In his sonnet "Ozymandias," poet Percy Bysshe Shelley tells of a traveler who comes upon a desert ruin that was once an ancient empire. All that is left of it are "two vast and trunkless legs of stone" and a sneering imperial stone "visage" half-buried in the sand. Etched on a pedestal are the words: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair."
Joe Biden is a latter-day Ozymandias, with a tremendous thirst for power and a misplaced sense of invulnerability. But unlike the ancient royal ruler, it will not take eons for Biden's power to erode. Even as his smirk remains, he is diminishing before our very eyes.
Put bluntly, Biden is not as advertised. He was supposed to bring a divided nation together. He promised to govern not with an iron fist, but with a velvet glove. Now that hand has trouble finding his mask. Joe represented himself as a serious candidate, well versed in affairs of state. Instead, we are saddled with a cipher in the White House, a compromised head of state who takes in teleprompter content through his beady eyes and drones it out through his thin lips.
In many U.S. states, there are "lemon laws" that provide a remedy for purchases of cars and other consumer goods to compensate for products that fail to meet standards of quality and performance. If the home you buy comes with unhappy surprises, there are legal remedies. The Federal Trade Commission enforces truth in adverting laws. Nothing like this applies to politicians who disappoint.
After Trump's victory over Hillary in 2016, one of my college classmates wrote to her like-minded liberal friends, "How can we have let this happen?" I suspect that a similar query is being voiced by deluded Biden-supporters whose judgment at the ballot box was blinded by their irrational hatred for the Orange Tweeter.
Despite the sizable lineup of candidates in their primaries, Democrats eventually opted for old Uncle Joe Biden. If he didn't seem all that good in the debates, at least he looked promising on paper. His résumé was long, if not impressive. He was Barack's buddy, supposedly tapped for his wide experience with international issues. He had name recognition. And surely, one can't spend almost a half-century in the swamp and not learn the dangers of bucking the tide.
Over his long political career that began in 1973, Biden faced few challenges — and fewer challengers. He was re-elected to the Senate six times. He glad-handed folks, securing their loyalty through longevity and privilege. He became a familiar face in Washington, not because he did so much, but because he did so little for so long. As a result, he became impervious to criticism. He found it easy enough to weasel out of unpopular actions, such as the 1994 legislation he authored and pushed, intending to reduce crime but resulting, instead, in massive incarceration , particularly of blacks.
Biden kept a rather low profile during his years as "second in command" in the Obama administration. That's how "Barack" liked it: an older "yes man" rather than a vital competitor to the charismatic president. Biden knew how to bulldoze his way through the Washingtonian corridors of power. And more importantly, he knew where the bodies were buried.
Joe made three runs for the presidency. The third time was the charm — but not for America. He might have been the "real deal" in Dover, but he didn't particularly resonate with voters beyond his home turf. In the first campaign, he was forced to drop out after being caught plagiarizing. On his second try, he garnered about 3% of the primary vote. It was only when the veneer of Obama's popularity rubbed off on him that Biden was more or less taken seriously by the country at large.
Obama once remarked that Old Joe didn't have a mean bone in his body. What he neglected to point out, however, is that Biden's backbone has gone missing. The perennial bureaucrat went giddily with the flow, as long as its course led to personal enrichment for himself and his family. In his years in Washington, Joe became very wealthy, and so did his siblings and younger son, Hunter.
Biden turned the tiny Diamond State of Delaware into an attractive tax haven for corporations, and they loved him for it. Once entrenched in office, Joe breezed through his re-election campaigns. Voters felt understandably sorry for the horrific loss of his first wife and daughter. And he made political hay over the fact that he Amtrak-ed back and forth between home and capital, fulfilling his dual obligations to his sons and constituents. It is ironic that a man who personally suffered such loss seems humdrum about his role in causing the collective grief of so many other families in Afghanistan.
Biden may seem grandfatherly and low-key, but he exhibits a scathingly short temper toward those whose opinions differ from his own, such as Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork, distinguished candidates for the Supreme Court. He humiliated Thomas , a black jurist who had pulled himself up by the bootstraps from an impoverished Southern family.
As for Bork, Joe ironically opposed him because he feared that the conservative judge was racist — a concern in sharp contrast to his longtime friendship with powerful West Virginia senator Robert Byrd, a onetime muckety-muck in the Ku Klux Klan. From then on, all conservative high court applicants have been "Borked ."
