For once, the media’s reflexive characterization of Republican politicians as thrusting, jumping, seizing pouncers has hit the nail squarely on the head. Reporting on the latest tranche of classified documents discovered in President Biden’s possession, CNN noted today that, since the story first broke, “top Republicans” have “sought to deepen Biden’s discomfort by leveraging the opportunity he offered to his political foes.” And so, indeed, they have. Are they hypocrites for doing so? No doubt. Did Biden hand them a big mallet with which they might repeatedly hit him, just as things seemed to be looking up? Yes, he did. And down the blows have come.
Who among us can say that he is surprised? Since Biden became the Democrats’ nominee in 2019, many in the press have felt the need to pretend that he is a competent, moderate, lovable, grandfatherly figure, whose steady hand on the tiller has reminded a starving nation what good, old-fashioned proficiency looks like. But Biden is no such thing, and he never has been. He’s a dime-a-dozen partisan blowhard, with an impression of his own abilities that has always been at odds with reality. Can Biden really have acquiesced to the searching of a former president’s home without checking first to ensure that he was not guilty of precisely the same crime that search aimed to find evidence of? Of course he can. What in the man’s entire political history would have suggested that he’d proceed otherwise? He’s a bungler, a braggart, a malarkey salesman whose sole redeeming quality is his longevity. Some people have talent; Biden has seniority. And seniority is no guarantee of results.
Comments