Commentary

It’s that time of year when the news networks and newspapers do their review of the year in passing as the new year is ushered in.  It will be interesting to see how they portray the “C’mon Man’s” first year.  They won’t resemble my portrayal, I assure you.

Of course, you will remember how President-elect Joe Biden pledged to be the president who sought not to divide but to unify.  He has failed.

While admitting that “speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy,” he didn’t hesitate to open with it in his inaugural address saying, “Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation.”

Yet, with a stack of executive orders at his elbow to sign on his first day in office, unity certainly wasn’t on his mind as he signed away our proud energy independence by stopping the Keystone Pipeline and drilling on federal lands, and opening our Southern border to hundreds of thousands of illegals by killing the construction of the fence.  Both were ill conceived slaps at President Trump.

Billions of dollars’ worth of pipeline materials is piled in the upper Midwest, and border fence supplies, including structural sections, sensor electronics and wiring, surveillance cameras and associated supplies are stacked, idle on the Texas border.

Never one to grasp reality; what was really happening in the real world, while speaking to a Joint Session of Congress four months later, Biden said, “I can say with absolute confidence, I have never been more confident or optimistic about America. We’ve stared into the abyss of insurrection and autocracy, pandemic and pain, and we the people did not flinch.”

The Pandemic …

Biden initially got high marks for his handling of the virus, even though it was President Trump’s unprecedented effort – Operation Warp Speed – that made our progress in facing Covid possible, expediting the production of vaccines, therapeutics, ventilators and masks.

Today, with a recent Rasmussen survey revealing that 55 percent of Americans currently disapprove of Biden’s handling of the virus, he’s now dealing with a new crisis over testing while the threat of mandates still exist.

Is it any wonder?  Biden was going to “follow the science” and “shut down the virus.” Yet, while there were warnings of potential virus variants, with Omicron the White House claimed they didn’t see it coming.

As Americans were looking forward to the holidays, Biden showed a callous disregard for the millions of Americans who decided, for reasons of their own, not to get the vaccine, saying, “We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated- for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”

The ”C’mon Man” was going to be our savior in the fight against Covid, but is now resorting to scapegoating – shifting blame, most recently to the states.

Our Defensive Posture …

Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of 13 service men and women and injuries to many others, along with the abandonment of billions of dollars in defense weapons and supplies, will go down as a setback for America’s leadership in the world.  Not to mention still another Biden foreign policy failure.

While the Biden administration has our Defense Department seeking white supremacists within its ranks and is seemingly rooting out racism by promoting Critical Race Theory in our military academies, it has ranked climate change as an existential threat.

Meanwhile, China has taken near control of the South China Sea by building a network of military facilities to support its growing fleet of ships and aircraft, successfully tested a hypersonic missile, and has established an area where silhouettes of our aircraft carriers are targets. And Biden naively views China as a “competitor.”

And, while the U.S. has aircraft and warships in the vicinity of Taiwan, foreign policy observers aren’t sure how the Biden administration would react if China made a move to take over the island.

As if that were not enough to concern us over China, we know that they control mines that produce nearly 90 percent of rare earth elements, vital to our production of electric car batteries and wind turbines, key to Biden’s renewable energy future.  Has anyone briefed him on this?  China already has the corner on the pharmaceutical market.

Open borders …

Stopping fence construction on our Southern border and inattention to the flow of illegals and drugs was a signal to migrants to come on over.  Many of them came with Covid and other diseases, and some even wore T-shirts with “Biden Let Us In” screen-printed in color across them.  Traffic across the border hit some 200,000 migrants in July, the highest in 21 years.

The border that President Trump had stabilized turned into a scene of chaos, as the Biden administration shipped thousands of migrants without notification to a number of states.

Vice President Kamala Harris, nominated solely because she was black and a woman, was determined to prove her theory that the root cause of those coming from Central America was to seek a better life, and those populations simply needed help to improve economic conditions.

Of course, that resolved nothing as the flow continued, and while migrants continued to come from Mexico and Central America, nearly half of the total came from other countries, including Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Haiti.

Biden said he was “joking” when he told a late-night TV host that he didn’t follow polls anymore, but one wonders if he realizes that two thirds of voters blame his policies for the border crisis and oppose a financial settlement for families. In addition, 65 percent see it as a national security problem.

Americans be damned.  He continues to press for the passage of his massive spending bill that includes amnesty for some 11 million illegals in the country.

Law enforcement …

The Biden administration is oblivious to the increased crime, mostly in Democrat cities and states, from assault, car-jackings, and smash and grab robberies to homicides, most of which can be easily traced to an antagonism toward police, defund the police efforts, and a host of prosecutors who favor the felon over the victim. 

There’s more, much more …

Biden and his band of progressives have squandered an economy that was coming back, by reversing Trump policies, foreign and domestic, and inflation is for real.  To make things even worse, a move is now afoot to break up the massive spending bill and perhaps use executive orders to pave the way, circumventing the Constitution.

Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal maintains that child care, Medicare expansion, climate change, amnesty and affordable housing “need to be in any final bill.”

“The Bill” has been paused. It must be killed in 2022.

A look ahead …

With the midterm election in mind, expect the rhetoric on the left to elevate to a new level as the House Select Committee on January 6 will attempt to saddle Republicans with the breach of the Capitol. 

They will also attempt to paint Republicans as anti-children, voting suppressors, and much more as they resurface “The Bill.”

When it happens, remember this quote from Biden’s victory speech:

“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.”

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.