Joe Biden: Creature from the D.C. Swamp
Joe Biden: Creature from the D.C. Swamp
How to drag the economy down to a watery grave.
By Don Feder
If they made a movie about the Biden presidency, based on the past 4 1/2 months, it might be called “The Creature from the D.C. Swamp.”
It opens with a beautiful young woman, tanned and fit, named the Trump Economy, lounging on a boat. Suddenly, the creature emerges from the stygian depths, grabs her, and carries her down to a watery grave.
The swamp creature is the 46th president of the United States. While he wasn’t born in the murky waters surrounding the nation’s capital, he has almost no experience with anything that exists beyond its boundaries.
To the question, doesn’t he understand the inflationary effects of his mega-deficits, how his war on domestic energy production will strangle the economy and endanger national security, and how the taxes he’s pushing will kill jobs and drive business overseas? The answer is: How could he?
Never was a politician less suited to understand economic reality than a man who thinks prosperity comes out of the barrel of a gun in the hand of government.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. came to Washington, D.C. at age 29 in 1973. He was elected to the Senate less than four years after graduating from law school. Almost half-a-century later, he’s still there. He went from the 4th youngest member of the Senate when he took office to the oldest president in U.S. history,
He has no real-world experience with — anything. He never ran a business, met a payroll or had to deal with the taxes and regulations he’s spent his life imposing on others.
Is it so surprising then that he thinks government is God? His worldview has been shaped by his murky milieu. Show him a problem (real or imaginary) and he’ll point to government as the solution.
Not only has he never functioned in the market economy, he’s never had to face middle-class challenges, like stretching a buck to cover the mortgage, food, utilities, the kids’ college tuition, etc.
In his world, there are no recessions or economic downturns. The business of government is always booming. In 2008, his last full year in the Senate, Joe’s salary was $169,300 plus perks. As Vice President, he received $230,700.
Joe’s net worth is conservatively estimated at $17 million, not including whatever Hunter is holding for the Big Guy. In 2017, the prez and Dr. Jill bought a 6-bedroom, 5 ½ bath, 4,786-sq. ft. beach house (a shack, really) for $2.74 million. By the time he leaves office, you’ll be lucky if you can afford a cardboard shipping crate in a homeless encampment.
Harry Truman said: “Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook.” Give ‘Em Hell Harry, meet Sticky-Fingers Joe.
Biden isn’t an ideologue like Bernie Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez. He is now what he was when he first dived into the swamp in 1973 – a loyal foot soldier of the Democrat Party. What the party’s leadership believes, at any given point in time, he believes. What they want, he wants.
That’s why Obama tapped him as his running mate in 2009 (certainly not for his mental acumen or oratorical skills). The Illinois Senator was then an outsider, having spent less than a year in the swamp. He needed someone on the ticket to reassure the party establishment. Ergo, Joe.
Desperate to defeat Sanders in the 2020 primaries, the leadership coalesced around the candidate voted most likely to do as he was told. While Joe didn’t exactly set the world on fire, from the establishment’s perspective, he was a safe bet. He was also like an old pair of shoes voters were comfortable in. He didn’t frighten or challenge them.
Even his dorky demeanor was endearing – like the elderly uncle we could all laugh at until he begins forgetting the way to the bathroom.
I’m sure he’s convinced himself that he believes all of the demented cliches his speechwriters put in his mouth. He has no independent thought process. As his party has drifted ever leftward, he’s gone with the flow.
But his instincts have always been big government.
The National Taxpayers Union rates members of Congress on every vote on taxes and spending. In his last year in the Senate (2008), the NTU awarded the future president a 2% rating, meaning he voted for more spending and higher taxes 98% of the time. Trust Andrew Cuomo to give your pretty, young daughter a ride home from work before you trust Joe Biden with the economy.
In the last election, the choice was between a man who had spent all but four years of his adult life in the private sector and one who was nestled snugly in the bosom of government for so long that he could hardly imagine anything else.
One candidate started businesses, created jobs, built skyscrapers and changed skylines. The other spent his career sniffing hair and rubber-stamping his party’s positions.
So, when you see the president teetering to the podium to explain how we can spend our way to prosperity, rebuild our infrastructure with more social spending, save the planet by killing our economy, and get people back to work with extended unemployment benefits, bear in mind that he’s been underwater so long that there are bubbles in his brain. To put it another way, he just emerged from the poppy fields that surround the Emerald City.
It’s not that he made a conscious decision to drag the economy down to Davy Jones’ locker. But the swamp is more than his natural habitat. It’s all he knows.