By Hank Beckman -
Last week I outlined a skeptic’s view of Joe Biden’s call for unity in his inaugural address.
As noted then, nothing could me more appropriate than a new president calling for the country to unite behind his leadership.
But the past actions and rhetoric of both Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leave a sensible observer with little confidence that they are sincere in their call to bring us together.
Biden’s inaugural address not only reinforces that skepticism, but sends mixed signals about the nation’s citizens and what type of people he thinks we are. He seemed confused about the country in which he is living and what he wanted to communicate to his audience.
On the one hand, he stressed that “this is a great country and we are a good people,” and how we had always overcome our problems in the past, how we had “a uniquely American way—restless, bold, optimistic.”
On the other hand, he painted a picture of a people so overcome with hatred, bigotry, and xenophobia that it must come as a shock to him that the United States still exists as an intact nation-state.
Biden spoke of a “cry for racial some 400 years old” that will not be delayed any longer,” a “history of racism and nativism” and the need to “deliver racial justice.” More ominously, he pointed to a “rise in political extremism and white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”
To listen to him, one would think no attempts have ever been made to address the inequities that resulted from slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and lingering racial barriers. Doesn’t he realize there was a civil rights movement that drew the support—albeit sometimes grudgingly and belatedly—of most Americans of all races?
Is he at all familiar with the concept of affirmative action, a term first coined by John Kennedy and promoted as a way to help blacks without actual quotas? In addition to the untold millions spent by the public and private sectors and the concept soon becoming hard racial quotas, with many white Americans supporting policies that penalized themselves and/or their family members.
Has Biden been made aware that, for decades, K-12 education in this country has seen it as a moral imperative to socialize schoolchildren to believe that the only significant thing that ever happened in American history was slavery and that every problem blacks face today is a direct result of something that ended 155 years ago?
Did he ever notice that, aside from wanting orderly immigration (what population of a sovereign nation wouldn’t?)—the vast majority of Americans support immigration and see it as a net positive for the country?
The President must be aware that any criticism of efforts to redress racial grievances, support common-sense immigration reform or right past wrongs is met with almost categorical condemnation from large sections of our media and ruling elites.
It is an article of faith among many elites that wanting acceptance to medical schools determined by merit and not skin color amounts to coded language used by those advocating for white supremacy. We are lectured endlessly that enhanced border protection has nothing to do with the safety of American citizens or a fair job market for legal citizens; it could only be hatred of Hispanics. Forget about support among blacks and many Hispanics for strong border security, we are told; the real motivation must be xenophobia.
Of course, let’s be honest, Biden often seems confused. It’s normal for an aging person whose mental faculties are obviously slipping to start to lose a grip on things. That’s not a cheap shot; it’s just reality. Anyone who denies it is delusional.
So maybe the question would be better put to his handlers and speechwriters: to whom is the President referring to when he talks about the white supremacists that he imagines to be lurking around every corner?
If we are to wage war on not only white supremacists, but also rising extremism, it would be helpful to know the President’s definition of extremism. After all, his administration has control of both the Executive Branch and Congress, however slim the congressional majorities may be. That includes a federal bureaucracy over which the average citizen has almost no control. Biden enjoys a formidable power profile, to say the least.
So if a chief executive essentially declares war on what he describes as growing segments of the population, it’s only fair that he be more specific about which groups or individuals make up those groups.
If Biden isn’t clear on the details, certainly his staff is aware that some of the more prominent members of the Democratic Party are making no bones about who the Republic’s real enemies are: they’re in the mainstream of the Republican Party.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Washington Post, “the enemy is within the House of Representatives, a threat that members are concerned about, in addition to what is happening outside.”
It was unclear whether of not Pelosi meant the entire Republican caucus, or incoming Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has come under fire for describing a Florida school shooting as a false flag operation and liking Facebook posts endorsing violence against Democrats.
Not to worry; Pelosi’s House colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), provided specifics. After Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) expressed agreement with her on an unrelated issue, she accused him of trying to have her murdered. It was an apparent reference to the Jan. 6 Capital riot. Good to know Ted Cruz is so dangerous; let’s keep an eye on him.
AOC also skipped the Inaugural festivities because of fear and has said that “there are legitimate white supremacist sympathizers that sit at the heart and the core of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives.”
So apparently even if Joe Biden doesn’t know on whom he’s waging war, prominent members of his party are certain that the enemies are everyday Republican elected officials like the ones you and I voted for.
And if that’s not specific enough, the Democrats public relations people in media amplify the point.
You can find any number of taking heads and keyboard wizards to explain how the number one domestic terrorist threat to America is any person or group to the right of Susan Collins, but the best example might be columnist Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect.
Criticizing the Republicans for not sufficiently condemning Greene and several others that have made intemperate remarks, the title of the piece says it all: Put the Republican Party on the Domestic Terrorist Watch List.
I see no reason to finish this piece any differently than last week’s.
Republicans, watch your backs.
