OK, as far as it goes, but nothing about anti-trust? Why not also point out that Biden is the best president in more than 50 years in going after the combinations, and junk fees imposed by crooks, and introduce Ms. Khan to the voting public, who is the best presidential appointee we have seen in a very, very long time? Even some of our most deplorable representatives, like Hawley, acknowledge the excellent job she has done. Best Washington bureaucrat since Pecora. Its to the point where many of the crooked monied interests who gave us Bill Clinton are now silently backing Trump. The money guys, who have made such a mess of the health care industry and pharmacies, amongst many others, should be one of Biden's targets, in the manner of Truman's Do Nothing Congress. Breaking up Google is becoming bi partisan, and its populist.
Parenthetically, speaking of Truman, to call this Congress 'Do Nothing' would be a flowery compliment. There are no shortage of rhetorical targets for Biden's re-election, no shortage of people at whom to "give em' hell.".
As a tangent, I don't totally buy into the foreign affairs part. I would contend that the number of votes driven by the incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan are minuscule, unless your family was so unfortunate as to lose a family member in that disgraceful affair. Of course, we now have had several years where no American has been wounded or killed for absolutely nothing. I for one will not apologize for Afghanistan; I voted for Gore and Kerry, and despised Junior, who was obviously asleep at the switch on 9-11 and then compounded his folly. While Biden is expected to apologize for everything that has happened since he first took the train to Washington, a lot of the other people who were actually responsible for the two Stupid Wars -- which were arguably prep for the Trump catastrophe ---are getting off scot free. Why does that make sense? I would suggest that at this point almost no voters particularly care about the botched exit from Afghanistan, and many of the ones who do, probably think we should have stayed the course until final victory, maybe on the Thirtieth Anniversary.
But so many of the people i love reading at the Bulwark, and whom I actually admire, can't bring themselves to admit what a disgrace the whole thing was, and its not surprising, since they work for Bill Kristol [who i also like to read]. I get it; I once had a boss too.
While the problems you cite are present, they are ever-present, in one form or another. What would be irrational would be to conclude that such problems push thoughtful citizens into voting for an unbridled, unfit candidate like Trump, instead of a devoted candidate like Biden, who speaks plainly and with conviction to traditional American values of unity, equality and civic cooperation. This is not time to Chicken Little our way into unwarranted states of anxiety and exasperation. It is a time to get out the vote in Swing states and for stirring rhetoric from those privileged to publish editorials in an august defender of representative Republic like the New York Times.
Good thoughts as far as they go. I couldn't help worrying, though, that a speech along the lines you prescribe would need to be careful not to get tagged as a "malaise speech", as Carter's had despite the initial reaction to it being positive and that he had never uttered the word 'malaise'.
Thank you. I've often noticed that the "everything is fine" crowd, prominent amongst Never Trumpers in the GOP and amongst opinion-shaping Democrats, is often firmly ensconced in the laptop-wielding upper 25 percent of society (myself included) and lacks tangible connection with the struggles of the bottom 75 percent. Biden may have his ancestral roots in the bottom 75 percent, but his staff mostly does not, as reflected in his priorities, and a lifetime in public service (and raking in lobbyist dollars via the clan) means that he is rather out of touch at this point.
In past essays I sensed from Damon and over reliance on faith in current institutions. His advice to the Biden campaign here is a more balanced critique (that I share) about the failures of our institution and a realization that we have to talk about that...and reform them. A good piece.
Interesting that, at least to me, your comments in some ways could come under a "Build Back Better" slogan. By this I mean your reference to making existing government programs and regulations actually work well, and find ways to carry them out more efficiently that is not about mindlessly cutting and hacking.
Is America "broken", or have those in charge mismanaged the country's affairs? In other words, are those things that are causing pain for voters intrinsic to the American system and therefore nearly impossible to change, or are they transient symptoms of a curable disease based on political choices?
It's an important question, because before we can "fix" anything or take responsibility for it, we need to be clear about what we're talking about, we need to identify the causes of any "breakage," and we need to be careful about what we're accepting responsibility for if we want to be the one to bring about improvement. Simply prostrating oneself before an angry, irrational crowd and saying "sorry, I'll do better" isn't going to work; they'll trample you or string you up.
I don't think America's broken (by the way, I'm a Scottish immigrant to Canada); I think it's been mismanaged, and the mismanagement has had serious long-term, cumulative consequences for how Americans feel about themselves and their country.
The GW Bush administration's disastrous knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 was the successful outcome of bin Laden's strategy to "break" America. Its even more disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq was a major bonus (to him) and an accelerant of US decline.
The Bush administration allowing banks to lend more than they could cover upset the fine balance between greed and prudent regulation, and precipitated a global financial crisis.
