It’s Not His Fault

Why Joe Biden Has Failed
(Spoiler Alert: It is not his fault)

– By Ed Kociela –

Joe Biden had one job and one job only. He was hired by the American people to remove the stench of four years of Donald Trump.

His job was to be the Democratic Party’s answer to Ronald Reagan, a sort of grandfatherly figure who could unify a nation after four years of tumult.

He has failed miserably. But, and you can call me a Biden apologist if you wish, it really isn’t his fault.

He inherited a weak economy that was geared to serve the powerful and wealthy. He was victimized by radicals willing to overthrow the Constitution and disregard the principles of the nation. He was saddled with a pandemic that has proven to be an imposing foe, stretching over two years now with no real end in sight and a segment of the population that has abandoned all sanity by refusing to be vaccinated.

And, he has been stabbed in the back by a miscreant from West Virginia, Sen. Joe Manchin, whose word is mud.

Manchin, after promising to help the president with his $2 trillion “Build Back Better” agenda, reneged, telling Fox News Sunday propagandist Bret Baier that he “cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation…This is a no on this legislation.”

The news came shortly after Manchin sat with Biden and party leaders to work on the bill. At the time, Biden said Manchin had “reiterated his support” for the bill.

If you have studied the Democratic Party for any length of time you have come to realize that it is comprised of everything from the yellow-dog Democrats to the furthest reaches of progressives. The only unity the party offers is in the disunity if you will, that has permeated the ideology for quite some time now. Manchin comes along at a time when every vote in the U.S. Senate matters. His stubborn posturing is self-serving. “If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it,” he told Baier, meaning that even though the legislation would be a benefit to the greater good, it might not go over well with his constituents and could prevent him from being reelected. In other words, to hell with the greater good, he just wants to hold onto his job.

Manchin ticked off a couple of concerns that he says have led to his opposition to the bill.

He said that the current inflation rate could “really harm a lot of Americans” and that it is something “our attention needs to be directed toward immediately” and that he is concerned that COVID is coming back to haunt our lives again.

Well, to be sure, these are two major concerns, but elements of the Build Back Better bill would help in those areas. It would help with necessities such as child care, health care, and prescription prices in general. It would help rejuvenate the economy and help the working class and working poor financially. It would help build infrastructure. It would help with sustainable energy and climate change issues. It would alleviate a lot of problems.

I don’t worry about things like the federal debt. We always find a way to work that out, and I don’t worry so much about a trade deficit because that ebbs and flows like the tide, the result of wants, hopes, needs, and desires. This is, to be sure, pretty important stuff, but honestly, we always find our way out of it because the United States is still the lead dog in the pack. It was and will remain true whether we have a person of wisdom and intelligence seated in the White House or a buffoon who disgraced the office for four years.

White House officials dished the goods on Manchin, talking about how the senator had brought in a compromise bill that was of the same scope and size as Biden’s. “While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all,” White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki said. She added that Manchin “promised to continue conversations in the days ahead and to work with us to reach that common ground.”

Psaki and others in the White House and on Capitol Hill were otherwise befuddled by Manchin’s flip-flopping and hoping for just one more flip before the bill flops.

“Just as Sen. Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word,” she said.

Now, the double-cross is certainly not something new to national politics. It happens all the time, quite frankly, and is one of the sharpest tools in the Congressional shed. I mean, if I had a dollar for each time a member of Congress lied, cheated, or pulled the double-cross I’d drive a much nicer car and live in a much bigger house.

But, these are different times, different circumstances. The foundation of the United States is cracking as the most serious threat to our way of life comes from within, rather than from outside our borders. And, although we will no doubt make it through on paper, we are at a perilous point in history where our credibility, our ethic, our character are on the line; where freedom is only free if you have the power and authority to buy it; where negotiations of the soul are beyond redemption.

Look, I’m not happy with Biden. Although I think of him in terms of honesty and decency, I also think he is his own weakest link. I thought so when he served as vice president and had difficulty negotiating with the Senate on behalf of Barack Obama. But, he was clearly the right choice last election and I was hoping he could guide us to a place of reconciliation and unification like the charge given to Reagan following the Jimmy Carter years, which were undeniably weak.

It hasn’t happened. But it’s not the result of lack of care or effort. It is the result of a half-baked news whore who is trying to cling to more than his 15 minutes of fame.

Joe Manchin may be in the spotlight now, but I guarantee that history will not be kind to a guy who has cashed in his moral compass and gone back on his word for votes.

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