Not Even Faint Praise
No matter what he says or does, President Biden can expect constant attacks from the Republicans. Tuesday's State of the Union will be no different.
You know there’s nothing Joe Biden can say or do that will yield actual praise from the Republicans. Not when every event, every decision by the president, is an opportunity to insist he’s a failure and is destroying the country.
Take the Chinese balloon, which apparently was the biggest issue in America for the last week and is still floating through the media maelstrom. Even after the Defense Department, at Biden’s command, shot the white balloon down off the Carolina coast with a missile launched from a fighter jet, Republican officials on Sunday were bent on calling his response an example of “weakness.”
“I think this entire episode telegraphed weakness to [President] Xi [Jinping] and the Chinese government,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told CBS News.
"I think part of it is the president's reluctance to take any action that would be viewed as provocative or confrontational towards the Chinese communists," Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told Fox News.
“It’s not just the balloon,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said on CNN. “It’s the message they are trying to send the world: ‘We can do whatever we want and America can’t stop us.’”
Never mind reports that Defense was monitoring the device, blocked its sensors, gathered intel on its surveillance capabilities as it traveled, shot it down over water so that no civilians were endangered by falling debris that reportedly spread over a seven-mile area—and now U.S. Navy and Coast Guard teams are collecting the material (including sensors) for further study.
That sounds to me like they decided to sharpen their aim before shooting. Imagine that.
To be fair, shooting (metaphorically speaking) by political opponents at what has come to be seen as Biden’s balloon does seem a target too obvious to ignore—typical Washington gamesmanship and an unavoidable cold open for Saturday Night Live. But even when the facts emerged over the weekend and were shared with Congress that Chinese surveillance balloons previously had traversed U.S. airspace over Texas, Florida, Hawaii and Guam—including during the Trump years—that didn’t quiet the bloviating.
For his part, Ted Cruz did acknowledge President Biden on Face the Nation yesterday for “actually having the guts to shoot this thing down.” But that was quickly followed by criticizing him for not acting faster.
And then there’s the ostensible leading presidential candidate for 2024, the Malignant One documented lying over 30,000 times, ranting on his own social media platform. "The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace…China had too much respect for 'TRUMP' for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!" he screamed on Truth Social.
That’s not the end of it, not when House Republicans are reportedly planning a resolution criticizing Biden’s response. That’s expected Tuesday.
But at a time of extraordinary toxicity, when extremists include “Patriot” in their bios while trashing the U.S. president and fueling division, we have to expect that there’s nothing that Biden can do that will quiet the desperate need for attention and soundbites that will get Republicans on Fox News and its right-wing media copycats.
A remarkable report on Friday of 517,000 jobs added in January, crushing earlier estimates of an expected 187,000 jobs, and the lowest unemployment rate (3.4 percent) in 53 years? Not a word from Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy.
Renewed and continuing strength in the NATO alliance? Only a refusal to acknowledge the stunning global turnaround toward America among its allies. As Pew Research found in year one, confidence in the U.S. president from Trump to Biden swung from 15 to 85 percent by Sweden, 9 to 79 percent by Belgium, 10 to 78 percent by Germany, 11 to 74 percent by France, 20 to 77 percent by Canada, 19 to 72 percent by U.K.—well, you get the picture.
Continuing advocacy and funding for Ukraine’s war against the terrorist invasion of Vladimir Putin’s Russia? Yes, it’s taken bipartisan Congressional support for financial assistance close to $50 billion. But for the moment, don’t get me started on the Kremlin talking points coming from GOP’s crazies like Marjorie Taylor Greene decrying “the neo-Nazis in Ukraine” and insisting the US shouldn’t spend “another penny” to support America’s ally—just what Putin wants to hear. Expect the same hostility from Trump—he’s called the U.S. “suckers” for its involvement—if his campaign raises its profile.
Tomorrow night President Biden will deliver his State of the Union address. Friday’s jobs report gave him fresh ammunition to assert Tuesday that the state of the union and the state of the economy are strong.
While he’s expected to spend the bulk of his speech on highlighting accomplishments of the last two years rather than pushing major new policy proposals, it remains to be seen how tough a tack he’ll take against the MAGA Republicans who currently control the House.
On Friday, speaking to the Democratic National Committee, he wasn’t mincing his words. “Jobs are up, wages are up, inflation is down, and COVID no longer controls our lives,” Biden said. “But now, the extreme MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives have made it clear they intend to put it all at risk. They intend to destroy it.”
Seeing as the newly elected House majority is already bent on weaponizing itself to go on the attack against Biden and the Democrats rather than pursue actual governance, count me among those who hope he hits hard and reminds the nation his leading obstacles are sitting in the House chamber.
While we can expect that he will continue Tuesday night his refrain for unity and bipartisanship, the Republican’s choice for rebuttal makes clear that they are more interested in continuing conflict, chaos and lies. Speaker McCarthy praised the choice of newly elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for her “bold vision for a better America.”
Sanders—who tossed away her credibility by standing before the White House press corps for two years as Trump’s press secretary—promised her rebuttal would offer the “GOP’s optimistic vision,” which includes “a new generation of leaders ready to defend our freedom against the radical left.” Much like her previous service to her country, don’t expect any serious effort to tell the truth.
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But just like with Obama, who so often seemed like a lone voice in the wilderness, where are the loyal Democrats furiously or eloquently or in any other manner fighting back and calling out the craven Republicans who are doing everything they can to undermine Biden and our democracy? Why can’t or won’t Dems stand-up and fight??
Your words are so true. We, all of us, need to speak truth and support our true champions in office, and that, quite clearly, is NOT Republicans!