Even earlier, the Reagan administration's economic policies hollowed out US manufacturing and massively boosted the enrichment of owners and investors at the expense of entire swaths of America's industrial heartland.
The Trump administration's massive tax cut for the rich made the gap between the rich and everyone else grotesque where before it was merely ugly. Trump breaking a solemn nuclear treaty with Iran and rendering the Palestinian cause finally hopeless fatally destabilized the Middle East. And he launched economic warfare against China out of sheer ignorance, trashing a delicate diplomatic balance that had kept critical channels open and largely moderated China's extremes.
These were all Republican managers, and they imposed Republican policies that were uniformly characterized by a total disregard for the needs and happiness of the ordinary working voter. Since so few of the latter see enough of the big picture to realize who has been causing these successive waves of demoralizing and impoverishing malaise, I think it would be a mistake for Joe Biden to bow his head and take responsibility for it; it would be much better if he just keeps making progress in the good, and let the bad fade like the unpleasant dream it always was.
It all rings immediately true, Damon. Yet, is our increasingly radicalized, crackpot populace even willing to consider something as old fashioned and rational sounding as “reform?” I do not see it, much as I agree with you. The Baltimore Bridge provides a pretty good example & opportunity to speak about some of these things, centered on the word resilience. I’ve seen and heard a good bit of that from Buttigieg, Moore and Biden.
As I wrote in the NY Times Opinion Comments: a message of "we/I broke it, we/I have not yet fixed it, but give us/me a second chance and maybe we/I will" is not going to help Joe Biden win re-election. Instead, making this a choice election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump (instead of a referendum election) is what will help. Biden should point out: I have a plan that's popular to fix the deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy; Donald Trump's plan will make it worse. I have a plan to lower inflation (I already have done a lot), Donald Trump's tariffs will make them worse. I have a plan to keep America safe by supporting our allies abroad and giving them the tools to fight wars so we don't have to. Donald Trump will abandon our allies and force us to eventually step in and clean up the mess we ignored from the beginning. I have a plan to ensure safe access to abortion rights. Donald Trump nominated the judges who overturned Roe v. Wade including one judge who, typically, would not have been nominated under normal political times.
That's a potentially winning argument. Telling people that, yes, Donald Trump is right that our institutions and establishment sucks (and I am part of that) is handing them a reason to vote for Trump.
I doubt that is going to fly. Better that he move noticeably toward the center on culture war and ‘wokeness’, control the border, and make housing and education more affordable.
Good column. But I think Biden will win, and do so rather handily. There is a group of college educated people who will vote D every year once their student loans are forgiven. To me, it's smart politics, ala FDR and Social Security. Trump should have done it, but the GOP is too ham fisted to know how to govern. In the end, something for nothing will always win.
I don't think the polls can be that reliable because who takes time to do a poll? I think there are people who are online-politics brained who answer a lot of surveys. There is a great mass of young voters who are connected to politics only through popular culture, and those people will only hear the Democrat side of the message. And those people are likely unreachable by the polls.
And... Liberals are the motivated people voting now. They aren't content with ruining their own states. They are spreading like locusts all over the country. Pretty soon, we'll all be high-tax, high-regulation hell-holes. And just like the 1930s, there will have to be a remnant who tries to hold on to whatever will be left of the nightmare we become.
Biden is struggling because he backs horrifically bad policies: unlimited funding of endless war in Europe (that risks nuclear war against the US homeland), free money for the laptop class only ("student loan forgiveness"), open borders, destruction of girls' and women's sports by administrative fiat, contravening democratic votes in 25 states so far (but only after the election: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/28/title-ix-trans-athletes-biden ), full support of the viciously misogynist "Equality Act", full support of the ongoing mutilation and sterilization of children against the will of their parents.
Peachy Keenan explains it all far better than I can:
"Extremism on the Ballot: The 2024 election is between a dangerous madman and Donald Trump"
For me at least, that inability of institutions to admit to the multiple failures over the past 20 years coupled with the refusal to figure out why they happened and how to prevent them from happening again is a major reason I have so little enthusiasm for any candidate. I'm only sort of joking when I say that we need to pay more attention to "Never having to admit you're wrong" privilege. And I'm a democrat with a graduate degree in a STEM field, so I'm not exactly the kind of person who has any interest in populism. (Saying you got something wrong is expected in a lot of STEM fields.)
I don't necessarily think anyone needs to be fired over the failures, but there needs to be some acknowledgement that institutions messed up and are doing something to make sure they don't fail the same way in the future. It would also be nice if people who were seriously adversely affected by these failures got some sort of acknowledgement and possibly compensation.
It is the youth driven culmination of decades of zero sum struggle over immutable characteristics that have acquired religious extremism. Social justice is now the religion of the irreligious Left who march through our institutions with the zeal of ISIS. Beheading resistors and subjugating the rest.
