Jack Doppelt
Jan. 15, 2021
“Biden, you can't be tone deaf” was the headline I put on my contemporaneous musings after Biden delivered his address last night. I wrote:
“Have Biden and his advisers been on another planet for the past week with no communication? I listened to his address to the nation, which lasted nearly a half hour, and he didn’t say a word, not a word, about last week’s events in Washington, DC, where he’s about to be inaugurated and work. He didn’t mention the insurrection, the damage to the Capitol, Trump’s speech, the security failures, the impeachment vote, the call for Trump’s conviction in the Senate, anything.
As soon as the talk ended, the MSNBC pundits and experts didn’t drop a beat and breathlessly returned to what everyone is concerned about and has been immersed in non-stop. MSNBC reinforced with photos, video and new footage how the nation’s capital looks like it’s still under siege.
Biden used hushed tones to convey the importance of addressing covid, of using a robust stimulus package, of boosting the economy, and of unifying to move forward. He could have written the speech the week before the election, which if I’m not mistaken was either 11 weeks ago or years ago, depending how you mark time.
Biden’s speech was promoted as announcing a $1.9 trillion package to fight the economic downturn, including $1,400 payments and higher jobless benefits. Were he and his advisers hoping to bury this news? If not, what news outlets did they think would focus on the announcement? I was watching only MSNBC. Over the next hour, they didn’t report more than a few sentences on the announcement. Is that the media being gonzo or is it Biden and his advisers having no clue. This doesn’t bode well.
[will get back to this later]”
I’m getting back to it after reading some coverage of it, absorbing the comments and replies to the Facebook post, and sleeping on it.
In the tumultuous week since the Georgia run-off elections placed two more Democrats into the Senate, Biden has referred to the pulsating rushes of DC events. He and his advisers haven’t been on another planet. For the news conference, they made a calculated decision to get past the week’s events and distance Biden from the messy consequences that accompany him into the presidency. The import of his address wasn’t the bold American Rescue Plan that he’s proposing. Though it’s a good and forward-facing one, he’d floated it during the week.
He could have heralded the rescue plan and included relevant references to the week that was, both to underscore his points and to keep from coming off so above the fray that the fray is a passing distraction to him. As it was, he used separation of powers as a metaphor. He's the executive who focuses on issues facing Americans and the world, leaving the dirty work of conflict, finger-pointing, anger, division and his own presidential legitimacy to his Democratic congressional colleagues who are dealing with it unceremoniously. Say nothing about the week in his address to rescue the nation, and Biden offends no one, keeps clear of accusations that he’s fanning the flames of anarchy, and conveys he will not be dragged into the muck by Trump or Trump's legions.
Admittedly, it’s a fine line he must walk, with damned if you dos and damned if you don’ts at every juncture. That is his lot, as it was Obama’s and his lot when they took on the economic collapse of 2008. Biden’s address risks positioning himself as a hollow deliverer of generic talking points instead of as the bold thinker, planner, doer, and healer that the address intended.
There are answers to the questions I had as I watched Biden's address. To use bromides instead to envision a better future is to avoid the hard truths we need Biden to address as he takes the oath on Wednesday.
A few choice reflections on his address as examples:
“The crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight and there’s no time to waste. We have to act and we have to act now.” How to act now if the imperative agenda of the congressional Democrats is to prosecute Trump in the Senate? ? Can the Senate really figure out how to walk through Biden’s legislative agenda and chew the gum of Trump’s sticky impeachment trial at the same time, as they say they can?
“Unity is not some pie in the sky dream. It’s a practical step to getting the things we have to get done as a country get done together.” How to count on unity when more than 200 GOP members of Congress and the seeming majority of surveyed Republicans still claim Biden's not the lawful president?
“We need to make sure that workers who have COVID-19 symptoms are quarantined and those who need to take care of their family members with COVID-19 symptoms should be able to stay home from work and still get paid.” How to assure people how to deal with COVID-19 when dozens of GOP members of Congress refused to wear masks when they were bunkered, and a number of congressional colleagues tested positive from the exposure?
“It includes much more, like an increase in the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour. People tell me that’s going to be hard to pass. Florida just passed it. As divided as that state is, they just passed it.” Florida is divided? Any other place come to mind?
“I look forward to working with members of Congress in both parties, to move quickly to get the American Rescue Plan to the American people. Then we can move with equal urgency and bipartisanship.” How to work across the aisle with bipartisanship when the vote on Trump’s impeachment, for instance, was overwhelmingly partisan?
"There will be stumbles, but I will always be honest with you about both the progress we’re making and what setbacks we meet and there will (be setbacks).” How to expect honesty from Biden as there are stumbles when he isn't candid during the nation’s most humiliating pratfall?
“We’ve seen clearly what we face now and I remain so optimistic about America, as optimistic as I’ve ever been.” If it seems clear, why do Democrats and Republicans look at the same footage and emerge with polar takes on what happened and what we’re facing?
“God bless you all and may God protect our troops.” Is even this boilerplate sign off about the troops a myopic oversight of those protectors who were actually in harm’s way during the siege?
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