Surprisingly, President Joe Biden has accepted an invitation to address Congress right before he reaches his 100th day in office. Surprising in that he going to actually physically present himself before America, something he apparently is loathe to do, even though he is constitutionally required to do so within a certain time frame. While this column is not about Biden’s reluctance to speak in front of his Nation, it just seems a little odd that he has had just one press conference and has given no major speeches in his first hundred days. To my recollection, every President before him was front and center and giving speeches trying to sell his agenda to the American people, not this one. Maybe he thinks with both the Senate and House controlled by the Democrats he doesn’t have too.
Think about that for a few minutes and if that doesn’t scare you, you haven’t been paying attention.
What is more surprising is that he actually has a lot of things to talk about and take responsibility for. The border crisis for one. The administration still has not admitted they went into this without a coherent plan and they have allowed it to spiral out of control causing undo hardship on the people in those border communities and for the migrants themselves. As I have said before, I am not against migration if it is done with some sort of cohesive plan that takes into account the stresses these migrants will put on affected communities and the needs of the Nation as a whole. Whats happening now is just absurd and will only get worse if it isn’t dealt with directly and consistently.
The Pandemic response is another. Like them or hate them, Trump, Cuomo, Newsom, et all, were out there everyday speaking about the greatest crisis this country has gone through since World War II. Giving updates, pleading for assistance, calming their constituents, whatever. They did what leaders do. Stand in front of the room and take the slings and arrows. You may not like the way they acted or their policies caused more harm than good but they were out there. President Biden has done little in the way of managing or stroking the nation as we work our way through this pandemic. This is an opportunity to take center stage and do what a leader is supposed to do. Take control and explain where things are at. Pluses and minuses. However, one thing I will bet my last ruble on, he will take full credit for the speeded up vaccine rollout and the reduction of cases across most of the country.
His biggest challenge will be to convince the American people that spending another 2.1 trillion dollars on “Infrastructure” will move us forward into a new era of economic growth, reduce climate impact, yada yada yada. As I said in an earlier column, I think that there elements of this plan that just do not sit right with me and judging from the responses I have gotten, they don’t sit right with my readers.
Unfortunately, we will have to accept this plan pretty much as it is and while some components are urgently needed, many are not. One thing that won’t be touched on is how will we, as a nation, pay for this sweeping economic policy? They have already presented their tax plan and it is not pretty. Corporations will bare the brunt of these new taxes and I am pretty sure that will impact every American either directly or indirectly.
Being from the Reagan school of economic thinking, I don’t think massive spending by the government and raising taxes are sound economic policy for future growth. Really doesn’t make any sense to be honest.
Well written Peter, I believe we were spoiled with the Professionalism, Positive Thinking, get the job done, CEO attitude of the previous President. Now to end up with the current administration, which has become a complete disaster and enemy to our Constitutional Rights.