In case you were wondering what President Joe Biden has reportedly been up to lately, besides letting the Taliban take over Afghanistan, here are a few headlines:
- “Biden ‘checking‘ if he can overrule states and order universal masks in schools”
- “Biden to press private businesses to require COVID vaccinations for employees”
- “Biden extends eviction ban”
- “Biden calls for half of new cars to be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030”
- “Biden notches big win as Senate passes $1 trillion infrastructure bill”
A lot of action is credited to the new president. One source took the time to list “100 Accomplishments in 100 Days: What has Joe done for me lately,” a worshipful testament so laden with effusive praise it would’ve made Mao Zedong’s palace followers envious.
To name just a few, the author notes Biden has expanded child tax credits, given LGBT people special protections, decreased deportations, extended federal unemployment insurance, provided billions in emergency rental assistance, cancelled student debt for 72,000 borrowers, created more than 18,000 jobs on public lands, stopped drilling in the Arctic, and many more feats – including a momentous change to the White House website to ask for pronouns.
So many accomplishments. All Mao ever did was swim the Yangtze River in his old age at a faster-than-an-Olympic-gold-medalist pace.
The Human Autopen
CNN analyst Julian Zelizer wrote recently of “Joe Biden’s Big Week,” which consisted of a new COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal employees and the then-looming possibility of passing the big “infrastructure” bill. With unmistakable glee, Zelizer noted “if [Americans] want to learn or work” they better do as Joe says and get the shots – time for “the forceful model.” He also salivates at what can be accomplished if only senators will disregard the legal limits of the reconciliation process and ram through “more robust policy.”
Democrats love the mandates and the bloated government spending they’re getting. And they love that there is a man with a mighty pen who signs off on all of it.
But even as they credit Joe in each day’s stack of headlines, Democrat loyalists posing as journalists surely know Biden has done none of it. He is merely the powerful chess piece in the middle of the board, the pawn with queen-like powers moved by others from square to square to establish control in the game of politics.
Now and then they even admit it. As Zelizer writes: “Unlike other presidents who attract voters through charisma, soaring rhetoric or the promise of bold new agendas, Biden’s selling point was always that he would focus on the task of problem-solving, tackling the nation’s toughest policy challenges.”
Translation: “Never mind the man or his ideas. Just give us our policy changes.” Policy has become a euphemism for political control. It is the great prize, the ability to force change – by law, by regulation, or by decree, if necessary.
‘I’m Not Working For You!’
When the White House had to announce after the G7 Summit in June that the president is “the clear and consensus leader of the free world,” it confirmed that he is not. Russian President Vladimir Putin openly exploits that weakness when he invites Biden to talk, “but on the condition that we do it actually live, online. But with no delays, directly in an open, direct discussion.” Strong leaders relish verbal sparring; weak ones hide behind carefully scripted notes.
Who can name a single inspiring speech from Biden over his 44-plus years of public life? Who can even understand him? Are there any known acts of courage, besides his inexplicable confrontation with the poolside gangster Corn Pop?
A few words do reveal Joe’s character. President Lincoln once said, “You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.” On the campaign trail, we saw what stirs Joe’s ire.
When a voter dared to question him on policy, the candidate snapped, “You’re full of sh-t,” and “I’m going to go outside with your -ss.” When the worker responded, “You’re working for me, man!” Joe shot back, “I’m not working for you!” Anger sometimes evokes the ugly Freudian slip.
Governed by Handlers, Not President Biden
Joe’s lack of inspiring words matches his flip-flops on key policy positions.
He once said “the military should get involved” in border enforcement, but now there are calls in his camp to dismantle Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He voted for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that fast-tracked deportations, but now has the military flying illegal aliens into cities around the nation.
After the radical fringe of his left-wing base demanded an extension of the ban on evictions, he flip-flopped on that too – even after admitting there is no legal authority to do so. Joe will support what he is told to support.
Americans are not fooled. The man who now holds the title of president of the United States, the one who supposedly got a record 81 million votes, couldn’t fill a middle-school-sized auditorium for a much-ballyhooed town hall on a friendly network. Titles can be bestowed, but respect must be earned.
From the beginning, White House operatives have worked to limit Joe’s public outings. The new leader of the free world held no press conference in his first 60 days in office. From stumbling on the steps of Air Force One to stumbling on basic words, Joe’s mental acuity crisis has been exposed. But he can still sign his name.
Even as Biden is president in the legal sense, his powers have been subsumed by others: party officials, bureaucrats, and outside activists. They are the “Biden administration,” the ones who surreptitiously wield the presidential pen from a distance. Democrats got what they wanted in Joe Biden, but America is paying for it.
Source: The Federalist
