Good Joe

I am a fan of Joe Biden. He has been a good president for the short time he has been in office. He has addressed many of the concerns created by his predecessor. He has restored a norm of calm, consideration and policy wholeness. His group of advisors in many sectors of expertise are excellent and use their voices to help Joe understand the many aspects of policymaking that build unseen traps in their complexities.

In short, Joe Biden has done what I had hoped he would. And the work environment has not been kind. A war by Russia in Ukraine has unsettled the international trade world. Supply chain problems have been made worse on top of the pandemic’s effect which have still to be healed. Climate change continues to challenge governments worldwide as weather extremes are encountered and produce enormous threats to mankind.

Political ideologues exist behind every tree, bush and corner. They are looking for anything to attack so they can build advantage and elect their candidates at the next election, any election – dog catcher, park district, city council or state senator. The sniping is horrendous and unearned.

This is the president we rely on to help us find pathways through the mine field.

On top of all this, every Tom, Dick and Harry is polling for Joe’s approval rating. They conflate everything into this ranking. The problem is it doesn’t compute.

I don’t want Joe to run for re-election. That stand does not reflect disapproval of Joe Biden. It reflects the fact that he is 80 years old and should be a senior statesman, not a sitting president beyond 2024. For me that is commonsense. We should have younger but experienced government leaders in positions of power. We should not have unprepared bozos like the trumper. We need younger minds and voices to manage our complex global issues.

Focusing on short term issues distracts us from the big issues that matter: climate change, January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, human rights and justice, access to superb education, access to universal healthcare. Peace. World Peace. These are the big things that matter. Focus on these issues and the rest of what you find important will take care of itself.

Inflation, economics, wearing masks or not, who slapped who at the Academy Awards, these are short term issues that can and should be handled in due course. There are remedies available. But it takes group work, not one person, to create the answers that will work.

Joe Biden is president at a perilous time. He has done a good, solid job. His experience shows. But he is not a magical genie able to fix every little thing with the wave of his hand. Simply not possible. And announcing executive orders does little or nothing.

Give Joe his due and get busy finding deserving candidates to fill his shoes. Time is running out to do this with commonsense.

Fractious needling is not the answer.

August 4, 2022

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intimacy

As we mature, we become deeply involved in relationships. Some of this is basic family relations – siblings, parental – and the like. Next is friends who enter our homes and we theirs. Neighbors, classmates, mutual hobbyists and so forth. Then we develop friendships that go much deeper. We comfort one another when we are hurting physically or emotionally. We discuss the matters of life and learn much more about ourselves and each other. We can even anticipate how others will react to various situations and stimuli. Good friendships do not spread to everyone we know. No, good friendships are special, close and deeply personal. We focus attention and brainpower on these few friends. Some special relationships focus on specific topics of interest and importance. Yes, we have specialized friendships. Most common. But one day, we get to know one person very well. An emotional connection forms with deep roots. A need to know the person more fully expands in personal ways. We sense this b...
Read more

Bits & Pieces

Pie: Apple pie more specifically. With Thanksgiving just passed, many of us enjoyed a good apple pie. Sure, there was pumpkin to accompany the turkey, but in our family multiple pies are offered in the holidays. Apple is surely one. Pecan, pumpkin and others, too. But I almost always choose apple. When I was in college, I was asked what kind of pie did I eat most often. In front of my mom, I answered apple, because I was always looking for a pie as good as mom’s own. Of course my mother was pleased, but it was a true statement just the same. When I was married, Ann’s pie was darned good. Her mother’s recipe. But we fiddled with the recipe until it took on its own generational name, and boy, was it good! Today I still order apple pie for dessert because I am always looking for a great pie to challenge our family recipes. I rarely do find such a prize. Do others do the same? Do you search for a great pie of choice, continually? If you do, what’s your story? Why do you do this? ...
Read more

Remembering Tom Sherlock

Tom Sherlock died on Wednesday, April 3rd. He was 65 years old and did not survive a heart surgery. That was his unexpected end and sad enough. But there is more to his story. Tom joined Dan Schuyler and George Safford to create what became the Village Chronicles, a weekly newspaper serving Warrenville, Illinois. That paper expanded to serve Winfield and then West Chicago. The paper published for eight years and built a good reputation for itself. Tom served the paper in several ways. He was our information technology guru, provided hardware and software to support the paper's operations. He was our sole bookkeeper, accountant and financial manager. He designed our distribution process and provided office space for meetings and layout and typesetting. His efforts supported the work of 32 volunteers who wrote and reported on the communities we served.  The newspaper broke even financially most of the time, but it was a struggle. Tom managed to find money to keep the newspaper afloat...
Read more