Mark Kaplan
March 3, 2020
President Biden is an easy guy to pick on. He is old-fashioned and acts like an
old-fashioned politician. He uses
expressions that are both antiquated and corny.
He likes quaint homilies. He
tells the same stories over and over again.
His age shows. He can barely put
together 2 sentences without a flubbed word.
It is pretty easy to criticize him, especially in a time of intense
polarization where each side looks for every possible reason to dislike the
other side. If you step back though,
he’s having a successful presidency, and think about it, can you even imagine
what would be going on now if he hadn’t won?
That brings me to Reason #1 of “why I’m glad Joe Biden is President.”
#1: He beat Donald
Trump. Really his whole presidency
is a success because he beat Trump. That
is enough for me. I could stop writing
here. Undoubtedly 4 more years of Trump
would’ve led to something, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been good.
#2: He got us vaccinated. Well, he got those of us who wanted to be
vaccinated, vaccinated. His
administration rolled out an ambitious, fast, well-organized, and highly
effective vaccination program. It isn’t
his fault that our polarized politics, and propensity to like conspiracy
theories, meant that a large number of people wouldn’t get vaccinated. He did everything he could, and he did it well.
#3: He used the
tenuous but real power that the winning of the Senate gave him to get a huge
(1.9T) pandemic relief bill passed almost immediately after inauguration. Some felt it wasn’t necessary, but the
unwillingness of many to get vaccinated, combined with an unexpected Delta
variant surge, showed that bill to be a lifesaver for many, and for the
economy.
#4: Dude actually
got an infrastructure bill passed! A
big one! This legislation was decades
overdue. After 4 years of
“infrastructure week” failures by Republicans despite their 2 years of having
Congressional and White House majorities, Biden got it done, and in a
bipartisan manner. To quote him: “This is a big (effing) deal.”
#5: He takes a
lickin’ and he keeps on tickin.” He
has had a rough time. Unfortunately,
when people aren’t happy, they blame the person in charge. He doesn’t seem demoralized, and he keeps
pursuing his goals. When you’re getting –
or you’ve gotten – on in years, taking risks is less consequential. There is a certain freedom that comes with aging. There really might not be a tomorrow. So Biden keeps on truckin, and I admire him
for that.
#6: He has
advanced inclusion and diversity in historical ways. Regardless of your opinion of the VP, he
chose a woman of color as his running mate.
He has nominated the first ever African-American women to be on the
Supreme Court. His cabinet is
beautifully diverse, the most diverse in history. Even in a polarized environment, and well
after he’s been elected, he keeps talking about race and focusing on diversity
in general. His cabinet looks like
America, and he speaks to a pretty broad spectrum of us…from working class
whites to people of color to military veterans, to moderates, to progressives,
and to the many in-between, even if we aren’t quite ready to hear him.
#7: He doesn’t
demonize people. It has to be
tempting. I admit I’ve been doing way
too much demonizing the last few years.
He sees the consequences of the stupidity and selfishness (there I go
again) of so many in our country lately.
Yet he always tries to pull people in, to speak to their better selves. It is a good example that I should
follow. Here, I’ll try: he sees through our dysfunction, and our pain;
he perceives how much we struggle to be kind to each other, to be better, and
he appeals to our better angels. There…that
feels so much better. Thanks Mr.
President.
#8: He’s from
Delaware! I’m from Delaware too!
(he even went on a couple of dates with my Mom while they were both at the
University of Delaware). Isn’t it a
little bit interesting, maybe even ironic, that at a time of such historic
struggle and strife, someone from our 2nd smallest state is the
President? Though small, Delaware had a
big role in the founding of the country, and was the 1st state. I think history will say that Biden, like
Delaware, was a very consequential leader.
And Mom remembered him as someone who was clearly “going places.” You were right, Mom. And by the way, thanks for marrying Dad. I would’ve been a bad First Son.
#9: He is saving
and strengthening NATO and helping the world stand up for democracy and
participatory government, at a time when autocracy and dictatorship are on the
rise. Do we really want to live in a
world where dictators are empowered and freedom is shrinking? We learned in the last couple of decades that
we can’t force democracy on unwilling countries. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep
standing up for freedom, helping countries that want participatory government
and more individual freedom, and standing up to dictators where we can. This is an issue abroad, and as we’ve learned
recently, at home as well. Ultimately
our freedom is enhanced when the freedom of others is enhanced. I think President Biden deeply understands
this.
#10: He has a
sense of the moment. When he decided
to run, he said it was to save the soul of the country. He knew this was a big moment in history, he
understood that something essential about our great pluralistic, democratic
republic was at risk. He wanted - and
wants - to help save it. He was willing
to heed the call and jump into the abyss, like a protagonist in a hero’s
journey. He, and we, are now in the
abyss, struggling with the beast, so to speak.
His lessons will be our lessons, and if we are fortunate, he will help
lead us forward from the abyss, with new knowledge, and stronger. This is what I hope for and believe he will
ultimately be known for.
He has made plenty of mistakes. Don’t they (and we) all? I won’t list them out. But we should be rooting for him. His struggle is our struggle. His success is our success - especially
now. Thank you for your service, Joe
Biden. I’m glad you are our President.
