Hard as it is to believe, it’s almost been a week since Joe Biden took his oath of office. As
everyone knows (having seen his inaugural address live or bits and pieces on the news), the new president didn’t exactly paint a rosy portrait of the country he now leads in his twenty-plus minute talk last Wednesday and his statements -- and executive orders -- ever since. His message has been a study in contradictions, leaving Americans confused and in the dark as to the direction the country will take now. On an inauguration video, the nation’s former presidents sounded equally dumbfounded regarding the citizenry’s mood. W. James Antle III wrote at The Washington Examiner:
"The fraternity of ex-presidents on hand for Biden’s speech did not appear to disagree entirely with [Biden’s] dire view of the state of the union. While Bush spoke of a 'generous country, people of great hearts,' he also said, 'I think if Americans love their neighbor like they would like to be loved themselves, a lot of division in our society would end.'
“'We’ve got to not just listen to folks we agree with but listen to folks we don’t,' former President Barack Obama exhorted the public in the same inaugural video. 'We are both trying to come back to normalcy, deal with totally abnormal challenges, and do what we do best, which is try to make a more perfect union,' said former President Bill Clinton, who added, 'everybody needs to get off their high horse and reach out to their friends and neighbors.'"
Establishment politicians sure talk a good game when the occasion (like a non-Trump inauguration) calls for it, but forget all about the nastiness of the campaign just concluded. It’s awful difficult to see the sun shine through the clouds when one side is gushing and gloating about “now it’s time for unity” while the other seethes with anger at the unfair treatment they’re still forced to endure from the media talkers and political opponents.
Put another way, Democrats set the table, now let them dine at it. And they’d better be consistent about wearing their masks and bathing themselves in sanitizer before picking up their forks, too. Liberals blew up the all-encompassing hysteria over the CCP virus. Anyone feeling good these days about the way the issue is being treated?
The fact is, Democrats made a major blunder by blaming the pandemic solely on Donald Trump, and they’re suffering the consequences now that Trump-hate isn’t the focus of every single establishment news segment or story. Both sides of the partisan spectrum understand that it’s much easier to loft bombs from afar rather than being the first to give credit where it’s due and then work towards a common goal.
Having seen all of the Democrats’ presidential primary debates and many of their other forum-type events, each of the candidates grasped early on that their only true path to electability was to sling as much mud at Trump as possible and hope that something stuck to his coat of armor. Otherwise, he could simply talk about the burgeoning economy, near historic low in the unemployment rate (in every category), boosting America’s energy production to number one position in the world, the reworking of several trade pacts with our partners and rivals (or is enemies a better way to put it?), the absence of any new military entanglements and, perhaps most astonishing of all, the prospect for real peace in the Middle East.
Yeah, that’s right, Donald Trump did all those things. No president -- including Trump -- deserves full credit or blame for a strong or weak economy, but there’s no doubt that the 45th president set policies to guarantee conditions that would allow private businesses to grow and prosper. Happy business owners don’t fire their employees for no reason. They put up “Help Wanted” signs and hike wages for the most productive workers lest they go to some other employer who will pay them what they’re worth.
The pandemic changed everything. It didn’t have a huge bearing on the Democrat primary race (I don’t think it altered the coronation of Joe Biden one bit -- everyone became terrified of Bernie Sanders winning the nod), but it did instantly heal any leftover bitterness between the leftists and party establishment. After the South Carolina primary, the campaign became a giant love-in session where the Bernie Bros and bodacious Biden bums (sorry, couldn’t think of a better moniker) got together, forgot about the microscopic differences in their socialistic healthcare plans and united in blaming Trump for the mounting coronavirus death toll.
Meanwhile, the nation suffered from the less visible effects of the poorly defined lockdowns. Kids weren’t in schools, which forced parents to alter or give up their work routines. School and recreational sports were curtailed or cancelled. Frustration with the flaws in a hastily thrown-together “remote learning” environment reached a boiling point. Citizens were angry. And then there were the riots -- again, attributed by the media to Trump and his “tone”.
How much of what we saw last summer was merely an offshoot of boredom? It defies logic to think that all the “peaceful protesters” and violent thugs (granted, a lesser subset of the “protest” crowd) decided at once that they had a vendetta against history and couldn’t resist dragging down statues and monuments. These lost miscreants probably weren’t working or going to school. A social cause must’ve seemed appealing if it would get them out of the house or apartment.
Telling decent Americans to forget the vitriol, finger-pointing and downright spitefulness of the last decade is a little much to ask these days. Unity doesn’t exist and the actions of the new administration in its first week won’t help things. Add the upcoming impeachment show trial and it'll only get worse.
Joe Biden’s initial approval ratings aren’t exactly stellar. The media can’t make the half-century swamp dwelling pol into a hero no matter how hard they try. People aren’t dumb. They recognize a snow job when they see one. And no amount of climate change will melt the tensions away.
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