Peak Joe

Is this a teachable moment for Mr. Biden?

A few weeks ago, Joe Biden whined to the press: “You all are not the happiest people in the world, what you report. And I mean this sincerely. It gets—you get more legs when you’re reporting something that’s negative. I don’t mean you’re picking on me. It’s just the nature of things.”

Pathetic. Loser talk. But that was before October 7 in Israel. He has been a different President ever since…or, maybe I should say, he’s been President ever since. After three years of ghosty, reticent “normality”—a relief, at first, after Trump—he’s been everywhere. He’s been to Israel. He’s been to the Oval Office. He’s been in our faces and at his very best, empathy central, but also crystalline in his anger and resolve. It reminds me of the transformational moment Bill Clinton had after the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The day before the blast, he gave a press conference; Newt Gingrich’s energy and bluster dominated the news and Clinton was forced to say: “The President is still relevant here.” It was, I believe, the low point of his presidency. He had been consumed by budget battles and a health care bill and passing NAFTA, but the prime job of a President is to be a leader not a legislator…in fact, Clinton didn’t yet understand the power of his podium. A few days later, he began his road back by giving a moving speech at the Oklahoma City memorial service—and a few days after that, a fighting speech at Michigan State: “There’s nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country.” It should have been the signature statement of his presidency, instead of “It depends on what your definition of is, is.”

Clinton was reelected with ease and maintained solid approval ratings after that, even in the midst of the Lewinsky affair. So, the question: Can this be a similar moment for Biden? Sanity suggests a definite maybe. There are two potential roadblocks.

David Sanger, ever astute, suggests one in the New York Times today: that maybe Biden’s style and priorities don’t fit the moment:

Polls show that a growing number of Americans are uneasy with the role of defender of the existing order, and the existing rules, that Mr. Biden describes as the essence of America. In the generation in which he grew up, his Thursday declaration that “American leadership is what holds the world together” would have been uncontroversial. Today it is a central point of debate, along with his insistence that “American alliances are what keep us, America, safe.”

I fear that Sanger is right. Our leaders have achieved this dreadful state the old-fashioned way, after 60 years of gross stupidity overseas and hubris at home—Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan; the support of free trade without nuance (or national security considerations); a sieve-like immigration policy on the southern border. Donald Trump was a reaction to all that, and he has done irreparable damage to the notion of responsible leadership. His lies have made it possible for his followers to say, Well, they all lie, don’t they? His antic narcissism has made it possible for his followers to say, Well, they’re all egomaniacs, aren’t they? His utter ignorance about policy, domestic and foreign, has made it possible for his followers to believe that expertise is some sort of elitist crime.

This has been the landslide rolling down our hill, gaining size and strength for more than a half-century, longer than the political consciousness of most of the electorate. If the loss of faith in our democracy is to be overcome it will take a blazing period of public sanity and effective action. It’s probably too much to ask of any politician, much less one who seems as halting as Biden does these days.

Which raises the second obstacle: If Biden is going to revivify his presidency, he needs to shed the advisers who’ve counseled caution and distance these past few years. They fear his gaffes; he should embrace his gaffes. Next time he trips on the stairway to Air Force One, he should say: “Damn these arthritic knees!” Or some such. He should take his Corvette to the gas station in Rehoboth and say, “Jeezus H. Christ. These Putin prices are freaking outrageous!” Or some such. Something real. Something Joe. There should be no more market-tested sloganeering: Bidenomics? Feh.

Most important, though, he should show the same degree of energy and commitment and passion to issues that are close to home as he’s done for Israel and Ukraine. And, if I may suggest, there is one issue that seems an obvious candidate for that sort of treatment—the Southern Border. His paralysis has been maddening. It needs to be reversed immediately, yesterday. He needs to go there. He needs to use plain English: these are illegal not “undocumented” immigrants. He needs to shun the activists in the Democratic Party whose open-border extremism represents a minority view in the Latino community. He should mobilize the National Guard in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California to patrol the border…or maybe the First Cavalry, which is based right there at Fort Hood in Texas. He needs to close down, temporarily, all refugee arrivals. He needs to get tough—tougher—with Mexico about fentanyl (and maybe even take out a narco-lab or two with drone strikes, just to send a message). He needs to build the damn wall, even if it doesn't make much difference.

He needs to combine these actions with significant humanitarian relief for the cities and states bearing the brunt of the immigrant tide. He also needs to promote a specific and long-term plan for more legal immigration, which we definitely need to keep our economy growing. He needs, above all, to be present; he needs to be as present as he was during the Covid plague, with weekly meetings—televised, if possible—featuring his advisers, with charts and graphs and maps. Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security needs to set up shop in McAllen or El Paso; he needs to live there. This can’t seem a gimmick. There has to be a real passion on his part. Biden has demonstrated his solidarity with the Israelis and Ukrainians, how about solidarity with something the American people are really worried about? The protection of our borders should have resonance after the porosity of Israel’s borders was demonstrated on October 7.

I realize the above course of action may seem simplistic; aspects of it probably are. The human and international considerations are complicated—but not nearly as complicated as Gaza. I also realize that Biden may just be too old—or appear to be—to regain the esteem that he has lost by seeming so, well, hapless…even when he’s been successful. But the last few weeks have demonstrated that an active, engaged presidency is better for the country, and maybe for Biden himself, than the no-risk, no-press, no-show model we’ve seen so far.

Meanwhile, Rubber Meets Road

October slips into November. It is time for the winnowing process to begin in the Republican presidential race. And it’s happening: Tim Scott is ratcheting down his advertising, Mike Pence is broke and unloved. Chris Christie seems more quixotic than clever. Vivek has proven himself slight and silly and campaigning too obviously for the vice presidency. It is time for them to start thinking-twice. We’re probably a month or two away from real consolidation, but the race—which may well be Nikki Haley (or perhaps, still, DeSantis) v. Trump is beginning to take shape. If we’re lucky, we’ll have an actual contest by the near year.

And On the Other Side…

Harlan Crow, conservative supporter of Clarence Thomas’s lifestyle extravagances and of the feckless No Labels third party effort, has now pitched up on the desert island of Cornel West’s presidential campaign. Brother Cornel tweets:

As an independent candidate and a free Black man, I accept donations within the limits of no PACs or corporate interest groups that have strings attached. I am unbought and unbossed. Despite my deep political differences with brother Harlan Crow (who is an anti-Trump Republican), I’ve known him in a non-political setting for some years and I pray for his precious family. I find it hypocritical for those who highlight his $3300 donation to my campaign but can’t say a mumbling word about the PAC-driven billion dollars to support the genocidal attack in Gaza sponsored by their candidate! I’m fighting for Truth, Justice, and Love! Onward

By “genocidal attack in Gaza,” I assume West is not referring—he doesn’t even mention—the slaughter of the innocents on the Israeli side by Hamas. And so I ask again: Why aren’t the Democrats calling out this toxic clown who is currently polling sufficiently to swing Wisconsin, Michigan and other states to Trump? Paging Hakeem Jeffries, paging Chuck Schumer…anyone?