Who will cross the picket line?
At the moment the western world desperately needs swift, decisive action all the US has to offer is a slow, indecisive talker. It must be too late to expect the guy sent to quiet things down in Ukraine in 2014 to do so again. It isn’t as if Joe was ever all that swift, but come on. Did he really need to retire to Delaware over the weekend while Putin invaded Ukraine and obliquely threatened a nuclear attack just to rest up to deliver his big delayed state of the union address? It is their backyard, of course, but even the peaceful Scandinavians are willing to sell Ukraine arms, Japan is talking about sending natural gas to Europe, and Switzerland is denying banking to Russian oligarchs. Where is the leader of the free world? Still napping? As world events unfold at a lightening pace I would be willing to bet that our chief communicator’s long-awaited speech was written days ago and has not been significantly edited since. That would confuse him too much. It will be hard enough for him to get through the whole thing without a major meltdown.
I won’t be watching. To be fair, even were it another president I probably wouldn’t watch. I may be retired and disabled, but even I can think of 100 better uses of my time. I am not entertained by this kind of spectacle anyway. The New York Magazine is trying to suggest this will be the president’s opportunity to shine and will be widely watched. I doubt it, but I do have some predictions. I will have to check in later with the brave souls who must watch this kind of crap for a living to see if I am right. I won’t, however, be waiting with baited breath to find out or predict how Rashida Tlaib for the Working Families Party or Colin Allred of the Congressional Black Caucus respond. They are too predictable to make things fun. Joe is, too, but he is the headliner.
Covid - All gone. See what a great job we did? It as all thanks to vaccine roll outs, masks, and lock downs. Just like it is said of March, Covid restrictions snuck in 2 years on kitty feet, a big kitty, a lion, and is leaving like a lamb this March. Even though he has vaxed and boostered; even though most Democrats are dropping mandates like hot potatos; Slow Joe may dramatically remove the mask he wears alone at the White House to announce an end to the emergency and all federal mandates, at least for the vaccinated. They have done this for White House visitors and the CDC has changed not only their mask guidelines, but testing and contact tracing ones as well. Maybe Joe will catch up with his handlers by tomorrow night. Nancy hasn’t yet, but she is older. The House will still require proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the chamber for the speech. My senators say they do not plan to attend. Maybe Biden will lift the mask mandate on public transportation. How magnanimous would that be after Senator Paul announced last week he would force a vote on the issue in the Senate? There will be no mention of the on-going abuse children are experiencing thanks to their scared parents or the FDA’s complicity in promoting failed therapeutics. Peaceful protesters can see their children taken away by the state in Canada, but the US seems okay with allowing parents to forcibly inject healthy 5-year-olds with useless, possibly toxic, chemicals to take full advantage of the pigs in a poke we bought before they all expire. It is okay to let 14-year-olds get vaccinated against their parents’ wishes or deny parental rights to a parent opposed to vaccinating their child though.
Ukraine - Bold action, more sanctions, blame the Republicans for being pro-Russian. Everyone, even the neutral Swiss and Chinese are piling on sanctions now. What could be easier? There will be nothing having to do with disrupting the Russian energy sector, or a Biden wallet, of course. The administration has gone to great pains to assure Russia that their exclusion from SWIFT, that the Europeans pressured Biden into agreeing to, would not disrupt energy payments. There will be nothing about keeping the oligarchs from sending their progeny to Ivy League schools. We wouldn’t want to upset academia now would we? Who even noticed when Russia used chemical weapons in Syria last year. No one much cared about defending the “brave Kurds” back then, but now with COVID dusted Biden must do something. The Chinese Institutes already caused enough controversy and disrupted endowments before the administration could halt investigations into spying at educational institutions. I’m expecting this president to revise Carter’s rose garden strategy. He could join Europe in stopping Russian aircraft from flying into and/or over the US like Reagan did after the USSR shot down a KAL flight in 1983, and Obama did not do when they shot down a Malaysian Air flight in 2014. We do seem to be reliving the past; so I’m betting Biden will follow the example he feels most comfortable understanding and emulate Obama. I doubt he will announce agreement to harsh sanctions against Belarus, but it could be his bold move to follow the Europeans. With his own party rattling righteous sabres Joe will have to do something. After all, Joe Manchin is unimpressed with his sanctions so far. Of course, he’ll need more money to help. I just hope Biden doesn't’ give Zelinsky the no fly zone he wants and Europe has rejected.
Inflation - Build Back Better. Modern monetary theory confirms that government spending and keeping the currency presses humming along will solve all our economic woes. Besides, by releasing some of the strategic petroleum reserves Biden has demonstrated he can single-handedly bring down gas prices for hard-working American families without sullying the planet with US oil and gas. Hasn’t he? Making employers pay a raised minimum wage is just the ticket to heal the squeeze families are feeling at the market. Won’t it? We shouldn’t worry too much about failed small businesses. Just pass another PPP and get those infrastructure goodies out the door and
don’t look too closely at those federal reserve nominees or the institution itself.
Immigration - Probably no mention. Kamala can only make so many trips south (not to our border, of course) to find out what is going on and between COVID & Ukraine she has been so busy. No children in cages to see there anyway. Right?
Gender issues - There will be mention of trans rights, but none about the rights of female athletes sharing changing rooms or competing against males in Title IX women’s sports programs. Nor will there be any attention paid to the psychological harm or physical mutilation some seem willing to subject confused children to in the name of their personal agendas.
Violence - Speaking of rights, I expect the president to trot out whatever gun violence in the US he can find (sans Chicago, of course) to justify his administration’s latest assault on the second amendment and the actions of the January 6 commission. If all else fails he’ll invoke the anniversary of Trevon Martin’s or George Floyd’s death. It did cause all the violence last summer after all. Then there is a win with the Remington settlement, too
Climate change - This, too, will get top billing. Peppermint Patty, I mean the president’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, has already said Europe’s energy woes resulting from the Russian invasion just prove the need to quickly shift to renewables. John Kerry and the WEF will be proud.
SCOTUS - Very much will be made of Biden’s pick fot the supreme court. So inclusive! So wise! So qualified! And just in time to rescue “a woman’s right to choose” from those who would overturn Roe after the House tried and failed in the Senate to codify the decision as an extreme abortion bill that aimed to protect abortion up until birth.
I wish most invitees would boycott this silly dog and pony show, especially while the fence around the capitol blocks access for the public to enter “the People’s House” and have asked all my representatives to do so. I support denying the chief executive the bully pulpit by returning to the Jeffersonian state of the union letter to congress. When the annual spectacle has been reduced to this now might be the time to revise the tradition. Our leaders have essentially erected a picket line with the fence and scabs are crossing it to continue to work. I know the call was made by the capitol police, not Pelosi, but I am also know she or the president could direct them to find a better way to ensure security. I even have an opening line for the Republican rebuttal - “Mr. Biden, take down this wall.” None of the governed elected the capitol police.
This is not a good look. Joe and Nancy may try to excuse this by invoking memories of 1/6/21 and touting prosecutions on this, the 68th anniversary of the day Puerto Rican separatists opened fire onto the floor of the House while it was in session, wounding 5 lawmakers. It would be a foolish reference, but it would hardly be the first tone deaf reference made by this group.
2/28/22