"Give Joe Biden a break."
Today's Guest Post urges Democrats to lay off the criticism of Joe Biden.
Rick Millward reads this blog and told me that I have been unfair to Joe Biden. After all, Biden got 7,050,000 more votes than Trump and saved the country from a second Trump term. We owe him. COVID, world-wide inflation, the Russian invasion, and the lack of an effective majority in the U.S. senate make it a tough time to be president.
I asked Millward to make that argument in a guest post. Millward is a songwriter, musician, and music producer, formerly from Nashville, now living in southern Oregon. His most recent production is Loveland, a collection of songs on themes of romantic love. He performs frequently at local wine venues.
Guest Post by Rick Millward
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| Millward |
President Biden will not be running for a second term. Anyone who believes otherwise is living on another planet. Republicans would like him to run, but even they know it’s about as likely as the Second Coming-- actually less likely.
So knowing this, why are so many Democrats contributing to his current low approval ratings, which are hovering around 40 percent? True, 75%+ of Democrats approve of Biden according to polling, but since 85%+ of Republicans disapprove, it becomes all the more important that all Democrats stand with the President and not indulge in unfair criticisms.
One can understand Republicans unable to give him any credit. After all, his presidency has been a holding action against the GOP attack on democracy, the rule of law and common decency. But too many Democrats seem to take inordinate pleasure throwing rocks at the White House, where this flawed but longtime loyal servant to Democratic values resides.
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| Statista: Gasoline prices |
Most recently critics blame Biden for the current inflation, as if it began on January 21, 2021. The facts indicate that the fundamental reason for inflation is increased post-COVID demand coupled with all the upheaval from the pandemic, including supply chain and production disruptions. The U.S. is not alone in suffering these economic consequences, and we aren't suffering the worst of it. Inflation is affecting the entire world. There is little a President can do under these circumstances, especially when the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low during the “Trump Boom,” which fueled a speculative bubble. In fact, the Administration’s (bipartisan) infrastructure bill will do a lot to alleviate the economic problems we are suffering. Likewise the President can do little about the price of gasoline. Oil is an international commodity and insofar as anyone is to blame for high prices, it’s Russia. It’s not a coincidence that gasoline prices rose when they invaded Ukraine.
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| Obama in 2010 |
Another knock on Biden regards the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The withdrawal is something that Americans have wanted since the Obama years. It didn’t happen in 2010 when it was first announced, due to hesitancy from the military and hawks in Congress. Most knowledgeable observers hold the view that Trump’s fake promises to leave made the situation even more difficult. Presidents don’t make decisions unilaterally, and Biden did what all presidents must do; make the best choice from all the options despite the uncertainty. It could have been much worse, both on the ground in Afghanistan and politically for Biden. Certainly the previous administration had all the same information and chose not to start the withdrawal.
And let’s not forget that Democrats do not control the Senate, not really. Whatever actions that the White House initiates will be sabotaged by two Democratic senators who vote with the other side.
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| Yahoo Finance: Stock Market |
What do Democratic critics expect from Biden? Do they not know him? This is a politician whose career was dedicated to promoting bipartisanship and cooperation in Congress, who relied on legislators' mutual respect for each other and our institutions. But now the same voters who chose him for these very qualities find him lacking because he keeps seeking bipartisanship and cooperation. Perhaps Democrats could have defeated Trump had Biden not entered the race. Maybe Bernie Sanders could have succeeded, or my own choice, Elizabeth Warren. Democratic voters chose a safe, known quantity which might have been a missed opportunity. We’ll never know. To assume Biden was the only candidate who could have won is pure speculation. For all we know another might have won by an even larger margin and we never would have had to suffer The Big Lie. But we chose Biden, so we got Biden.
Finally, Democrats who don’t support the President are giving Republicans fodder for all of their attacks. They can point to the low approval numbers as evidence of failure, and blame him. Don’t fall for it. This is unfair, but also utterly self-defeating at a time when Democrats need to rally around whomever becomes the next nominee and presidential candidate, whoever she is.
He’s not going to run in 2024, so criticizing him is beating a lame duck. Give him a break, some credit, and the Republic a chance.
6 comments:
Any purported defense of Joe Biden's job performance is off to a pretty rocky start when it opens with the (re)assurance that he won't run in 2024 anyway. Yay, Joe! And "anyone who believes otherwise is living on another planet"? That does explain much about Biden himself, then, who emerged from one of his his bread-pudding reveries last week to snarl at a reporter who'd suggested exactly that. Meanwhile, his Veep per her own consistent statements is either on that same planet, or is a baldfaced liar.
