By Erik Dolson
Count me among those disappointed no competent Democrat was willing to be President in the 2020 election. Though Biden displaced Saruman of Manhattan, and that was enough, great things were not expected and those who wailed over loss of our fatherland were ignored, except among their own.
So I am embarrassed. President Biden pulled us out of Afghanistan, after several presidents failed to do so. One can find fault with how it was done, but that is also to forget that in a war, the enemy has a vote. Few expected instant failure of the Afghanistan government.
Biden blew up the Nordstream pipelines, after being very clear that he would do so as the war in Ukraine unfolded.
“…I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG … we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate (the war in Ukraine).” By eliminating a weapon of extortion of Russia over our European allies, Biden was better able to mobilize them against a common enemy.
That the New York Times is now running a disinformation campaign on the topic is yet just another sad example of the fall of a once-great newspaper. The Times’s perfidy now extends back for decades, at least to the point where the paper justified war in Iraq with the falsehood of “weapons of mass destruction.” I’m cancelling my subscription, primarily because of a lack of journalistic standards among Times editors.
Biden has wrapped Europe into a coordinated opposition to Russia’s horrific attempt at genocide in Ukraine that Putin justifies (as all abusers do) by acts of self-defense from his victims. Claims by the leader of the world’s largest fascist county that he seeks “Denazification of Ukraine” would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly, cynical, and dangerous for a future where laws guide relationships.
Biden has taken bold risks to assist Ukrainians in thwarting Russian dreams of a conquered Eastern Europe, with all the repression he enforces on his own Russian people. Race? Gender? Freedom? Future? Pick your vision for a better world, then see Putin crush it. Even his Christianity is corrupt.
Biden has even managed to constrain the excesses of the Progressive wing of his own Democratic Party by showing that moderation can be a more effective strategy than extremism. Of course, that’s long been a message of the “mature” to the young, as this Old, White, Liberal certainly recognizes.
However, this again highlights the issue that leads this essay. Biden is old, and at the moment, Democrats do not have anyone in the wings able to lead like Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, or New Zealand’s recently retired prime minister Jacinda Ardern (save your sexist comments).
Both parties in America seem chock full of wanna-bees who seek the office for personal aggrandizement rather than a sense of duty and a record of accomplishment.
So, we’d better enjoy these still-troubled times while they last — it could become much worse. I credit Biden with the interlude.
I see people like Vivek Ramaswamy and Andrew Yang as interested in the future of the nation. Both are rich and young with the idealism that comes with youth. That idealism arrives in DC to be chewed up by a system - the swamp - that exists independent of politics, in general. Once in office they face the Uniparty representatives who look like cats and dogs in public but share the interest of accumulating as much wealth as possible by taking endlessly. DC staffers may be more sincere and more skilled but also more partisan. They might be the only ones who actually do work.
Biden is indeed a bit past his prime and I doubt he really will run but has locked up things, hopefully not too long. But I don't see many names in line for the job that are really viable. OTOH, the R's will see a real battle with hope that it's not too messy.
Wonder if anybody in charge understood how the economy might collapse? Pushing green before we were capable left out the part about other world events arising.