Bless having an adult in the White House. I call Biden Uncle Joe, because I’m confident he’s working for us, not just for power. He’s human. He makes mistakes but he’s trying. I’m on his team and want him on mine.
But I’m annoyed by current political “discourse.” Instead of telling us Republicans blocked legislation, they describe it as Democratic failure. They don’t say Manchin and Sinema deserted the party; they tell us Democrats failed, “the Democrats” won’t pass crucial pieces of legislation. Who? 2 Dimos (Democrats in name only), ignoring the President, 48 Democratic senators and the vast majority of House Democrats who supported the President’s legislation – the overwhelming majority of loyal Democrats. For the press 2 exceeds 48, regardless of elementary school arithmetic. If they can’t do English and can’t count, why should we listen?
At his press conference, reporters asked the president whether he “over promised”? He promised what this country needs. 50 Republicans conspire to block every valuable thing Biden does lest it make him look good. As promised, he introduced excellent legislation and fought for it. Nobody can promise to convince Republicans determined to stymy him, and not work for the general welfare. That’s garbage in the halls of power. Where’s the patriotism of such people?
Biden made major improvements in his first year:
- An infrastructure package to fix roads, bridges, ports, broadband access, and “replace every lead pipe in the US” – including Albany’s where the City’s been fighting chemically against health damage;
- Rebuilding the economy – with a record 6.4 million jobs created, rising wages and disposable income, coupled with jobless claims at their lowest since 1969;
- Covid relief helped put funds in people’s pockets, bolstered unemployment benefits, the child tax credit, impacted business, restaurants and hospitality, and raised Supplemental Nutrition Assistance;
- More federal judges appointed than by any president since Ronald Reagan;
- Halted federal executions that kill many innocent people;
- Put America back at the helm of the free world after Trump pleased Putin by giving up that role;
- Combatted climate change – by rejoining the Paris accord, and agreements to reverse deforestation and reduce greenhouse emissions, ending federal support for international carbon-intensive fossil fuel projects, and promoting clean energy instead
- “overturn[ed] Trump-era ban on openly transgender members of the U.S. military”
- Combatted Covid, increasing fully inoculated Americans from 1 to 63%, 74% with at least one shot, providing billions to help schools, colleges, and universities reopen, with in-person instruction in most schools, made free masks available, and many businesses followed the Administration’s lead and instituted their own vaccine and testing requirements
Meanwhile Republicans are telling you outright there is a conspiracy to rig the election and throw out legitimate ballots and they’re it – enacting state laws to disenfranchise people unlikely to support them, to put partisanship above counting ballots, and empowering partisan hacks to throw out votes they don’t like. Hillary was correct: That is a vast wrong-wing conspiracy to perpetrate election fraud. By destroying the means of getting an accurate count, they’re telling us not to believe them. They’ve become the septic tank for the disposal of truth.
The press boosted McCarthyism by printing his accusations without challenge. The press follows the Republican line again, parroting their description of Democrats and giving Republicans no responsibility for the train wreck they’re engineering. The so-called liberal press has become a shill for Republicans.
In parts of the world, power is just for the spoils of office. Forget policy, or the general welfare. It’s about kickbacks. That’s become the dream of Trump and his Republicans. They just want the kickbacks.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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