Showing posts with label Ukraine conflict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine conflict. Show all posts

Monday, June 3, 2024

Biden promised to be the grownup in the room. Did he keep his word?

We’re all drifting and things are going rotten. At home, there was always a grownup.

 Ralph, The Lord of the Flies


Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s timeless tale about schoolboys descending into savagery, speaks to us today. Rules are breaking down, and timeless truths about decency, fairness, and rational decision-making have been abandoned. Americans desperately need a grownup to be our president, a mature and civic-minded leader who can repair our chaotic national culture.

Joe Biden promised to be the grownup in the room when he ran for president in 2020. Did he keep his word?

Would a grownup president with a clear sense of our nation’s global responsibilities turn his back on Israel, which President Biden did when he adopted the role of mediator in Israel’s life-or-death struggle with Hamas instead of standing fast as Israel's ally?

Would a grown-up president with a basic knowledge of biology interpret federal law in such a way that biological boys have a legal right to compete with biological girls in varsity sports?

Would a grown-up president cognizant of his responsibilities to keep the American people safe drag the nation to the verge of nuclear war with Russia over a regional dispute in Eastern Europe that is none of our goddamn business?

I don’t think so. If Biden is the grownup in the room, then the American people have defined a grownup as a demented grifter and influence peddler with no moral compass and no regard for the nation's safety or its cultural values.

Where is the grownup in the room?