How relaxed have I become since Joe Biden became my president? This relaxed: I forgot to watch his speech last night.
I had intended to watch it. But then I had a busy day, getting my stitches out and all, and ended up working pretty late — until well after 9 p.m. Finally I turned on the tube about 10 — intending to stream something, but the TV input happened to be set on broadcast — and there was Joe, in the chamber, shaking hands with people! I had missed it!
I was disappointed, but it was OK. I was sure whatever he had said was fine, and I could read all about it in the morning. Which I did. And if you need to catch up, here’s a transcript.
As you know from last year, I wasn’t all that interested in what Joe would do once in office. As I’ve said so many, many times in the past in many contexts, I don’t like campaign promises, and don’t want to hear grand plans (which kind of eliminated Elizabeth Warren right off). What I want is character. That, and solid experience. You don’t know, can’t know, what the big issues will be during an upcoming term (although in this case, we knew covid had to be dealt with). So I want someone I trust to cope with whatever happens competently, and decently. Someone who I believe will do the right thing both in terms of effectiveness and morality.
And Joe fit that bill perfectly.
Of course in this case, it was also about replacing the malevolent, clueless lunatic who had occupied the office for the past four years. Once that was done and covid was competently dealt with, I’d be happy.
What I didn’t reckon on — in fact, practically no one did — was that once in, Joe would be this ambitious. I didn’t know he would come in and try to accomplish more than any president since LBJ, if not FDR.
But hey, that’s fine with me. Pretty much everything he’s trying to do makes sense, and I’m on board. And pleased. What Joe is doing is saying, “These are the things government ought to do. Let’s get them done.”
One thing I’m seeing people say about him — and they’re right — is that he’s not content to just undo the damage done by Trump. He’s looking to roll back all that Republicans have done — in terms of alienating the American people from their government — since Reagan.
It had never occurred to me that that could be done — returning us to being the kind of confident country, with faith in each other and our way of governing ourselves, that we were before Reagan, before Watergate, before Vietnam. The country of FDR, Truman, Ike (Mr. Interstates!), JFK and LBJ (pre-credibility gap). The country whose leaders said, “Let’s do this!” and we just went out and got it done.
Will it be easy? Not at all. There are 50 people in the Senate determined to stop him from doing anything he tries to do. If the Republicans had a party platform — which they don’t; the sick personality cult of Trump doesn’t need one — Joe could try to accomplish everything on their list, and they’d oppose it because it’s him trying to do it. In a situation like that, you might as try to do the right thing instead. Especially if you’re Joe.
Obviously, Joe is more of a visionary than I am. And I bless him for it. We’ve needed this, for such a long time…
There are things we should do. Let’s do them…
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Roll back what Reagan and Co. have wrought?
Fine by me.
Let’s start by rolling back those irresponsible tax cuts from 2017. Then the Bush tax cuts.
Among other things.
It was a laundry list of deficit funded government spending with no realistic, actual way to pay for it. It’s easy to play Santa Claus when you have the magic deficit elves paying for your fantasy.
You said this is what you want a President to say:
“We need to do this worthwhile thing, and here are the taxes that will pay for it.”
Let’s see the math for Joe’s New Steal… Will he do the big spend if he can’t pay for it? Of course. It’s an easy rah-rah moment for Joe because all he has to do is say “the rich will pay for it” and he gets to act like the man of the year. Meanwhile, “the rich” are already funding most of the federal government spending. As of 2018, the top 1% earners paid 40% of federal income taxes while the bottom 50% paid less than 3%. Easy to get votes from people when you are giving them other peoples money. Imagine a President who asked EVERYONE to contribute to the cause.
The data:
https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/who-pays-income-taxes
And it’s telling that you expressed your philosophy as “do X, tax Y” instead of “do x, cut Y”. A lot of Joe’s big ideas COULD be funded by cutting our excessive military spending. But that NEVER is considered. Better to spend a trillion dollars on made up wars than on American education, healthcare, and job creation.
I’m not sure there has ever been a tax you didn’t support. Look how well that has worked out with the Penny Tax and the gas tax increases. Two sinkholes of government waste and mismanagement. It’s too bad you never circle back after cheerleading for tax increases to assess how they actually worked out. But you’re about the ideas, the “Joe is FDR” narrative when what we will likely see is “Joe is Gerald Ford 2.0”
Oh, and for everyone who got a stimulus check that came out of my tax dollars, you’re welcome. Especially those of you who got one but never lost work last year. Free money from my pocket to yours.
Lame and cliche all wrapped into one heaping pile of BS.
Did you get a check? Was there a troll bonus?
If you didn’t lose your job and you got a check, you’re a parasite.
My US tax liability for 2020 was $160,000 and has been paid. Your arguments are pathetic.
Where do you get your weed?
Donate some to my campaignn for goob
To quote Junior Brown , That’s Easy For You To Say …
Doug if you “earned” so much money that you were ineligible for a stimulus check then you really have zero to complain about. Not sure why you’re such a contrarian over money issues. Seems to me you’re extraordinarily lucky.
I get the feeling Doug thinks he’s the only person in America paying taxes…
I didn’t watch the address. I caught some clips (without having some talk show host on cable news tell me what to think about it).
Biden did a solid job.
You don’t negotiate with yourself so I was fine with the proposals as laid out by Biden.
Speaking of spending- I don’t care about spending anymore. Conservatives in Washington hate spending when Democrats propose it. Conservatives in Washington love it or suddenly lose their voice when Republicans propose it.
The only honest thing Mulvaney ever said was that republicans were hypocrites on spending.
I very much appreciated the tone. Such a nice change – and that’s why Biden’s numbers are solid.
It’s like he has a job and he’s going about his business doing it. He’s climbing up my All-Time Favorite Presidents quickly.
All-Time Favorite Presidents List
Well, let’s SEE this list…
It hasn’t changed from the list we discussed back here.
Lincoln
FDR
Ike
LBJ
TR
Biden hasn’t been in office long enough for a full evaluation, but I anticipate top 10 at least. He’s less drama than No-Drama Obama. Just a regular guy going about his business and not paying the baying hounds any mind.
Now for a little rain.
Biden’s low-key approach may come across as calming now, in contrast to what came before.
But in four years, how might he look then?
Depending on circumstances, it could be that he just looks tired and rather overwhelmed.
I love lists. So here’s my POTUS ranking since 1900:
1. FDR
2. JFK
3. IKE
4. Obama
5. Teddy Roosevelt
6. Clinton
7. Carter
8. LBJ
9. Ford
10. Bush sr
11. Wilson
12. Reagan
13. Truman
14. Taft
15. Coolidge
16. Nixon
17. Hoover
18. Harding
19. Bush jr
20. Trump
Just based on his first 100 days Biden would easily be in the top 5.