"Give Joe Biden a break."
Today's Guest Post urges Democrats to lay off the criticism of Joe Biden.
Rick Millward reads this blog and told me that I have been unfair to Joe Biden. After all, Biden got 7,050,000 more votes than Trump and saved the country from a second Trump term. We owe him. COVID, world-wide inflation, the Russian invasion, and the lack of an effective majority in the U.S. senate make it a tough time to be president.
I asked Millward to make that argument in a guest post. Millward is a songwriter, musician, and music producer, formerly from Nashville, now living in southern Oregon. His most recent production is Loveland, a collection of songs on themes of romantic love. He performs frequently at local wine venues.
Guest Post by Rick Millward
President Biden will not be running for a second term. Anyone who believes otherwise is living on another planet. Republicans would like him to run, but even they know it’s about as likely as the Second Coming-- actually less likely.
So knowing this, why are so many Democrats contributing to his current low approval ratings, which are hovering around 40 percent? True, 75%+ of Democrats approve of Biden according to polling, but since 85%+ of Republicans disapprove, it becomes all the more important that all Democrats stand with the President and not indulge in unfair criticisms.
One can understand Republicans unable to give him any credit. After all, his presidency has been a holding action against the GOP attack on democracy, the rule of law and common decency. But too many Democrats seem to take inordinate pleasure throwing rocks at the White House, where this flawed but longtime loyal servant to Democratic values resides.
Most recently critics blame Biden for the current inflation, as if it began on January 21, 2021. The facts indicate that the fundamental reason for inflation is increased post-COVID demand coupled with all the upheaval from the pandemic, including supply chain and production disruptions. The U.S. is not alone in suffering these economic consequences, and we aren't suffering the worst of it. Inflation is affecting the entire world. There is little a President can do under these circumstances, especially when the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low during the “Trump Boom,” which fueled a speculative bubble. In fact, the Administration’s (bipartisan) infrastructure bill will do a lot to alleviate the economic problems we are suffering. Likewise the President can do little about the price of gasoline. Oil is an international commodity and insofar as anyone is to blame for high prices, it’s Russia. It’s not a coincidence that gasoline prices rose when they invaded Ukraine.
Another knock on Biden regards the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The withdrawal is something that Americans have wanted since the Obama years. It didn’t happen in 2010 when it was first announced, due to hesitancy from the military and hawks in Congress. Most knowledgeable observers hold the view that Trump’s fake promises to leave made the situation even more difficult. Presidents don’t make decisions unilaterally, and Biden did what all presidents must do; make the best choice from all the options despite the uncertainty. It could have been much worse, both on the ground in Afghanistan and politically for Biden. Certainly the previous administration had all the same information and chose not to start the withdrawal.
And let’s not forget that Democrats do not control the Senate, not really. Whatever actions that the White House initiates will be sabotaged by two Democratic senators who vote with the other side.What do Democratic critics expect from Biden? Do they not know him? This is a politician whose career was dedicated to promoting bipartisanship and cooperation in Congress, who relied on legislators' mutual respect for each other and our institutions. But now the same voters who chose him for these very qualities find him lacking because he keeps seeking bipartisanship and cooperation. Perhaps Democrats could have defeated Trump had Biden not entered the race. Maybe Bernie Sanders could have succeeded, or my own choice, Elizabeth Warren. Democratic voters chose a safe, known quantity which might have been a missed opportunity. We’ll never know. To assume Biden was the only candidate who could have won is pure speculation. For all we know another might have won by an even larger margin and we never would have had to suffer The Big Lie. But we chose Biden, so we got Biden.
Finally, Democrats who don’t support the President are giving Republicans fodder for all of their attacks. They can point to the low approval numbers as evidence of failure, and blame him. Don’t fall for it. This is unfair, but also utterly self-defeating at a time when Democrats need to rally around whomever becomes the next nominee and presidential candidate, whoever she is.
He’s not going to run in 2024, so criticizing him is beating a lame duck. Give him a break, some credit, and the Republic a chance.
There's criticism and then there's criticism. In the political arena, neither is productive, save for the designs of the critics. Joe is far from perfect. But he's so far better than Trump it is off the charts. Instead of nit-picking and carping, I agree with the writer: start addressing the real problems we face instead if Joe Biden's relatively minor and harmless mistakes.
I was just lamenting Democrats' critique of Biden. He's restored our position in the world. He ended a long-lasting war that was never to be won. He made himself a poster child for vaccines and COVID19 masking. He faithfully supports our military and our veterans, as does his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, who works ceaselessly to support military families. He has appointed more federal judges than anyone. His cabinet, his administration, are the most diverse of ANY cabinet or administration. This is a VERY short list. Yeah, inflation. A lot of that is due to pandemic shortages. An unpopular thought here. If we had a country where more people actually got vaccinated, maintained social distance and wore masks, we'd have fewer interruptions in production. So yeah, unvaxxed denialists, I'm looking at you as a source of our inflation, not Joe Biden. It's time for us to step up and support Joe Biden instead of behaving like junior high school students who have no respect for anyone who actually upholds the Constitution and attempts to fix things instead of trashing them. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say this.