Joe Biden
I don’t spend much time looking back at my writing. I figure if I, or my readers, don’t like something I wrote one week, well, there’s always next week.
In fact, I’d take it as a compliment if readers said they never knew if they were going to love or hate what I wrote from week to week. The last thing I want to do is pander to anybody or to be a predictable partisan.
I think writers should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. So, if the two most sacred cows in Madison are liberals and the UW athletic program, well, I’ve done my part to serve up beef for dinner — even while I’d be considered a liberal over about 95 percent of the landmass of the U.S. and I like college sports. I just think liberals can be self-righteous a lot of the time and athletes who play big time college sports should get their fair share of the billions in revenues they produce.
I believe that if I throw a punch, as I often do, I should be able to take one. So, as a general rule, I don’t respond to criticism in the comments section or elsewhere. I figure I had my say, my readers had theirs and did I mention there’s always next week? I almost always let my critics have the last word.
But there is one blog from last year I’d take back if I could. In May I wrote one titled “Dump Biden.” It’s not that my case was without merit. I had three concerns with him. The first was that he would be the oldest man ever to assume the office and I thought he was showing it. He looked and sounded more frail than commanding.
Second, he had just been weathering a fresh round of accusations from a woman who said that he had sexually assaulted her decades earlier. I tended to doubt it, but I thought liberals were being hypocritical for just having rushed to judgment about then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh while they sought to poke holes in the story from Tara Reade. Is the accuser always to be taken at her word only when the target of the accusation is a conservative?
And finally, I thought the charges of corruption against Hunter Biden were valid. No, he and his father probably didn’t break any laws, but it was sleazy and wrong nonetheless. The guy got a $50,000 a month board position in a Ukranian gas company, knowing nothing at all about the gas business, while his father was vice president.
So, why would I take the “Dump Biden” blog back? Because of how well Biden has performed since I wrote it. For starters, I was afraid those three weaknesses could get him beat and saddle us with another four years of the worst president in our history. But he ended up winning easily. In fact, by Donald Trump’s own standards he won in a landslide.
And since he has won the election, he’s started the restoration of the norms of political conduct and sheer decency that Trump spent the last four years tearing up. His comments have been measured and thoughtful and his voice has become, literally, more strong. That’s not just trivial. At his age people will always be looking for signs of mental or physical deterioration. The perception of good or failing health will directly impact his ability to get things done.
To be honest, the Hunter Biden thing still bothers me. While it might not be illegal for a son to trade on his connection to his powerful father, it’s the kind of swampy thing that makes people justifiably jaded about politics. There’s no evidence that Biden was influenced by it, but it sure looks like the Ukranians were trying and that Hunter Biden should have known better. And his father should have told him to get off the board as soon as he found out about it.
But, that aside, I can’t think of a more perfect contrast to Trump than Joe Biden has been. Where Trump was reckless, Biden is measured. Where Trump rewarded cronies, Biden is picking experienced pros for his administration. Where Trump dismissed science, Biden is embracing it. Where Trump vilified his opponents (and his friends when they dared not to fall in line), Biden is reaching out to the other side. Where Trump was vile, Biden is decent. Biden is to Trump what the vaccines are to the pandemic.
Yeah, I know. Trump set the bar pretty low. But Biden is exceeding my expectations. I’m glad he wasn’t dumped.
