President Joe Biden: caretaker or crusader?
To the Editor,
Would it not be supremely ironic if President Joe Biden, in his 78th year of life, and after 50 years in government, turned out to be not presiding over a caretaker presidency — not just being a bridge from the past to a new, much more progressive, future — but instead ushering in a new governmental paradigm and becoming a crusader for progressive values and governance? As evidenced by his almost two-trillion-dollar American Rescue Plan, he’s made a start at bold leadership. The plan goes far beyond fighting COVID-19, granting substantial benefits that disproportionately aid disadvantaged segments of our citizenry. Could Biden — the careful, cautious politician not really known for his vision — morph into Biden the bold visionary?
Now that President Biden has tasted the sweet fruit of political victory with the American Rescue Plan, will this sate his appetite, or merely whet it? One sign of his intent will be if he makes a strong push to seriously dilute the power of the filibuster, or even end it. The filibuster is an arcane Senate rule that allows the minority party to prevent virtually any bill from advancing. If Biden tries to kill it — if he goes for broke — then he will have made the political calculation that his chance to reshape the political landscape of this country is more important than any potential political consequences that might be the fallout of such an action. The Republican Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said that ending the filibuster would have devastating consequences for the Democrats, either now, or in the future when the Democrats eventually lose control of the Senate. Will Biden ignore McConnell’s apocalyptic warning?
Will careful, thoughtful, prudent — some might even say cautious — Joe Biden throw caution to the wind? Will he abandon the modus operandi of a 50-year political lifetime for a metaphorical roll of the dice? Will Biden yield to the siren call of the muses beckoning him to greatness, and if so, will he achieve it? Or will he run aground, sink his political ship, and destroy his legacy? It should not take too long for us to learn his fate (and ours). Stay tuned.
Ken Derow
Swarthmore
