I have not read many "Why I like Biden" articles lately, so I have decided to write one.
I think the Irish inherit a certain way of being alive in the world, a unique combination of forbearance and sheer indulgence that is a legacy of our troubled history.
We know how to brace for impact and we know how to let rip.
I see both of those qualities in our current President Joe Biden and they spell Irish to me the way a DNA sample might.
Not enough is written about his Irishness. Ready to laugh or cry at the drop of a hat and knowing that life will inevitably bring both to you, it's an open-hearted way to live that exposes itself to every vicissitude and has the strength at its core to endure it all. He's us.
June 17, 2022: President Joe Biden attends a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
In life, the people that you admire most tend not to be the flashiest ones. It makes some sense, by the time you have seen a bit of the world you learn to prefer the people who comport themselves with some grit and dignity.
Recall how in the Trump years we would wake each morning and wonder what fresh hell he had just unleashed on Twitter. Recall how chaotic and cruel he was.
Recall how that dumpster fire that was his ego and anger led us inevitably toward civil conflict and a serious attempt to burn the United States Constitution in the nation's Capitol.
Then compare it with the quietly passionate Irish but also Irish American man who is a steady but remarkably effective hand in the current White House. Unlike Trump, Biden isn't an attention-seeking showboat, but also unlike Trump, he delivers for the American people.
President Biden has passed the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan, oversaw the Afghanistan withdrawal, and his White House has killed al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri.
He has brought the nation back to pre-pandemic employment numbers and a historically low 3.5% unemployment rate, the majority of his judges have been confirmed, including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States, and on Friday, the House of Representatives was poised to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden's landmark climate change and health care bill which got Senate approval on August 7.
What does the Inflation Reduction Act do? It gives Medicare the power to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs, thereby bringing down costs. It extends Affordable Care Act subsidies which will save on health care coverage costs for millions.
It delivers $370 billion to reduce the carbon emissions that damage our lives and economy, it battles climate change and it funds the move toward a clean energy economy.
The new bill is also an inspirational moonshot that confirms US global leadership is serious about its quest to save the planet through innovation and changeover, encouraging other nations to follow suit.
That is not bad work for a guy with a roughly 40% approval rating. It says to us that he has bigger fish to fry than attempting to worry about what people think of him on Twitter. It says he's doing his job quietly but effectively, passing the most substantial bills in a generation.
This new DNC commercial should be on billboards nationwide. pic.twitter.com/LgloGgJ34e
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 10, 2022
Some in Democratic circles are wringing their hands about his age (he's two years older than Trump). Some are casting about for a flashy replacement for his second term. Some are pointing at his poll numbers and saying that the signs are ominous.
I say this, if he runs again against any Republican candidate for president, he will win. I believe his steady governance is the best remedy for this anxious age. I say that time will reveal him to be one the most effective presidents in a century, just as time will reveal him to be one of the best.
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