And we would expect a full throated defense of social liberalism from the 81 year old President who ran as a moderate Uniter. Yet, instead, fully embraces absurd extremism from his left flank. His long career of positions and wind-blown flip flops showing us exactly who he is. And if I’m wrong about this - then where is his triangulating Sister Soulja moment?
The economy can rage on. But “the personal is political” poison we’ve all grown addicted to has divided us irreparably.
OK, as far as it goes, but nothing about anti-trust? Why not also point out that Biden is the best president in more than 50 years in going after the combinations, and junk fees imposed by crooks, and introduce Ms. Khan to the voting public, who is the best presidential appointee we have seen in a very, very long time? Even some of our most deplorable representatives, like Hawley, acknowledge the excellent job she has done. Best Washington bureaucrat since Pecora. Its to the point where many of the crooked monied interests who gave us Bill Clinton are now silently backing Trump. The money guys, who have made such a mess of the health care industry and pharmacies, amongst many others, should be one of Biden's targets, in the manner of Truman's Do Nothing Congress. Breaking up Google is becoming bi partisan, and its populist.
Parenthetically, speaking of Truman, to call this Congress 'Do Nothing' would be a flowery compliment. There are no shortage of rhetorical targets for Biden's re-election, no shortage of people at whom to "give em' hell.".
As a tangent, I don't totally buy into the foreign affairs part. I would contend that the number of votes driven by the incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan are minuscule, unless your family was so unfortunate as to lose a family member in that disgraceful affair. Of course, we now have had several years where no American has been wounded or killed for absolutely nothing. I for one will not apologize for Afghanistan; I voted for Gore and Kerry, and despised Junior, who was obviously asleep at the switch on 9-11 and then compounded his folly. While Biden is expected to apologize for everything that has happened since he first took the train to Washington, a lot of the other people who were actually responsible for the two Stupid Wars -- which were arguably prep for the Trump catastrophe ---are getting off scot free. Why does that make sense? I would suggest that at this point almost no voters particularly care about the botched exit from Afghanistan, and many of the ones who do, probably think we should have stayed the course until final victory, maybe on the Thirtieth Anniversary.
But so many of the people i love reading at the Bulwark, and whom I actually admire, can't bring themselves to admit what a disgrace the whole thing was, and its not surprising, since they work for Bill Kristol [who i also like to read]. I get it; I once had a boss too.
While the problems you cite are present, they are ever-present, in one form or another. What would be irrational would be to conclude that such problems push thoughtful citizens into voting for an unbridled, unfit candidate like Trump, instead of a devoted candidate like Biden, who speaks plainly and with conviction to traditional American values of unity, equality and civic cooperation. This is not time to Chicken Little our way into unwarranted states of anxiety and exasperation. It is a time to get out the vote in Swing states and for stirring rhetoric from those privileged to publish editorials in an august defender of representative Republic like the New York Times.
Good thoughts as far as they go. I couldn't help worrying, though, that a speech along the lines you prescribe would need to be careful not to get tagged as a "malaise speech", as Carter's had despite the initial reaction to it being positive and that he had never uttered the word 'malaise'.
Thank you. I've often noticed that the "everything is fine" crowd, prominent amongst Never Trumpers in the GOP and amongst opinion-shaping Democrats, is often firmly ensconced in the laptop-wielding upper 25 percent of society (myself included) and lacks tangible connection with the struggles of the bottom 75 percent. Biden may have his ancestral roots in the bottom 75 percent, but his staff mostly does not, as reflected in his priorities, and a lifetime in public service (and raking in lobbyist dollars via the clan) means that he is rather out of touch at this point.
In past essays I sensed from Damon and over reliance on faith in current institutions. His advice to the Biden campaign here is a more balanced critique (that I share) about the failures of our institution and a realization that we have to talk about that...and reform them. A good piece.
Interesting that, at least to me, your comments in some ways could come under a "Build Back Better" slogan. By this I mean your reference to making existing government programs and regulations actually work well, and find ways to carry them out more efficiently that is not about mindlessly cutting and hacking.
Kowtowing to the pro-Hamas, America-hating progressives is going to cost him, and deservedly so.
Is America "broken", or have those in charge mismanaged the country's affairs? In other words, are those things that are causing pain for voters intrinsic to the American system and therefore nearly impossible to change, or are they transient symptoms of a curable disease based on political choices?
It's an important question, because before we can "fix" anything or take responsibility for it, we need to be clear about what we're talking about, we need to identify the causes of any "breakage," and we need to be careful about what we're accepting responsibility for if we want to be the one to bring about improvement. Simply prostrating oneself before an angry, irrational crowd and saying "sorry, I'll do better" isn't going to work; they'll trample you or string you up.
