Take Advantage of Biden's Sincerity

Is it too early to say "What a difference a State of the Union address makes?"

Well, perhaps.  There are still many intractable problems that Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the U.S. face:  inflation, lingering concerns about COVID, civil unrest of both sides of the political divide.  Plus Ukraine, which, even in a political climate without any other major problems to face, would be enough to absorb a President's attention and tip the balance of a party's political fortunes.

But no one outside of the right-wing echo chamber has any doubt that last week's SOTU was a major plus for Biden's standing with the American people.  According to an NPR poll, Biden received an "unusual bounce" in his standing with voters as a consequence of his speech.  Perhaps one perverse illustration of that point is that this time, unlike SOTU disruptions by Republicans in the past, the performance art of Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene was Biden's rubber to their glue.  If it's any consolation from me to the two of them, they can rest assured that no one could possibly have worked harder to earn that lack of respect more.

But it's worth taking some time to ask:  why did this happen?  There has not been much improvement with regard to the issues that have bedeviled Biden and the Democrats up to this point.  And the Ukraine-Russia conflict may continue for months without any path toward resolution, and nightly footage of horrors being inflicted on the Ukrainians, without palatable options for Biden to make a difference.

I think this is a question with a relatively simple answer.

Joe Biden, for all of his past (and probably future) verbal gaffes, is as sincere a person as you are ever likely to find in politics.  That comes in part from his religious faith, and also from being tested in his personal life in ways that would be devastating for many of us.  I think that latter point is one aspect of his makeup that his political opponents fail to take into account.  When you've had to bury a wife and two children, it's going to take a lot more than imbeciles chanting "Let's go Brandon" to get under your skin.

But I think that his sincerity is demonstrated mainly by one aspect of his personal and political style that no honest person, Democratic or Republican, would deny he possesses.  Biden genuinely believes that politics in a democracy and and should be a win-win process.  Some of us (you can recognize me here, if you wish) are frustrated by the fact that he often acts on that basic impulse even in the face of a mountain of evidence that his opposite numbers are utterly unwilling to return the favor.  But that fact simply affirms that his doing so is not an act of calculation.  It is, for him, a statement of principle.  To share a video I've shared before, can you imagine Lindsay Graham saying this about any other Democrat?

In a field that is dominated by insincerity like no other, Biden's candor, however much it makes him trip over his verbal shoelaces, is a quality that has made a huge difference in his political fortunes.  I have no doubt that, for a lot of voters, it made the difference in making a choice between Biden and the most insincere excuse for a human being ever to run for the presidency.  People may have disagreed with many of Biden's stands on issues, but they felt certain that he at least knew where he stood, and was willing to compromise.  That may well have been a big part of the reason why Biden did better at the polls than congressional Democrats did.

But, if all of this is true, why have Biden's poll numbers been a dumpster fire for the past several months?  The Afghanistan withdrawl turned those numbers against him, and that is understandable.  On the other hand, I suspect that people have largely moved on from Afghanistan as an issue, in part because, however chaotically it was done, it was essentially popular with most Americans.

I suspect this answer is relatively simple as well.

Biden has been largely invisible for those several months, except for brief snippets in mainstream media outlets of White House availabilities and stump speeches.  This effectively puts his messaging in the hands of people who have no interest in helping him or his party; if anything, their only real interest is profits for their corporate masters, which in the digital age boils down to clicks.  And this, sadly, is par for the proverbial course with Democrats, who imagine that the media is dominated by truth-tellers fearlessly taking advantage of their First Amendment rights.  In fact, it is dominated by property owners fearlessly protecting the property rights of their fellow investors.  The wry observation that freedom of the press belongs to the person that owns one exists for a reason.

In fact, this goes a long way toward explaining why public opinion has not only run against Biden and the Democrats, but frankly run against the truth.

Inflation the result of excessive public spending?  Wrong.

Republicans the defenders against thought control in schools?  Wrong.

Republicans the advocates of tax relief?  Wrong.

For that matter, Republicans the advocates of individual liberty?  Wrong.

In fact, Republicans working tirelessly on behalf of the American people?  Wrong.  (This, in particular, should be a campaign ad all by itself).

Or Republicans as good stewards of public money?  Wrong.  (She was the last person who should have been allowed to do a rebuttal to Biden.)

And, finally, USCIS failing to stop and deport people at the border:  Wrong and wrong again.

Fortunately, for Biden, Democrats, and their supporters (again, you can recognize me), the solution to all of this is relatively simple as well.

What Biden, his communications team, and their counterparts in the national and state Democratic parties need to do, with FDR and Reagan as their bipartisan role models, is to stop talking about the so-called "bully pulpit" of the presidency and start to actually use it.  Develop and implement a comprehensive communications strategy to get the truth to the American people, the truth that the press has been too intimidated to tell by decades of lies about "liberal bias."  They need a corrective, and you can supply it.

Such as strategy could have all or some of the following components:

Monthly town halls in different parts of the country;

Fireside chats by social media;

Weekly speeches in front of key Democratic constituencies;

Call-in or link-in events;

Fewer press conferences, more one-on-one interviews.

I'm sure that there are many more possibilities.  The main thing is to have the President of the United States come out of hiding and into the light of day, to shine the light about the truth between America's two major political parties:  one is a party of debating ideas, while the other is about advancing white nationalism through dishonest and violence.  Let the voters ponder those choices.  I'm still confident enough in them to think that most of them will make the right choice--indeed, what should be the only choice.

It's America's future, Mr. President.  Your future, as well.  Take advantage of the personal profile you've been gifted with, and use it to make a difference.  Before it's too late.