What got into Joe Biden?
He was articulate. He voiced policies that are popular. He talked about jobs for working people in the heartland.
He sounded young, energetic, and up to the job of president. Good.
I have been frank in saying that I think age has caught up to Joe Biden. I have written here that the single most important job of the president is to explain stuff to the American people. Biden isn't good at that. Prior to the speech Trump was sending out fundraising appeals saying "In just a few short hours, Joe Biden will deliver a gaffe-filed, mumbling speech."
Not so. Biden did well.
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| Biden looked in control. Speaker McCarthy maintained a look of bored disdain. |
Biden was gracious from the first moment, beginning with congratulating Kevin McCarthy. Biden shook his hand warmly and said he looked forward to working with him. Biden also congratulated Mitch McConnell. In this era, those are fighting words--fighting within the GOP. Neither McCarthy nor McConnell can dare be seen by their own caucus working cooperatively with Biden. Biden was affable Mr. Good Sport. He noted that some people here opposed the infrastructure bill, but Biden said he didn't hold that against them or their red state. "I promised to be a president for all Americans, so I'll see you at the groundbreaking." Biden smiled. Biden praised things that are widely popular, especially in working class non-college middle-America. Lower inflation. Lower gasoline prices. Unemployment at a 50-year low. A cap on insulin prices. A cap on prescription drug costs. Wage growth. Social Security. Medicare. Repairing dangerous bridges. He spoke of 12 million new jobs, a supply chain that begins in America, and bringing computer chip manufacturing back to America. Not to coastal America, to heartland America.
Republicans sat quietly throughout that, but it had to hurt a little. What is not to like about lower drug costs, wage growth, repairing bridges, and jobs in heartland America? Aren't Republicans in favor of that? Of course they are, but Republicans voted in near unity against all of those initiatives.
Biden got jeered by Republican congresspeople when he said there were people in the room who wanted to reduce Social Security and Medicare. Biden engaged them. He said that if they objected to that characterization, then, good. He would hold them to that. "So no one wants to do that [i.e. cut Social Security]? So Social Security and Medicare are off the books, right?" Biden just negotiated a GOP concession on policy, in public and in real time. Republicans were aware that comments by some of their members--including Senator Tim Scott who said it was part of the GOP "12-Point Plan to Rescue America"--are not popular.
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| Marjorie Taylor Greene |
In the current state of Democratic Party messaging, Biden was doing something unexpected. He was focusing on issues that are broadly popular. He wasn't pushing the envelope on cultural norms. Pre-written speeches, like the "Republican Response" by Sarah Huckabee Sanders presumed that Biden would champion "wokeness," environmental extremism, and communist tyranny. No.Biden got lucky in having unsympathetic critics. He was heckled by MAGA congresspeople, most prominently by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s and Lauren Boebert. They shouted out. They led chants. It helped confirm the image of a GOP House that was uncivil and extreme.
Kevin McCarthy had a problem last night. He was stuck. He was fully aware of how bad his caucus looked. He surely wanted to shush them, yet he was constantly on camera and couldn't be seen giving a "cool it" signal. He could not dare give it. He needs their votes. McCarthy compromised by keeping a bored sneer on his face throughout. That, too, is a bad look. Biden was talking about how America could do anything if we all worked together, and McCarthy had his frozen "yeah, right" look on his face, It confirmed the idea that Republicans want Biden to lose more than they want America to succeed.
Biden looked like a competent president working with a recalcitrant GOP. Biden may interpret this good speech as validation for running for reelection. I consider that unfortunate. Democrats would be betting that once again Republicans will nominate Donald Trump. I think Trump is the one Republican Biden could defeat in an election.
10 comments:
Way to go Joe!
Lauren Boebert is the kooky Republican U.S. Congresswoman from Colorado.
I didn't watch in real time, but caught the highlights and analysis.
I'm glad I didn't. OMG...What a stomach turning performance from the GOP.
The lack of decorum from Republicans was an embarrassment to our country and is an example of how far that party has fallen and are now hostage to the extreme right and a gang of opportunists out for attention and personal gain. Not only the hecklers, who are reprehensible, but those who were complicit in their silence during and after. It was like some out of control middle school classroom, only less dignified because these individuals aren't 12 years old.
We deserve better.
I suspect McQarthy is regretting promoting MTG and Boebert to choice Committees this morning. They both looked like Howler Monkeys shrieking at something they didn't recognize. The entire R side of the Chamber just reinforced what a powerless tool McCarthy is, to be trotted out for ceremonial purposes on special occasions.
At this point in the 2024 election cycle, we are watching butterflies off the coast of East Africa, trying to predict which flap of a wing is going to cause a hurricane, with no chance whatsoever of predicting where that hurricane might hit North America.
I admit it’s fun, but it’s no more effective than reading entrails, or basing political predictions on the recent appearance of that new green comet.
What will Biden look like in the presidential debates over a year and a half from now, long after this particular speech has been totally forgotten? Maybe the butterflies know…
I’m old enough to know how many physical ailments pop up on myself and many of my best friends. And most of us are a few years younger than Joe Biden. He seems to be very healthy and energetic, which is very good news.
If he continues in good health, I feel fine having him to vote for. In my long history of following presidential elections, it seems that an incumbent has an advantage over other candidates, unless he’s royally screwed up during the latter part of his (my pronoun:) first term.
Posted for a retired Medford man:
I feel Biden knocked it out of the park. He could not have handled the hecklers better. In fact the hecklers were used by him and played like puppets to make him look like a leader. The House is starting to look like the British House of Commons. If the D’s follow Biden’s Blue Collar theme into 2024, he will win. He will start seeing the fruits of his labor and peak right before the election. Timing is everything. Maybe this country will welcome a slow, venerable, experienced, steady, old and wise leader. Maybe, instead of the John Wayne look?
Anonymous male with a job that requires he not be publicly identified
Agree with Anonymous via PS. Conan Joe vs. the barbarians. He go high, Dey go low.
Entrails say it be very bloody and messy. Oh well.
To Republicans, it’s always all about the next election rather than what they can do for the country. They couldn’t really care less about the infrastructure or drug costs. All they care about is clinging to power by whatever means necessary, as they made clear on Jan. 6, 2021.
Besides acting like howler monkeys, they lie a lot and are prone to violence because that’s what appeals to their angry, ignorant white nationalist base. That a pedagogue like DeSantis is pandering to them in anticipation of his run indicates we're in for a lot more of it. Without Trump's chumps, the GOP wouldn't have a chance, so it's likely to get worse before it gets better.
Oops - I meant 'demagogue, of course. DeSantis is like Trump with a thesaurus.
I, too, was quite impressed with President Biden. He does not come across as a politician.
He makes me proud to be an American.
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