Unasked questions
The “60 Minutes” interviews of the presidential and vice presidential candidates last Sunday were more revealing for questions not asked and for sidestepping than for what inquiring minds really want to know prior to Election Day.
First, there was the presumption that government has all the answers to contemporary problems. There was nothing said about liberty, personal responsibility or accountability for one’s actions. The presumption among Democrats is that no one can do anything without government and if they succeed independent of Washington they will be penalized with higher taxes and more regulations to discourage initiative and risk-taking.
Systemic racism? Joe Biden’s response was to promise more spending to, writes Forbes, “make public colleges and universities, as well as private historically Black colleges and universities, tuition-free for students coming from families making less than $125,000 annually.”
But Biden opposes “federal funding going to for-profit charter schools” and “vouchers for private school tuition,” which might allow children trapped in failing public schools to have the intellectual foundation necessary to achieve in college.
Second, Biden said free college would be paid for by taxing corporations. Corporations employ people. If they are taxed more, they are more likely to lay off workers, or not hire people at all.
Norah O’Donnell didn’t ask and Harris didn’t offer anything about cutting spending and reducing the size of government.
O’Donnell did bring up the long-promoted claims by Trump allies that Hunter Biden’s laptop contained emails that proved illegal influence peddling among Biden family members and foreign entities, but she let Biden get away with another allegation that he is the victim of a “smear campaign” involving Vladimir Putin and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. She failed to follow up.
Here’s another unasked question: Mr. Biden, you and President Barack Obama promised “shovel-ready” jobs as part of your administration’s infrastructure spending. Later, President Obama acknowledged that those promised jobs in the stimulus bill weren’t shovel-ready after all. He laughed and so did the audience. You are again calling for infrastructure spending. Why should people believe you will do this time what you failed to do before?
The president is correct that there is a double media standard when it comes to him and his opponents. Media credibility may be higher than that of Congress, but not enough to be encouraging. It’s certainly nothing to brag about.