Lots of people predicted that, if Joe Biden became president, he'd look and act goofy. He looked goofy in the past. But, so far, we've not seen any evidence of the old Biden. Frank Bruni writes:
He has . . . exploded that musty maxim about old dogs and new tricks. When Trump failed to “grow” into the presidency, as critics and even some fans hoped he would, the consensus was that it had been foolish to expect otherwise. Who but Trump could Trump be? Besides, he was 70 on the day of his inauguration. He’s going to grow and learn and change after that point?
Biden was 78 on the day of his inauguration, and in the year and a half immediately leading up to it, he demonstrated the new tricks of reticence and restraint. He continues to demonstrate them — “The Invisible President?” was the headline on a recent article by Joel Mathis in The Week — presumably on the theory that the less flamboyant his style, the more likely his actual policy triumphs, which won’t be complicated by his becoming a symbol of grander battles or turning himself into a cultural lightning rod.
His new tricks include a more progressive bent than in the past and, it seems, a less firm attachment to bipartisanship than he once claimed — developments that take into account the ravages of a pandemic, the toll of income inequality and his party’s current pulse. Remember those history-class debates about whether the leader makes the moment or the moment makes the leader? The moment is making — or, rather, remaking — Biden.
Donald Trump is a moron. He learned nothing in office -- because he can't learn anything. Let's hope Biden's take on things continues. As long as we can learn as we go, there's hope.
Image: The New York Times
10 comments:
A lot of my pals have been old guys with an open mind. Unlike those of us who seek new information to rationalize the misconduct and reinforce the premature conclusions or our youth, lifelong learners generally have the confidence to admit it to themselves when they've been mistaken. This would be rare in a politician. The public is generally looking for leadership that comes across as absolutely sure of itself. Think of how far Harper was able to coast on his "moral certainty". I see in Biden a public figure who may have learned that sometimes you can say too much.
A younger Biden did exactly that, John. He appears to have learned something.
Is it a presidential requirement or does Biden have old age issues?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-biden-fall-air-force-one-b1819731.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhHpiMKVd1o
As with all recent US presidents I have no illusions to their abilities.
They have all been the product of $$$.
TB
They will replay Biden's fall, TB, as they replayed Ford's fall. All of us have fallen. But presidents -- apparently -- aren't supposed to fall.
Biden arrived at a time when anything is an improvement.
He is still cut from the same expensive cloth of past presidents.
In the short run he will be seen as an improvement.
In the long run I have my doubts.
I long yearned for a more influential European Union to counter the US.
Alas that did not come to pass in part because of the obstinacy of the UK.
Now where do i hang my hat?
TB
Let's hope Biden's take on things continues.
Ah, Russia has recalled its ambassador and China's Foreign Minister, reportedly, has just effectively told the US Secretary of State to "go pound sand" at the Alaska meeting.
In other news, the US Secretary of State is threatening more sanctions against Nord Stream 2 pipeline companies, essentially threatening Germany, while the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants the US Secretary of Defence to threaten the Indian Govt with sanctions if they purchase the Russian S-400 missile defence system. Shades of Turkey!
At this rate we will be reclassified as a National Security threat in no time.
Internally it looks like Biden has his act together to some extent. Internationally he seems to be trying to outdo Trump. I think he and his foreign affairs team are living in a time warp. None of them seem to grasp that China is no longer just a source of cheap labour and that Russia is not, in John McCain's words, a 'gas station masquerading as a country'.
Nor do they seem to realise that parts of Europe, France and Germany in particular, do not see the USA as a trustworthy ally while some US policies imposed on the EU have had a costly effects on trade.
In India's case, being threatened with sanctions may simply drive them to source even more weapons systems from Russia. They have had a 50 year or so history of buying Russian so there would not likely be problems.
As much as India wants to be on good terms with the USA, at the moment it does not look like they need a close alliance. Relations with both Pakistan and China are improving. Giving in to US blackmail might set back talks with China. India--China relations are far more important than India--US relations. Giving in to such a demand would not do Modi's political credit much good and he is having enough problems with the farmers' strike and Covid-19 at the moment.
Good question, TB. Neoliberalism knows no borders.
Since Trump, the rest of the world has re-assessed its relationships with the United States, jrk. The world is not the same world Biden knew as vice-president.
@ Owen 3:59am
The world is not the same world Biden knew as vice-president.
You know this; I know this; the rest qf the world knows this, The problem is that I do not think that Biden and his foreign policy team does. The leading names in the team are a bunch of Obama--era ideological retreads.
If one reads some of the material in Foreign Affairs or some of the recent kerfuffle at the Atlantic Council on gets the impression that the US remains in a bubble as the rest of the world passes them by. The amusing, in a surreal way, calls for the US to split the China--Russia alignment alone illustrates a complete divorce from reality.
The USA has not really engage in real diplomacy since the disintegration of the USSR and seems to lack the ability to do so now. Trump's gutting of the State Department suggests that does not even have a professional cadre to provide realistic input into policy decisions. Pompeo as Secretary of State gave a great impression of a mafia enforcer minus the sophistication and the new Anthony Blinkin the new Secretary of State, seems to be taking him as a role model. Sanctioning 24 Chinese/Hong Hong officials the day before a summit shows either that the USA was acting in complete bad faith or that the USA thinks that puerile threats are the epitome of international negotiation.
The United States needs a reality check, jrk.
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