Fortunately for Biden, his contradictions, outbursts, flubs, and gaffes were rarely taken any more seriously than he was. Even some of my Republican friends excused his missteps as just "Joe being Joe." Would the NeverTrumps tolerate forgiveness because Trump was just being Trump?
Now that Joe is president, the chickens of his sketchy political past are coming home to roost. Accustomed to coasting through his career without much criticism, Biden seems now to have landed in a place that befuddles him. His speechwriters may insert Harry Truman's famous phrase, "the buck stops here," but don't expect Joe to put that plaque on his desk in the Oval Office anytime soon.
Still, Biden is fond of boasting, "I am the president of the United States," and "This is America, for God's sake," as though presumably anything is possible with him at the helm. His current shortfall is exacerbated by creeping dementia. He finds it hard to play the role because somewhere along the line, he lost the script. He was never one to lead the pack, and at this point, he seems unable to do so. The effects of his impairment may vary from day to day, but the condition never goes away. It only gets worse with time.
Unfortunately, Biden's confusion and inability to deal with problems spell big trouble for our country. Over his years in office, he had come to expect immunity for his misbehavior, as was the case with his quid quo threat against the Ukrainian government. He has grown accustomed to weaseling out of sticky situations — such as inappropriately fondling women and young girls. And an accommodating press has been covering up his son Hunter's various scandals.
In fact, until now, Biden has not been taken to task by most of the mainstream media. Not for side-stepping the border crisis. Not for putting mandated masks above mayhem here and abroad. Not for his craven capitulation to the far left of his party, even concurring that the United States is "systemically racist." He has even been given leeway to point his bony finger of blame at everyone but himself.
This pattern of scapegoating others for his own shortcomings has badly damaged Biden. More importantly, it will likely damage America for years to come. Recently, his growing petulance and irrational rants were on full display during a televised ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos.
Clearly, Biden has no business being president of the United States. During his unimpressive campaign, he failed to inform Americans about his mental decline. If he did not know about it, surely his doctor and family did. Failure to fully disclose his condition should be grounds for his resignation or impeachment.
During the Vietnam war era, opponents gathered outside the White House , chanting, "Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?" Maybe it is time to descend on the White House, shouting, "Joe, Joe, you gotta go!" (That is, if he hasn't already gone...off to Camp David or his home in Wilmington, Del.)
There is a lesson to be learned from Shelley's poem. If Biden and his buddies continue in power, our country could — with unimaginable speed — become a shadow of its former self. We must not underestimate such an eventuality the way Biden did with the swift advance of the Taliban. Without a course correction, America could hopelessly find itself sinking into the sands of oblivion.
Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr , CC BY-SA 2.0 .
Now, President Biden was Obama's sidekick, seemingly just along for the ride. Later, we learned that Biden ran a lucrative side hustle, enriching his family by extorting cash in exchange for doling out taxpayer funds to foreign countries.
Tucker: You don't see this everyday, in fact you never see it
GUEST COLUMN: Why I’m Taking a Break from Answering Media Questions To Focus on Mental Health and Mindfulness My self-care sabbatical starts now. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Joseph R. Biden • August 19, 2021 1:15 pm
My fellow Americans,
It might surprise you to learn the past few days have been very challenging for me in terms of my mental and emotional well-being. I do my best to project strength and competence in public, but it's not always as easy as I make it look. Yes, I'm the president of the United States and commander in chief of the armed forces, but I'm also a human being.
Watching the heroic actions of female athletes such as Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles has inspired me to reevaluate the meaning of strength and to embrace the concept of self-care. That is why I have decided, for the first time in my 50-year career as a public servant, to put myself first, to focus on my mental health and work on my mindfulness. My self-care sabbatical starts now.
Until further notice, I will no longer be answering questions from the White House press corps. Because my recent efforts to decompress and tend to my heartspace at Camp David were so crudely interrupted, I have decided to spend a long weekend in Delaware, the safest space I've ever known. Alas, I can't even take the train anymore on account of my job, which my therapist says has been a major contributor to my depression. So believe me, when I hear the American people are suffering out there, I feel your pain.
