With the midterm elections looming, a key question is: will President Biden continue the long-standing pattern of Democrats’ futile response to threats from today’s Republican Party?
Something has gone fundamentally wrong with the GOP, but one has to wonder what’s wrong with the Democrats, who we still occasionally hear refer to as their “friends across the aisle.”
(“Friends?”) Though Republicans have treated Democrats as enemies for a generation — from trying to destroy Clinton’s presidency to their top priority of preventing Obama and Biden from getting anywhere, regardless of who cost to the nation.)
Biden embodies the democratic commitment to the idea of goodwill and non-partisanship. One senses his longing for a return to how things were when he was a young senator.
That’s Biden’s great virtue: a guy who develops good human connections with everyone he meets, from janitors to other heads of state.
But circumstances are changing: today’s GOP is very far from the party of Reagan, when that Republican president could be friends with the Democratic House Speaker, despite their political differences.
In a world where circumstances are changing, a person – especially a president – needs a repertoire of courses of action.
Indeed, it is readily apparent that by the oath of office he has taken – to “protect and defend the United States Constitution” against enemies “at home and abroad” – Biden is bound to change his course of action, i.e. his usual Mr. Nice Guy approaches and leads the nation into battle.
Whether Biden likes it or not, his presidency comes at a time when the American Constitution is under attack. And the attack comes from Republicans who have changed fundamentally from Biden’s former “friends across the aisle.”
(Complicity in an attempted coup; refusing to accept defeat in an election; spreading lies to undermine the “will of the people”; disenfranchising a larger number of voters to facilitate minority rule; stealing a seat on the Supreme Court etc.)
Biden’s oath requires him to recognize this clear and present danger and to do everything in his power to guard against it:
• Many of our most astute political observers warn of the real danger that American democracy will be gone by the end of this decade, having morphed into an authoritarian regime beyond the control of American citizens, as Republicans are already showing us the outline.
• People worth listening say if Republicans gain control of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, it could lead directly to a game over for the constitutional order our founders bequeathed to us.
• Futures markets are talking about a 3:1 chance that the Republicans will actually win these upcoming midterms.
A clear threat.
It is also clear how that threat must be met if we assume—as we must, or our America is already lost—that a majority of Americans would not knowingly support a party if they saw it for what they did is. Ie if they saw it as a party
• acts as an accomplice in an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order;
• shows its utter indifference to the well-being of the nation with its untenable decision to deadlock everything at a time of multiple crises when it is particularly important that all popular leaders work cooperatively to find the best way forward;
• uses lies as the main means of communication to the public;
• constantly trying to divide Americans against each other;
• Constantly blocking action on climate change and seriously endangering our children and grandchildren to further enrich the fossil fuel industry.
If this assumption about the American majority is correct, it follows that in defense of the Constitution, Biden must formulate and deliver the most effective message to persuade a sizable number of voters — who are now choosing to vote Republican or stay at home — to see the truth that will motivate them to keep power out of the hands of today’s dangerous Republican Party.
Voters would certainly not learn that truth from what President Biden has communicated thus far. (Just as Americans have heard no such truth from the Democrats in these several decades, the Republican Party has undergone this dark transformation.)
As these perilous midterms approach, Biden’s sacred pledge requires him to do everything in his power to help the American majority see the true stakes of this election, and thereby protect our vulnerable constitutional order.
“All in his power” – because an oath is not a promise to “do something”, but “to give everything”, “to do everything that is necessary”.
Does Biden have what it takes to reach into his repertoire and turn Mr. “Friends-across-the-aisle” into a leader like Winston Churchill – that is, a leader who inspires his people to fight against the forces of fascism, that is, against the “domestic enemies” that Biden promised to protect our Constitution from?
Perhaps we will soon find out when the 1/6 Committee has presented the American people with a bleak and compelling picture of pervasive Republican involvement in an attempt to go against “the will of the people” expressed through the legitimate constitutional process.
The moment is ripe for Biden to speak to the American people as needed if he is to honor his oath of office.
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