Be thankful that sanity has returned to America — for now
WASHINGTON >> Did you see what President Joe Biden tweeted? (Probably not, because they were earnest missives about booster shots and preschool access.)
Did you hear about the latest chaos at the White House?
(Doubtful, because turnover is low.)
Can you believe he insulted the chancellor of Germany and shoved the prime minister of Montenegro?
(No, because we all know Biden never has and never would.)
In this season of thanksgiving, let us be grateful that some measure of calm and sanity has returned to the White House. The United States, at least for now, has a stable, functioning government. The president is not making everything about himself, nor creating chaos for its own sake.
The stock market is higher than it ever was under President Donald Trump; the S&P 500 has hit more than 50 record highs so far in 2021.
Fully 5.6 million new jobs have been created in Biden’s first nine months, a record pace for a new president, and unemployment is down to 4.6% from an estimated 10%.
Wages for American workers have increased this year at the fastest rate in more than two decades. Economic growth for 2021 is on course to hit a healthy 5%.
Life is returning to normal after the pandemic, as the country finally overcomes a delay worsened by right-wing resistance to vaccination and prevention.
Biden has managed to secure broadband Internet and better roads, bridges, electric power and drinking water for all Americans. Despite fierce Republican opposition, he is within striking distance of securing better child-care assistance, free prekindergarten and lower drug prices, as well as requiring the ultra-rich to pay more in taxes.
Just as important is what isn’t happening. By this time in Trump’s first year, he had: praised the “very fine people” marching among violent neo-Nazis in Charlottesville; fired the FBI director for investigating his national security adviser; replaced his national security adviser, chief of staff, press secretary, communications director, chief strategist, secretary of homeland security and secretary of health and human services; ripped up treaties and threatened to pull out of NATO; threatened nuclear war on Twitter; attempted to impose what aides called a “Muslim ban” and disparaged a “socalled judge” who objected; belittled U.S. intelligence and shared sensitive Israeli intelligence with Russia; sabotaged Obamacare; falsely claimed his predecessor had tapped his phone lines; embraced Stalin’s phrase “enemy of the people” to describe the free press; exposed the “dreamers” to deportation; stood by a Senate candidate accused of sexually assaulting a minor; tossed paper towels (but not the needed aid) at hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico; continued nonsense claims about a “deep state”; insulted hundreds of people in often vulgar and misspelled tweets; made more than 1,600 false or suspect statements; and, yes, shoved the prime minister of Montenegro before a photo op and insulted German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Of course, those misled by the Fox News/GOP dezinformatsiya campaign have a different view of Biden’s record. Crisis on the border! (Border crossings have surged to record levels, as one would expect in a booming economy, but so have border arrests.) Crime! (Homicides continue to rise, but at a slower pace than in Trump’s final year, and they remain well below 1990s levels.) Inflation! (As the Financial Times reported this week, it’s a “global trend” that is expected to ease next year and is “nowhere near the levels reached in the 1970s and 1980s.”)
After excoriating the Biden administration for leaving behind Afghan allies, Republicans are now fomenting opposition to resettling the refugees who did escape. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy literally complained that there are now too many “help wanted” signs.
Unfortunately, this asymmetric warfare plays to Biden’s disadvantage. He’s going about the dull, plodding business of governing. The other side is fabricating crises and sabotaging progress.
Those not being misled by the Fox/GOP dezinformatsiya blitz know the president is not making everything about himself, nor creating chaos for its own sake.