This is not an attack on the media. But even if it was, what are they going to do about it, huh? They all voted for me, and they'll do it again. Maybe they'll tweet about it, the way they complain to the airlines like entitled children when their flight is delayed. Look, I know most journalists genuinely believe the work they do is vital to the functioning of our democracy. Honestly, folks, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Take it from me, someone who's been doing this for a long time. Reporters are constantly whinging about how hard it is to be a journalist who covers Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic. As my cousin Mickey used to say: "Horse pucky!" They couldn't care less about the mental anguish they inflict on our athletes, politicians, and celebrities. They would crumble if the shoe was on the other foot—if they were the ones forced to stand up in front of a boisterous mob and be bombarded with ridiculous questions like "Where's Hunter? or "What's your plan for Afghanistan?"
Journalists are already complaining about my self-care journey: "Today would be a great day for journalists to be able to ask the president of the United States questions about Afghanistan." Obsessed much? Look, they're welcome to hop on a plane at anytime to go see for themselves. I just did an entire interview with George Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative who actually cares about my feelings. What more do they want?
Have they learned nothing from the courageous athletes and celebrities bringing self care to the forefront of the national conversation? To paraphrase the Olympic gymnast Simone Biles: "I say put mental health first. Because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy [being president] and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it's OK sometimes to even sit out the big [foreign policy disasters] to focus on yourself."
So much wisdom, and at such a young age. I probably shouldn't say this, but I bet her hair smells fantastic. Maybe that's something I can focus on in the coming days to clear my mind of negativity. I'm also looking forward to assembling the GE ES44AC model train Dr. Jill got me for our anniversary. We'll speak again I'm sure before my term is up. In the meantime, just don't expect too much from me.
Joseph R. Biden, 78, is a Washington, D.C., resident. He is the father of Hunter Biden, a renowned artist, energy executive, and gentleman's club patron.
Art Critic: Hunter Biden’s Art Raises ‘Ethical Issues’ for Father and Administration Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images 3:18
Art Critic and Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi called into question Hunter Biden’s art career Tuesday, saying it “raises obvious ethical issues for his father” and the administration.
Mahdawi believes Hunter’s “hobby has turned serious” due to the nature of selling “colourful creations ” for $500,000 to anonymous investors:
I t looks like the prodigal son is a painter now. Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s child, has apparently been dabbling with paints for years. Now his hobby has turned serious: starting soon, you can pick up one of his colourful creations from a gallery in New York’s SoHo. It will cost you, though: the pieces are reportedly priced between $75,000 and $500,000.
Mahdawi questioned who exactly buys artwork for such a large amount of money without being a “critically acclaimed” artist, which raises “obvious ethical issues for his father… and Biden administration.”
“Hunter’s new career raises obvious ethical issues for his father and, in an attempt to avoid accusations of influence peddling, the Biden administration has asked the gallerist to keep all information about the buyers and prices of Hunter’s work confidential,” she wrote. “The gallery has also agreed to reject offers that seem suspiciously generous.”
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki on July 22 labeled Hunter’s “anonymous” art selling scheme as “reasonable.”
“Will he get ethics training, will he have to report afterwards about the conversations — anything specific you can tell us about you are monitoring” the sale of art, a reporter asked.
Psaki regurgitated a frequent answer, ignoring the reporter’s direct question by suggesting Hunter “is not involved in the sale or discussions about the sale of his art,” and that Hunter will not be “informed” of “who is purchasing his art.”
Breitbart News senior contributor and Profiles in Corruption author Peter Schweizer told Breitbart News the “anonymous” proposal is an utterly “absurd” solution.
“The only way to address these issues is with greater transparency–not less,” said Schweizer. “Their proposed solution is greater secrecy, not transparency. And they are essentially saying ‘Trust Us.’ Joe and Hunter Biden’s track record on such matters gives us no reason to trust them.”
Hunter Biden on July 29 responded to his artwork critics by suggesting selling art for $500,000 to anonymous investors is a “pretty courageous thing to do.”
“Fuck em… Look man,” Hunter Biden said on the Nota Bene Podcast, “I never said my art was going to cost what it was going to cost, or how much it would be priced at. I would be amazed, you know, if my art was sold, for you know, for, umm, for ten dollars.”
“I’m [the] most famous artist in MAGA world, at least,” Hunter facetiously explained before suggesting President Joe Biden thinks “everything” Hunter does “should be in National Gallery” of Art.
Indeed, fir st lady Jill Biden is displaying Hunter’s art in her taxpayer funded White House office.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø
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