Democrats can’t rely on Biden if he doesn’t rhetorically meet the
moment
Columnist|
July 6, 2022 at 7:45 a.m. EDT
President
Biden and his team came into office with the benighted belief that they could
“lower the temperature” in Washington and reduce the profile of the presidency.
The result, Biden hoped, would be more functional and productive politics.
It did
not work. Instead, he has too frequently ceded rhetorical energy to Republicans
and has demoralized his own side by coming across as blasé in the face of
outrageous developments.
Biden’s
tough rhetoric often lasts no more than one speech (e.g., his speech in Atlantic
rebuking Georgia’s voting restrictions, his White House speech decrying the
mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex.) before he returns to speaking in pale pastels.
His thirst for bipartisanship, whetted by limited success on guns and
noncontroversial deals on infrastructure, appears to have sapped him of the
righteous anger our times demand.
Biden’s
first reaction to the shooting in Highland Park, Ill., on July 4 was
illustrative. Granted, he was speaking to military families on a holiday, but
his words Monday afternoon struck the wrong note. “You all heard what happened
today,” he said, not even using the word “shooting” or mentioning the location.
He continued, “I know many Americans look around today and see a divided
country and are deeply worried about that fact. I understand. But I believe
we’re more united than we are divided.”
Actually,
we’re more divided than ever — and increasingly so thanks to the Supreme Court. And the
worry is not that we are divided, but that our democracy is imperiled.
Biden’s
written remarks were somber and more heartfelt, but devoid of anger. “Jill and
I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to
an American community on this Independence Day,” the statement read. “As
always, we are grateful for the first responders and law enforcement on the
scene.” He noted the gun reforms he recently signed into law and meekly offered
that “there is much more work to do, and I’m not going to give up fighting the
epidemic of gun violence.” It sounded depressed, not defiant.
The murmurs
of dissatisfaction rolling through the Democratic Party in part stem from a
sense that his serene, platitudinous language and disinclination to fully
denounce the GOP only minimize the dangers we face and disguises the extremism
of democracy’s opponents. Whether it is his reflexive opposition to court
reform or his characterization of
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as being “rational” on guns,
Biden’s responses do not match the level of fear, frustration and anger that
millions of Americans feel.
Democrats
cheered when Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said in the wake of
the July 4 massacre, “If you’re angry today, I’m here to tell you: Be angry.
I’m furious. I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun
violence.” He continued, “While we celebrate the Fourth of July just once a
year, mass shootings have become our weekly — yes, weekly — American
tradition.” He added, “There are going to be people who say that today is not
the day, that now is not the time, to talk about guns. I’m telling you there is
no better day and no better time than right here and right now.” That is
how a leader talks.
Certainly,
the country does not need an alarmist president. But for those on the front
lines battling for democracy, racial justice, women’s autonomy and an end to
gun violence, anodyne statements and grating paeans to bipartisanship reinforce
the sense that Biden is out of touch and unprepared to “battle for the soul of
our nation.”
Instead,
the White House appears to suffer from the mentality that defending Democrats
amounts to Trumpism on the left. Cedric L. Richmond, a former Democratic
representative from Louisiana who left his seat to work in the Biden White
House, recently told CNN: “The
country didn’t elect Joe Biden because they wanted a Democratic Donald Trump to
go out there every day and divide the country more.” In Richmond’s mind,
demanding Biden speak up more aggressively is the “the same foolishness that
got us Donald Trump.”
That’s
just daft. It shows an utter lack of appreciation for the nature of the GOP and
the critical need to mobilize the rest of the country in defense of democratic
values. Surely, Democrats are hoping the rest of the administration doesn’t buy
into this.
Ironically,
Democrats for the moment have the upper hand on some of the most powerful
issues, including gun safety and abortion. It’s obvious that McConnell
desperately wants to change the topic. (Remember when “cultural issues” were
losers for Democrats?) That is because these issues animate millions of voters,
especially suburbanites and women.
Unlike
Biden, Democrats up and down the ballot appear to recognize we are at an
inflection point. Rather than wait for direction from the president or some
unified message from advocacy groups, they should continue doing precisely what
they have begun: Highlight the cruelty, extremism and unfitness of their
opponents. Run on women’s autonomy and ending senseless gun violence. Put
initiatives on the ballot to draw voters to the polls. Condemn a radical,
out-of-control Supreme Court and vow to reform it — by filibuster reform if
necessary.
If the
president, the leader of his party, cannot channel that and capture the
zeitgeist, the party will need to do it without him. If that happens, the sense
that Biden is not the man for the moment will only intensify.