JOE’S BIDEN’S AMERICA

In the wake of the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election and the instalment of the Biden administration, The Sydney Institute held a Zoom meeting, on Thursday 25 February 2021, with Barbara Heineback, former strategic consultant with the Clinton Administration, and Bruce Wolpe, Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre and regular commentator on US politics. For Barbara Heineback, the Biden Administration did not seem to have outlined a clear plan for solving many deep seated problems in spite of much important progress made by the Trump years; Bruce Wolpe instead saw a time with an experienced new president able to manage Congress and make much needed change.

JOE’S BIDEN’S AMERICA

BARBARA HEINEBECK

You know this has been the most unusual inaugural first year of a president, that I have ever experienced. Typically, right after the President is sworn in on 20 January, the President makes the address to the joint Congress. After this first year, it would then be known as the State of the Union address. But, since President Biden will have only been in office a month, this is an exception to the rule. This will be one of the latest we’ve ever had.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First there is the pandemic, that we’re all suffering through. Biden wants to make that a priority, and I respect that. But that was one factor.  He also wants to talk about his economic recovery plan. But before he talks about that, he really wanted to make sure that the recovery bill is passed. There will be a vote on that in the next day or two, preliminarily, but the main vote will not take place until 14-15 March. So, we’re looking at the latest address to the Joint Congress ever to take place.

I wish President Biden the very best; he was not my first choice, but I always respect the office and he won the Presidency. So, I’m absolutely behind him and especially at a time like this, when we’re going through the pandemic, with many in the country out of work, youngsters and students not in school, and the world turned, pretty much, in a tailspin. Just the other day, the US had over 500,000 deaths. That’s very sad.

But what did we see the first day Biden was in office? He has just been stroking the pen. He passed over 17 different executive actions, and 15 executive orders After that, he’s been hiding out. He’s the only president in my lifetime that never had to actually campaign for the office of president. He was the excuse of COVID-19. I have some respect for that, given his age, but at the same time we don’t know what he stands for yet.

We have heard so very little from him and, as recently as today, we are hearing much concern, even from his own party. That’s rather scary. In the past, the president, and now the vice president, always had their own jobs. This is the first woman vice-president and it is historic, because Kamala is partially Asian/partially Black American. It has been interesting to see that she is at his heels 24/7.

Typically, the VP has his or her own jobs and duties to attend to, but this is a new day. What are President Biden’s accomplishments? We’ve seen a number of things he’s come through. He says he wants over a 100 million injections of the Corona vaccine administered within his first 100 days in office. I think that’s fantastic and it’s what he should be doing. He has also talked about everything from appointing someone to oversee a platform for underserved communities and create a platform for racial equality. If this happens, that will be wonderful. He’s talking about LGBTQ, he’s talking about gun control.

I find the matter of gun control interesting. Democrats have been so strong on trying to get guns off the street.  Yet, when we look at the statistics for 2020, you have had more Blacks and people of colour and even more women buying guns, than ever before in American history. This is directly related to the fact that, if you’re going to defund the police, people will seek their own protection. So much of the crime happens in lower income communities, so it seems as though people are taking it upon themselves to protect themselves.

Biden wants to rejoin the WHO, he’s already reached out to the Paris accords, and it appears that he is not planning to put America first. But I’m not quite certain just who it is he’s putting first. It’s been pretty much a tailspin of second guessing and we’re not hearing or seeing very much other than executive orders that he eliminates so much of what Donald Trump had accomplished. I have my concerns. I wish him well because I’m always going to respect the Office.

When we look at specific things Donald Trump did during his term in office, he also used the stroke of the pen with a number of executive orders, trying to eliminate so much of what his predecessor Barack Obama had done. What we did see Trump do was install three Supreme Court justices, which was pretty phenomenal, 226 federal judges and, with the circuit judges, Trump installed 54 in the one term; Obama installed 55, or just one more circuit Judge, and his two terms are over an 8-year period. There are trade deals that I believe Trump improved because he was getting other countries to finally begin paying their delinquent debts into defence, he was getting other countries to give us better international trade deals.  There was something in it for America and the American people.

I am concerned when I see Joe Biden saying we’re going to stop building the wall. We could talk for a long time about open borders and immigration. I’ve spent a lot of time in Florida, I’ve spent a lot of time in Georgia and California, a little bit of time in Texas and Arizona. In California and in Florida there are so many areas of our southern border where there is absolutely no means of controlling illegals that cross.

Since 2016, a lot of that wall has been built. But now there will be huge holes and why? Biden does not want to complete the building of the wall – for the protection of American citizens, people with farms, ranches, livestock, those that are living near that border. How do they protect themselves, when you don’t know who is crossing and when, 24/7?  it’s a pretty sad and scary situation.

There are areas where Biden is cutting back. Trump was successful beginning prison reform. Who were the two people that refused to vote for prison reform? Kamala Harris and Corey Booker. Was there anything more to that than the fact that it was because the Republicans were putting it forward that Harris and Booker refused to support it. I do have concerns there. Trump was also successful in at least initiating the Space Force; the first new military department since about 1947, which is probably when we began our Air Force. Trump has begun the US space force. Trump also streamlined taxes, got rid of a lot of useless paperwork and he helped the Small Business Administration tremendously by streamlining that.

I’ve seen more specifics of what Trump has done or accomplished in his first year than any pledges from President Biden. I wish him well, but we just don’t know about his cognitive abilities, we don’t know what his plans are and I’m not sure we will have a handle on much for some time. The earliest would be the middle of March after the Recovery Bill, or maybe not until late March for this address to the Joint Union, which is usually the first time that a new President will spell out his real direction and plans for the foreseeable future.