President Biden's Prospects

 

 President Biden’s Prospects            Gerry OShea

Think back just six months when Republican leaders and all the experts in Fox News were projecting a red wave, a tsunami, in the November elections. Kevin McCarthy boasted confidently that his party would gain a majority of at least fifty seats in the House. Many polls endorsed these exuberant predictions.

Inflation was high and prices in the supermarket and at the gas pump were escalating every week. President Biden’s approval rating hovered around a measly forty per cent. Very few independent voters seemed impressed by his outstanding leadership of the West in confronting Putin’s ignominious invasion of Ukraine, and his success in promoting a massive infrastructure bill, admittedly mostly involving projects with future start dates, just wasn’t registering with the electorate.

Most Republican candidates rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election – a patently extreme position because more than fifty judges in various states found no basis for allegations of fraud. Still, their main message focused on Democrat incompetence as seen in the ailing economy and the upsurge in crime statistics.

Democrats seemed unsure and befuddled in their responses until about three weeks before polling day when they began to show their teeth. President Biden led the way by highlighting in a succession of speeches that democracy was on the line in the November vote. He warned that people who deny legal election results are engaging in a clear repudiation of the American 250-year experiment with democracy.

 A basic axiomatic standard followed wherever the democratic system is practiced, going back to the ancient Greeks, assigns victory to the person with the most votes – in America, of course, this principle applies to the Electoral College not the popular vote in presidential contests. Without that anomaly, we would be talking about the presidencies of Al Gore and Hilary Clinton.

In addition, the abrogation of the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court finding bothered large swathes of voters, especially women, who strongly resented the decision ending the freedom that resulted from a woman’s right to choose which they took for granted for fifty years.

 The particularly heinous multiple rape in Ohio of a ten-year- old, resulting in her pregnancy, was prominently publicized during the months of July and August. It shocked people throughout the country and certainly influenced the turnout in November.

 Fox News promulgated the idea that Democrats had altered the facts for political reasons, but official police reports confirmed that they had captured the culprit and he confessed to the despicable crime.

The Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, was clearly shocked by this barbaric happening, but he said that he could not allow an abortion because of his state’s post-Roe trigger laws.

 Women throughout the country were incensed that pregnancy termination was forbidden even in the case of child rape. Luckily, a doctor in Indiana arranged for the abortion but stated that she may not be able to intervene the next time because strict legislation was imminent in her own state.

President Biden toured the various swing constituencies concentrating on his condemnation of the repeal of Roe as well as preaching at every location that the continuation of America’s democratic system was on the ballot. If Republicans won the House and Senate it would entail handing power to extremists who will only accept electoral results if they win.

 President Obama, an accomplished orator, echoed the themes of his former vice-president, drawing big crowds in various cities and focusing on getting out the vote on election day.

 In the November polling for the House and Senate, the Democrats performed well, winning a majority in the Senate and losing the House by just four votes. This was seen as proof that, despite the harsh inflation, Joe Biden’s warnings about irresponsible Republicans, many of them outright election deniers, were heeded by the voters.

Prior to the midterm elections, Democrats were divided about the advisability of President Biden being re-nominated to represent the party in 2024. Many deemed him too old and they looked for a new face who would inspire young voters at election time.

Mark Anthony in Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” named himself “just a plain blunt man” as he worked the crowd in his famous oration. These descriptive words could be appropriately applied to President Joe Biden.

In his recent memorable speech honoring Martin Luther King in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, he mentioned the wise  advice from his father and his grandmother, Jean Finnegan, with direct lineage to his County Louth heritage. One admonished him to keep the faith while the other added “No Joey - spread it.” His Atlanta audience loved the imagery.

Professor emeritus Timothy Meagher from Catholic University says Biden embodies the American common man. The sad losses of his first wife, Nelia, his infant daughter, Naomi, and, much later, his son, Beau, still draw irresistible comparisons to the tragedy-scarred Kennedys. Grasping the validity of the Catholic “vale of tears” motif remains central to his assessment of issues.

His political persona conveys the mark of a thoughtful, dependable voice for moderation and progress. Like Thomas Aquinas he seeks virtue far away from the extremes. He has nothing against the rich, but they must be compelled to pay their fair share to the common purse. He promotes job growth at every turn, but he pleads regularly for more unionization so that workers will get their fair share.

By comparison, Republicans are enmeshed in extremism where their top leader and only declared candidate for 2024, Donald Trump, is still claiming he was robbed the last time out, and he has suggested changing the American constitution to remedy that situation. He compares the FBI agents investigating his thievery of secret Government papers to the hated Gestapo.

And his spokespeople in the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives can only be described as a reckless coterie of misfits determined to have their way in important political decisions.

For instance, Marjorie Taylor Greene is a QAnon supporter. They believe that a cabal of Satanic child sex abusers that include Hilary Clinton and George Soros planned to overthrow the Trump-led government. Many of the Capitol invaders on January 6^th included members of this cult.

Over two years ago Greene was removed from serving on any committee for posting a photograph showing her holding an assault weapon next to pictures of the three Democratic members known as The Squad.

Congressman Paul Gosar from Arizona suffered a similar fate after he published a bizarre video showing an animated version of himself menacingly threatening his colleague Ocasio-Cortez and President Biden.

These and dozens more from the far-right of American politics will now populate important committees and they can be relied on to disrupt normal proceedings at every turn.

The steady hand and clear messages that will continue to define President Biden will give him a clear advantage over the loud and unstable voices of the new Republican party. We are still twenty months away from the next Washington showdown, but President Biden’s chances look good.

Gerry OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com