5/18/22

AN AVERAGE JOE SOLDIERS ON
IN A JOB WHERE EVERYTHING
IS ALWAYS HIS FAULT

I STARTED writing this as Joe Biden was on his way to Buffalo yesterday to console the city’s residents about the latest mass shooting and to call again for gun control, even though the nation seems largely uninterested in curbing these massacres and the weapons that make them possible.
   As Air Force One was en route,  the White House quickly posted a recording on its website of the mini news conference that Karine Jean-Pierre,  Biden’s new spokesperson, had just conducted with reporters aboard the huge presidential jet.
   A reporter noted that Biden had vowed to move against domestic terrorism, when he took office, but in light of the Buffalo shooting there were obvious  “gaps” in the administration’s plans. So, what’s Biden going to do now?
   More questions: How will the administration respond to the Turkish president’s objections to Denmark and Sweden joining NATO? In the aftermath of the Buffalo shooting, was the White House worried about copy-cats?  Will the president push for a domestic terrorism act? How come Biden hasn’t called out Republicans – by name – for embracing  “White voter-replacement” conspiracies cited by the Buffalo shooter? How come Biden and his wife hadn’t attended  pro-choice-abortion demonstrations last weekend? Would Biden be watching primary elections in Pennsylvania later in the evening? When might the president make a decision on student loan relief?
   Jean-Pierre was cordial and competent in her new job as she answered every question in detail without saying anything new or useful to the media scrum. Her confident good cheer reminded me of two things about Joe Biden:
   One, he continues to run a rational, normal government, appointing competent and professional people who believe in a rational, normal government, as opposed to the chaotic and lawlessness that characterized Donald Trump’s reign of terror.
   Secondly, it’s far more interesting to hear directly from the  “boss” than from his well-disciplined aides, for the simple reason that Joe sometimes acts like a normal human being and lets slip what’s actually on his mind.
   The other day, for example, there was this question and answer exchange between Biden and CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who asked the commander-in-chief about the alarming shortage of baby formula.

 QUESTION: Mr. President, Republicans have said that your administration should have anticipated this baby formula shortage before. Are you satisfied with your administration’s response so far?  And some of the steps that you and your administration are taking now, including loosening these import requirements next week, should you have taken those steps sooner, before parents got to these shelves and couldn’t find formula?

THE PRESIDENT: If we’d been better mind readers, I guess we could have, but we moved as quickly as the problem became apparent to us. And we have to move with caution as well as speed, because we got to make sure what we’re getting is, in fact, first-rate product.  That’s why the FDA has to go through the process.

 
   Later, some predictable the headlines:

  BIDEN LASHES OUT AT
  CRITICS ON BABY FORMULA

  BIDEN OFFERS LAME EXCUSE FOR
  NOT ACTING ON BABY FORMULA

   Given Biden’s tendency, like lots of us, to misspeak, I suspect that when he referred to “mind readers,” Biden meant “fortune tellers.” But his point was clear: exasperation.
   Exasperation with the reporter's question (the question, of course, was legitimate).
   And exasperation at the essence of his job, which is that it’s impossible.
   Everyone – including people who run for president – buys into the great American myth that the President of the United States of America is “the most powerful person in the world.”
   This is true only in a limited sense: the president uniquely is allowed to blow up the planet, because he (and, some day, she) can unleash the nation’s huge arsenal of nuclear weapons.
   Other than that,  presidents are limited because, with the exception of Donald Trump, they are standard human beings – limited, frail,  imperfect, gaff-prone, rapidly aging average Joe's who've made the big mistake of undertaking a job that’s undoable. 

 IT’S POSSIBLE that the only people who understand the reality are the presidents (again, excluding Trump). And even then, the myth of omniscience and omnipotence may become apparent only when it’s too late, shortly after noon on Inauguration Day, then deepening with every news conference and each question.
   Thus, Biden’s exasperation when somebody asks the latest why-didn’t-you-act-sooner to head off the (FILL IN THE BLANK) crisis.”
  I’m no mind reader, but maybe this is the background leading up to Joe Biden’s moment of candor after the baby formula question:

 “Look," Joe remembered, "the other day, a bunch of us, including my wife, Jill, and Commander, our dog, were sitting around the 'Oval' obsessing about my dismal poll numbers."
   Joe continued: "We were kicking around lots of things that are contributing to those terrible numbers, which are even worse than Trump’s."
   "There are lots of thing that can lower the numbers," Jill said.
   “There’s the war in Ukraine -  going well, but you never know when Mad Vlad might drop the Big One. The New Mexico wildfires. The galloping craziness of the Republicans. The Supreme Court going rogue. What voters in the Philippines were thinking when they elected “Bongbong” Marcos president? And could that happen here?"
   “I’ve got a great idea,”  Joe said.
   “Say what, Joey?” Jill said.
   “Let’s just ignore the effect of the closure of a baby formula factory because of bacterial contamination, plus limited production facilities, nationally. Lots of people, including youngsters in my administration, have infants but aren't able to breast feed.”
   “What will that accomplish?” Professor Biden wondered.
   “Well, it will drive millions of likely voters crazy because they won’t be able to feed their babies,” Joe said.
   “Just what the doctor ordered for sagging polls," Jill said.
   “Woof,” said Commander.

    I’m also no fortune teller,  but this kind of thing might explain Joe’s exasperation at holding down an impossible job, which nobody can really do successfully, but in which everything is his fault. Always.
  
Who’s to blame when your baby’s hungry?
   Joe Biden.
  
 Whose fault is it that 10 people were slaughtered at a supermarket last Saturday, three others wounded, because some kid believes Republicans and others, who say there’s a conspiracy to replace White voters with Black ones?
   Joe Biden.

Low unemployment?
   Biden.

Over-the-top inflation?
   Biden.

Chaotic retreat from Afghanistan?
   Biden.

Heroic pushback by Ukrainians to Russia’s invasion?
   Biden.

Netflix's rate hike?
   Biden.

Your teenager's taking to slamming doors again?
   Joseph (“Joe”) (“Joey”) Robinette Biden Jr.
   
   None of this is fair.
   The most we should ask of the human in the White House is that she or he will try to say the right thing,  that he/she will try really hard to do the best thing, to be of good will, and every once in a while, will talk to us like a normal person.

 WHEN HE GOT TO BUFFALO,  Joe Biden, once a senator, then a vice president and now a president, gave a forceful, eloquent speech, in which which he sensibly demanded a ban on assault weapons;  called on political leaders – although not by name – to condemn White supremacy; and warned about the threat that Republicans – without mentioning their party –  pose to democracy.
   Look, the American experiment in democracy is in a danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime. It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear are being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America, but who don’t understand America. To confront the ideology of hate requires caring about all people. Not making distinctions.
   Joe’s just an average speaker, so people often don’t pay attention to the profound things he says; reporters,  who do pay attention,  are looking for him to go off script and say something worthy of a clever headline.
   It’s possible, given the momentum that Trump-crazed Republicans have going into the November elections, that they’ll gain control of Congress, and that Trump, or someone equally cruel, but better organized,  will take over the White House two years later.
   Or maybe, given the incomprehensibility, the enormity, the complexity and the unpredictability of everything that goes into becoming a president, then serving as one, that the outcomes will be better than that.
   For the time being, we should celebrate a normal government that’s headed by a likable, well-meaning, and occasionally exasperated Average Joe. It may be the last time we experience that in our lifetimes.
   Three hours after the Buffalo speech, then Bidens were due back in Washington, where the the schedule called for Joe and Jill to host a White House observance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
   It's another thing that we ask presidents to do.