I’m still trying to figure out what to make of President Joe Biden. He wasn’t my first choice for the office, or even my fourth, so I can’t sit here and prattle about being disappointed. At this point in Obama’s presidency, I felt completely betrayed. That’s what happens when you have high hopes around big-time politicians I suppose.
After more than four years of Trump, one thing I do appreciate about Biden is his relative patience and stillness; the man’s demeanor is like a lava lizard, breathing once every two minutes, unblinking eyes taking it all in. I’m not sure if its eerie or soothing, but it’s quiet.
These traits will be of great help to him tonight at the occasion of his. first State of the Union speech. Biden served 36 years in Senate and tried three times for the White House before finally succeeding. “Always” by Atlantic Starr was #1 on the pop charts the day he declared his candidacy for president the first time in 1987. If you don’t remember the song, that’s OK; nobody remembers that campaign, either.
Twenty years later, Beyonce owned the top slot with “Irreplaceable” the day Biden went for the White House again. His second presidential campaign was completed in one year after he was deemed completely unreplaceable by the voters. Seven months later, President Barack Obama chose him to be his vice president. Biden spent eight State of the Union addresses ceremoniously clapping and standing at the proper moments. Perhaps wondering what it must have been like to command that middle-front podium infront of the largest shark aquarium in the world.
Tonight, he discovers. Writing politics these day is easy to overstate. So I will make sure that I do not. As far as my memory allowsBiden is the most hurt locker-bound president ever. His predecessors dealt with a few of those life-and death dragons, but not as many at once. For God’s sake, some of the voters who supported Biden’s opponent in the general election stormed the Capitol building — arm in arm with a number of GOP congresspeople who will be in the room tonight — trying to keep him out of office. That hasn’t been on anyone’s bingo card since the disgraceful Hayes/Tilden crunch in 1876, and it’s just one item on the list.
The climate is collapsing, but Biden can’t do anything about it because one West Virginia coal Democrat won’t let him. The same goes for a whole kaleidoscope of domestic issues Joe Manchin has put the hammer to, leaving Biden’s first-year scorecard unsettlingly barren of accomplishments.
Vladimir Putin has launched an unjustifiable, terrible and devastating invasion of Ukraine. Some fear it will escalate into a huge nuclear confrontation between Russia and the U.S. Biden gets to stand there all high and mighty about Putin’s criminality while hoping nobody notices the ashes of Afghanistan and IraqHe clings to his trouser cuffs.
The COVID-19 pandemic, now in its third year, continues to infect more than 60,000 people per day and kill almost 2,000 more. Meanwhile, a quarter of the country is averse to science in order for them to own the libs. The economy is doing well, unless you ask real people about it. Roe v. Wadeis about to disappear and Mr. Manchin just did his partto further deprive the right to choose. Many schools are forbidden to teach history because it could make white children feel bad. Books are being taken from library shelves.
This is a nation at the edge of collapse. I wouldn’t dare to ask what. The best have no integrity, but the worst are filled full of passion and intensity. It is only when lies spread halfway around the world via social media that the truth can be found. People are waiting in fearful crouchs for the 17th shoe to drop. They are angry, scared, and everyone seems to be carrying that much emotional baggage.
That is Biden’s goal tonight. He must find a way to get across a sea of mistrust, resentment and deep-seated sadness to reach him. Some pundits believe tonight will offer him an opportunity to restart his presidency and bully for him if it is successful. He has waited for this moment for decades, and it is now. May the road be his. At this point, there is no other option than trouble.
