Sydney Williams: Who’s in Charge?
My parents had a book of cartoons titled, Who’s in Charge Here? Written in 1943, it is a compilation of cartoons by George Price (1901-1995) who had started drawing for The New Yorker in 1929 and continued doing so into his 80s. While Herblock’s cartoon was aimed at President Carter, the message could be directed at today’s White House. As last Saturday’s lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal put it: “…all Presidents stumble in speech. But Mr. Biden’s frequent public confusion about the major issues of the day is a reason for the growing public concern.” If Mr. Biden is mentally unfit, who is in charge?
Mr. Biden’s incoherence and mental lapses should concern us. Roger Kimball, the American art critic and conservative social commentator recently posed a rhetorical question: “Is it more worrisome that Joe Biden might not be in charge, or that he actually is in charge?” The White House website states that the power of the Executive Branch is vested in the President of the United States. Including members of the armed forces, the Branch employs more than four million Americans, more than any private company, and a number that exceeds the population of the United States when George Washington became our first President. (In total, according to the Brookings Institute, the federal government employs nine million.) The White House website reads: “The President is both head of state and head of government of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.” It is arguably the most powerful position in the world. The American people deserve to know who is in charge.
It does not appear to be Joe Biden whose political reputation extends back over fifty years. During last year’s campaign, he ran as the moderate alternative to Senator’s Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He promised, like his predecessor Warren Harding 100 years earlier, a return to “normalcy.” However, his support of Critical Race Theory and gender-neutral pronouns, and his recent proposals for a “Green New Deal,” universal basic income, a wealth tax and a five trillion-dollar budget satisfy the most radical Progressives in Congress. They remind us of Barack Obama’s pledge in late October 2008 in Columbia, Missouri, shortly before his election: “…we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” While Mr. Obama later walked back those comments, they preordained Mr. Biden’s intent to “transform” our culture, schools and economy.
Despite his despicable behavior to Judge Robert Bork, when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987, Mr. Biden, through most of his career, shied from extremism. He is, though, prone to gaffes, plagiarism and disrespectful behavior, all excused by a mainstream media more interested in promoting an agenda than in reporting hard news. He has used political connections to enrich himself and his family. His affinity for coming close to women – touching them and sniffing their hair – earned him the sobriquet “Creepy Uncle Joe.” He has been condescending about and to blacks. In 2007, he was quoted in the New York Observer regarding Barack Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean that’s a storybook, man.” In 2012, during the Presidential race, he told a largely black audience that Mitt Romney’s economic policies would “put y’all back in chains.” To Charlemagne the God on “The Breakfast Club, an American syndicated radio show, during the 2020 Presidential race, Mr. Biden said: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.”
With the exception of Donald Trump, who was falsely accused of Russian collusion by Democrats and mainstream media, Mr. Biden has become more unpopular more quickly than any President in recent history. Rasmussen puts his approval ratings at 43% and disapproval at 56%. His list of failures is long: Regulatory and monetary policies that have given rise to nascent but rampant inflation. The cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline and restrictions on fracking and offshore drilling have made the U.S. no longer energy independent and have given rise to higher gasoline and heating fuel prices. COVID restrictions kept children out of schools, and they have abetted a labor-starved supply chain, which created product shortages and kept millions of Americans sidelined. His Attorney General has accused parents of school children of being domestic terrorists. His mixed messaging about masks and vaccine mandates have created confusion with families, in places of work and in schools. In opening our southern border, he has permitted a record number of immigrants to illegally enter our country. “Defund the police” has resulted in high crime and murder rates, especially in minority sections of cities, along with low morale and an historic exodus of police officers. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in unnecessary deaths and abandoned 450 Americans to the Taliban; and it sent a message of American weakness abroad, giving rise to an obstreperous Russia and militant China. A vacuum of leadership overseas has allowed Iran to move forward on nuclear weapons and encouraged Europe to work more closely with Russia and China. Mr. Biden’s inarticulateness and refusal to answer questions have left millions in the dark as to who is piloting the ship. Given Biden’s recent polls, it is unsurprising why whoever is manipulating the puppet strings does not want to be identified. But that does not mean some one (or some cabal) is not in charge.
Successful politics in a liberal democracy is always about compromise. It is what allows us to avoid being mired in an uncompromising past and prevents us from leaping unprepared into an unknown future. Compromise requires mutual respect and civility. But voters must know who represents us, not the cartoon figures provided by the media. Is Mr. Biden in charge, or is it another individual or an oligarchy that governs us? Not knowing is unfair to the American public. Consider how The New York Times and The Washington Post would report this story if it were a Republican President who had campaigned from his basement and now, as President, hides from the press.
Perhaps I am wrong, and Mr. Biden has his mental faculties, and what we witness is simply a manifestation of his radical transformation. Perhaps. But most people do not become more radical as they age, and Mr. Biden will enter his eightieth year on November 20. It is more likely he is cognitively challenged, the extent of which is being kept from the American people. His interviews remind me of Lewis Carroll’s Alice (us) in her conversation with the inane Mad Hatter (Mr. Biden). The Hatter had Alice “very much confused. ‘I don’t think…’ [she says]. ‘Then you shouldn’t talk,’ said the Hatter.” Despite efforts by the Administration to confuse us with rants about climate, gender and race, we are beginning to think and to speak out, as parents in suburban Virginia have demonstrated.
However, the question remains unanswered: Who’s in charge?
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