Joe Biden: Not the Leader We Need, But the Leader We Deserve

 As in, "America deserves an out-of-touch Reagan Democrat throwback from the 80s because we can't tell the difference from an authoritarian posing as a conservative populist and a left-of-center economic populist who the media labeled as a Marxist." After explicitly demanding a political shift by first electing an African-American Senator and than a rich celebrity with no political background into the White House, we have come full circle back to "politically palatable white guy," as if Biden spent 40 years of his life trying to improve the lives of the poor, the working class and/or minorities (hint: his policies either ignored those groups or made their lives worse).   

But I digress. Apparently the story of the day is about Biden calling the GOP "vastly diminished in numbers" with a "fractured" leadership, instead of "Biden stumbles to answer a simple question, dismisses Trump's actions and expresses hopes for the opposition party." See, somebody at NATO asked Biden:

Here at this meeting and earlier at the G7, you've said several times that America is back at allies side, but a lot of those allies are themselves pretty rattled by what happened on January 6 and attempted overturning of your election. And they may still be alarmed by the continued hold that Donald Trump has over the Republican party and the rise of nationalist figures like him around the world. What do you say to those allies? What have you been saying to them at these meetings about how the next president of the United States can keep any promises you make?

Now, a normal politician, like say Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, would take the question of, "Your predecessor from your country's opposition party was so scary half the planet pissed their pants...can you give us some assurances that things will be alright going forward?" and start by giving some jokey, snarky quip and after confirming that the audience was with them, slide into their patented-yet-customizable response. Obama would probably do something similar, with an anecdote thrown in for good measure. Trump would have blasted and smeared, while touting himself as awesome. Point is, like it or not, you would gotten an answer.

Not so much with Biden. His response is too long to properly summarize off the bat, so I'm gonna break each paragraph down. Biden's words will be in bold.

JOE BIDEN: What I'm saying is to them is watch me. I mean, I'm not saying anything, quite frankly. I'm just going out.

This is probably Biden at his most honest. Sad thing is, he doesn't have an answer ready, and is doing the thing you do when you try to repeat part of the question asked to you to stall so you can think of something quotable. But keep in mind that his first reaction is, "WATCH ME," then in the next breath claims he's, "not saying anything." So um, what's the point in "watching" you?

People, as I've said before, I don't doubt that I mean what I say. And they believe that I keep my commitments when I say it. I'm not making any promises to anyone that I don't believe are overwhelmingly likely to be kept.

I would hope that the President wouldn't doubt his own words, even though he did just say, "I'm not saying anything." Also, "commitment" and "promise" are similar words, so when you say that you keep the former but aren't going to make the latter...? Also-also, you promised $2,000 checks, student debt relief, a public option and a $15 minimum wage during your campaign for president, and you didn't keep any of them. 

I think that we're at a moment where-- I mean, let me put it this way. You may have had a different view, but I think an awful lot of people thought that my showing up at the G7 would not produce any kind of enthusiasm about American leadership and about where America was.

Showing up to events like the G7 has been an expectation of presidents for years now; only if the president didn't agree with the purpose of G7 would they skip it (or a least criticize it). Showing up is not a sign of leadership, nor does it signal any particular American characteristic. 

I would suggest that it didn't turn out that way. I would suggest that there is the a-- the leaders I'm dealing with in NATO and the G7 are leaders who know our recent history, know generically the character of the American people, and know where the vast center of the public stands, not Democrat Republican, but who we are. We're a decent, honorable nation. And I think that they have seen things happen as we have that shocked them and surprised them that could have happened, but I think they, like I do, believe the American people are not going to sustain that kind of behavior.

This sounds like Biden did not experience any "enthusiasm." Okay, that's fine. But apparently, the G7 leaders know enough about the American people to be able to separate us from the two major political parties (Really? How often do world leaders engage ordinary Americans?). Also, it's nice that Biden see everything that happened from Trump's first day of executive orders to his followers trying to prevent Biden from being certified as president back in January as "that kind of behavior." 

And so I-- you know, I don't want to get into these statistics, because, you know, that old phrase [INAUDIBLE] there's three kinds of lies, lies, damn lies, and statistics. But I think it's appropriate to say that the Republican party is vastly diminished in numbers. The leadership of the Republican Party is fractured.

Nice quote; so we should be expecting statistics of some kind to support that last statement? I mean, what evidence does Biden have that the Republicans are fractured? If you go by the way they are voting in Congress, they seem pretty unified. What proof does Biden has that the GOP is "vastly diminished?" They have half of the Senate, and the Democrats only run the House of Representatives by a small margin. Is he talking about GOP voters, or elected GOP members? Is he factoring in the GOP's power on the state level? 

And the Trump wing of the party is the bulk of the party, but it makes up a significant minority of the American people. I think it is a shock and surprise that what's happened in terms of the consequence of President Trump's phony populism has, has happened. And it is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate, who I know know better, have been reluctant to take on, for example, an investigation, because they're worried about being primaried.

Saying that "the Trump wing" of the GOP makes up "the bulk of the party" and "makes up a significant minority of the American people" kind of justifies Senate Republicans being hesitant to challenge Trump. Most of them would be primaried. Again, doesn't sound like a "fracture" to me.

But at the end of the day, we've been through periods like this in American history before, where there has been this reluctance to take a chance on your re-election because of the nature of your party's politics at the moment. I think this is passing. I don't mean easily passing.

The last two election cycles showed that GOP candidates in GOP-friendly areas can still run as pro-Trump and win. In purple or blue areas, yeah, it's a risk. But isn't this true about anyone running while their party has a president in the White House? This seems to be more of a common occurrence then a once-in-a-generation phenomenon.  

That's why it's so important that I succeed in my agenda, the agenda whether it's dealing with the vaccine, the economy, infrastructure. It's important that we demonstrate we can make progress and continue to make progress. And I think we're going to be able to do that. So as I said, the proof will be in where it is, you know, six months from now, where we are, but I think you're going to see that there's-- that God willing, we're going to be making progress. And there's going to be a coalescing of a lot of Republicans, particularly younger Republicans, who are coming up in the party.

Interesting the three things Biden includes in his agenda. The vaccine needed to happen, or else MORE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE DIED. And, yeah, Biden would have been a one-termer (assuming he wouldn't have gotten impeached and removed from office). The economy is not going to get better as much as recover and return to pre-COVID levels (or as close as possible), but Biden hasn't announced and tariffs, subsidies or treaties that could impact the economy, and his position on taxes are situational to say the least. Infrastructure also looks like it's going to be watered down. Six months from now, the Democrats will be focused on the mid-terms and very little else. And sadly, not every younger Republican is Saagar Enjeti; many have been influenced by Reagan, Bush, the Tea Party and now Trump and are as tribalistic as young Democrats. 

So to recap: at NATO a reporter basically asked, "Your predecessor from your country's opposition party was so scary half the planet pissed their pants...can you give us some assurances that things will be alright going forward?" and instead of pointing to a policy or some burgeoning collaboration with a world leader, Biden's response was basically: the world leaders (somehow) know that average Americans are cool, and the GOP is all but done but I still plan on working with them. 

The same group who supported Biden's scary predecessor. 

We choose this. We deserve what's coming.