As
Kim Strassel points out, it's the abysmal policies:
Don’t forget how a man pushing 80 came to office. The 2020 Democratic primary was dominated by candidates vying to curry favor with a rising progressive left. Worried that Bernie Sanders would kill a chance at the White House, voters turned to the only fixture who claimed to be moderate. He was a two-time presidential primary loser, as old as Methuselah, and slipping even then, but whatever. He was deemed the only candidate able to beat Donald Trump, which was probably true. Even four years ago, the party understood pure progressivism to be a political liability.
That self-preservation went out the window when Mr. Biden gave full rein to the Sanders platform. Blowout spending fueled the worst inflation in 40 years. Open borders caused a migrant flood that is overwhelming cities in red and blue states alike. A climate agenda fed higher energy prices and grid instability and squelched consumer choice. Washington made common cause with progressive prosecutors who enabled a crime wave in major cities. A “foreign policy for the middle class”—whatever that means—emboldened America’s adversaries.
The president who ran on uniting the country and restoring “standards and norms” also bowed to the far left’s worldview that the ends justify the means. The Justice Department signed on to the progressive lawfare campaign, unleashing criminal prosecutions against Mr. Trump and fueling fury among Republicans. Independents and moderates look with unease on actions the courts found unlawful—Covid mandates, student-loan forgiveness, environmental policy—and Democratic promises to pack the Supreme Court and federalize election law.
I think the two are related. He has let himself be managed, and the managers are mostly farther left than he is. They estimated going in that they could outwit him. Those managers always do think that, but sometimes it doesn't work, as with Bill Clinton.
ReplyDeleteLook up the career of Dana Remus, Biden's first White House Counsel. Solidly liberal, well-connected (her father was at YLS with Bill and Hill) but not extremist. Look when she got out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Remus
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Full disclosure, we are friends with her parents at our church. I asked her dad about her signing on at the beiginning and he took sort of a faraway look and said "Oh, she knows what she's doing."
Fair point. Weber makes that argument for why the modern state is not really self-governing: the elected officials have to focus on their elections, so they end up ceding power to the managers. Those aren’t elected, so the polity is really governed by an unelected class that has its own class interests, which are out of line with those of the class of citizens.
DeleteHad lunch today with a friend who has a lot of experience working with the elderly...she made the point that mental abilities differ greatly among individuals, and she worries that the realities of Biden (and the assertions about Trump) will lead to too much blanket thinking about people being 'too old.' Certainly, plenty of people are pretty old and mentally quite sharp, viz Warren Buffett.
ReplyDeleteThe president who ran on uniting the country...
ReplyDeleteThe day after Biden was "elected," my brother posted the hope or belief that Biden would unify the country.
Anyone who had been paying attention to Biden would have realized this was not realistic. Such as Biden saying years ago to a black audience that Republicans wanted to "put you in chains."
Republicans have longer memories than Democrats would hope. (In my brother's case, he paid little attention to politics, so I doubt he ever was aware of such disuniting Biden statements.)