's tortured explanations. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Afghanistan veteran and moderate Illinois Republican who has been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, blasted Biden for his handling of the withdrawal.

Biden didn't have to adopt the withdrawal plans Trump put in place, Kinzinger told CNBC. Biden "could have reversed them." Instead, "the execution of this has been absolutely disastrous, particularly with leaving Bagram, and leaving that wide open." U.S. forces staged a surprise overnight withdrawal from the sprawling and highly strategic Bagram air base outside of Kabul. The Afghan base commander woke up the following morning, completely surprised that the Americans, including contractors who maintained military aircraft, were gone.

Biden has been overly defensive and refuses to acknowledge that critics like Kinzinger may be right. ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked the president about the chaos culminating in Afghans falling from the wheel wells of a C-17 cargo plane after takeoff from the Kabul airport on Aug. 16. Biden scowled and snapped back: "That was four days ago, five days ago!" Stephanopoulos asked if any mistakes were made or there might have been a better way to handle it. Biden unhesitatingly responded, "No," and that chaos was inevitable.

Americans got rid of the last president who viewed himself as infallible. Biden can do himself and his party a huge favor by acknowledging his mistakes and promising a warts-and-all accounting of what went wrong.

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