On inflation, Biden gets blame for his administration's affirmative incompetence. Exactly one year ago Biden told the nation, "We've seen some price increases. Some folks have raised worries that this could be a sign of persistent inflation, but that's not our view. Our experts believe, and the data shows, that the price increases we've seen were expected, and are expected to be temporary". Since that grievous miscalculation, along with more heedless spending, the benighted oaf rehires his "experts", the Fed chair who made things far worse by not acting sooner, and keeps the Treasury secretary who wants to talk about abortion access.
Gas prices rose steadily from Biden's inauguration, which he followed immediately by simultaneously nixing the Keystone pipeline, which by today would be bringing us substantial, cheap Canadian energy, while greenlighting a new Putin pipeline to Western Europe. This and other self-abnegating Green-optics idiocy enriched Putin at the same time as the Afghanistan debacle emboldened him, with the Ukraine invasion the result. (Afghanistan "could have been much worse"? Yeah, with twice the U.S. deaths, twice the eighty billion in top-end materiel abandoned, alongside hundreds of U.S. citizens, and every female in the nation).
What did critics expect of Biden? Perhaps some modicum of tangible accomplishment to accompany his lofty promises. or rather, his empty braggadocio. The steady hand of experience, the deal-maker who can reach across the aisle with the power of his reputation, the seasoned statesman on the foreign stage, the avatar of principle and a return to normalcy? What a colossal pile. Biden is a domestic and international laughingstock already in this term, with zero policy successes to his name, home or abroad> He's equal parts family grifter and buffoon. Wait, I shouldn't be uncharitable. Did he shut down the virus like he boasted?
I was very disappointed that with all the younger talent available, Biden became the Democratic nominee. I feel our generation has screwed the world up enough. It’s time to let the kids take over and clean up the mess we left them. On the other hand, I am thankful every day that Biden beat Trump and that Trump’s coup attempt failed. We came way too close to losing our constitutional republic, and the effort to undermine it is ongoing.
Biden may have his faults but unlike too many Republicans, he's an honorable man who takes his oath of office seriously. In addition, He's at least tried to address issues they won't, such as climate change and gun violence. After too many years of neglect, he got an infrastructure bill passed. As we know from the previous administration, we could have done a hell of a lot worse.
Nice perspective Rick, and well-written. Two stories come to mind when I read this column and the first comment.
Years ago, when I worked for a large tech company, the CEO said that our new mantra was to “delight the customer”. Within 6 months we removed that slogan. It turns out that, especially in the technology field, people will not judge you by the incredible things you delivered, but rather how far short you fell from their expectations. The unwritten explanation was that it was a fool’s errand to try to delight anyone. No amount of money and effort would do that. We just had to be better than our competitors. A sales VP from another firm I worked for said “even perfect, free and now, isn’t good enough”.
Another story was when I was working in El Salvador after the civil war where the FMLA “rebels” were recognized as a legitimate party. One of the former rebel leaders was now the Governor of the region. He said being a rebel is far easier than governing because people expect the government to solve their every problem. I guess even he saw you can never ‘delight’ your constituencies. Everyone is a critic.
I agree with Rick. In the Oregon primaries Biden was not my first choice, second or third choice, but it turned out that he was the right one to beat trump. He is traveling all over the world, and to me seems in excellent health, mentally and physically, especially compared to me at the same age. Actually I don't think it is that clear that he will not run again. I worry about the other choices. But I blame two senators and the republicans for the problems we cannot get fixed.
The reason Biden hasn’t been able to satisfy progressive Democrats is that all Republicans and a couple of Democrats in the Senate have made it impossible. Ragging on Biden simply adds to the likelihood of more pro-gun, anti-abortion Republicans joining Congress to hamper him even more. These are people who would be delighted if Trump’s attempted coup had succeeded. Let’s quit whining about what he hasn’t been able to do and help put people in office that will support his efforts. Replacing Cliff Bentz would be a great start. One of his first official acts after his election was to try and reject the election results from Pennsylvania. What did those voters ever do to him?
If for nothing else (although I could list many good things he has already accomplished), Joe Biden is Man of the Century for being the right person at the right time to defeat DJT. Thank God for Joe Biden. I will be forever grateful.
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