I don't think America's broken (by the way, I'm a Scottish immigrant to Canada); I think it's been mismanaged, and the mismanagement has had serious long-term, cumulative consequences for how Americans feel about themselves and their country.
The GW Bush administration's disastrous knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 was the successful outcome of bin Laden's strategy to "break" America. Its even more disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq was a major bonus (to him) and an accelerant of US decline.
The Bush administration allowing banks to lend more than they could cover upset the fine balance between greed and prudent regulation, and precipitated a global financial crisis.
Even earlier, the Reagan administration's economic policies hollowed out US manufacturing and massively boosted the enrichment of owners and investors at the expense of entire swaths of America's industrial heartland.
The Trump administration's massive tax cut for the rich made the gap between the rich and everyone else grotesque where before it was merely ugly. Trump breaking a solemn nuclear treaty with Iran and rendering the Palestinian cause finally hopeless fatally destabilized the Middle East. And he launched economic warfare against China out of sheer ignorance, trashing a delicate diplomatic balance that had kept critical channels open and largely moderated China's extremes.
These were all Republican managers, and they imposed Republican policies that were uniformly characterized by a total disregard for the needs and happiness of the ordinary working voter. Since so few of the latter see enough of the big picture to realize who has been causing these successive waves of demoralizing and impoverishing malaise, I think it would be a mistake for Joe Biden to bow his head and take responsibility for it; it would be much better if he just keeps making progress in the good, and let the bad fade like the unpleasant dream it always was.
It all rings immediately true, Damon. Yet, is our increasingly radicalized, crackpot populace even willing to consider something as old fashioned and rational sounding as “reform?” I do not see it, much as I agree with you. The Baltimore Bridge provides a pretty good example & opportunity to speak about some of these things, centered on the word resilience. I’ve seen and heard a good bit of that from Buttigieg, Moore and Biden.
As I wrote in the NY Times Opinion Comments: a message of "we/I broke it, we/I have not yet fixed it, but give us/me a second chance and maybe we/I will" is not going to help Joe Biden win re-election. Instead, making this a choice election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump (instead of a referendum election) is what will help. Biden should point out: I have a plan that's popular to fix the deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy; Donald Trump's plan will make it worse. I have a plan to lower inflation (I already have done a lot), Donald Trump's tariffs will make them worse. I have a plan to keep America safe by supporting our allies abroad and giving them the tools to fight wars so we don't have to. Donald Trump will abandon our allies and force us to eventually step in and clean up the mess we ignored from the beginning. I have a plan to ensure safe access to abortion rights. Donald Trump nominated the judges who overturned Roe v. Wade including one judge who, typically, would not have been nominated under normal political times.
That's a potentially winning argument. Telling people that, yes, Donald Trump is right that our institutions and establishment sucks (and I am part of that) is handing them a reason to vote for Trump.
Joe Biden: the Second-term reformer!
I doubt that is going to fly. Better that he move noticeably toward the center on culture war and ‘wokeness’, control the border, and make housing and education more affordable.
Great piece, Damon. I hope Biden listens to you.
Good column. But I think Biden will win, and do so rather handily. There is a group of college educated people who will vote D every year once their student loans are forgiven. To me, it's smart politics, ala FDR and Social Security. Trump should have done it, but the GOP is too ham fisted to know how to govern. In the end, something for nothing will always win.
I don't think the polls can be that reliable because who takes time to do a poll? I think there are people who are online-politics brained who answer a lot of surveys. There is a great mass of young voters who are connected to politics only through popular culture, and those people will only hear the Democrat side of the message. And those people are likely unreachable by the polls.
And... Liberals are the motivated people voting now. They aren't content with ruining their own states. They are spreading like locusts all over the country. Pretty soon, we'll all be high-tax, high-regulation hell-holes. And just like the 1930s, there will have to be a remnant who tries to hold on to whatever will be left of the nightmare we become.
Biden is struggling because he backs horrifically bad policies: unlimited funding of endless war in Europe (that risks nuclear war against the US homeland), free money for the laptop class only ("student loan forgiveness"), open borders, destruction of girls' and women's sports by administrative fiat, contravening democratic votes in 25 states so far (but only after the election: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/28/title-ix-trans-athletes-biden ), full support of the viciously misogynist "Equality Act", full support of the ongoing mutilation and sterilization of children against the will of their parents.
Peachy Keenan explains it all far better than I can:
"Extremism on the Ballot: The 2024 election is between a dangerous madman and Donald Trump"
https://peachykeenan.substack.com/p/extremism-on-the-ballot
For me at least, that inability of institutions to admit to the multiple failures over the past 20 years coupled with the refusal to figure out why they happened and how to prevent them from happening again is a major reason I have so little enthusiasm for any candidate. I'm only sort of joking when I say that we need to pay more attention to "Never having to admit you're wrong" privilege. And I'm a democrat with a graduate degree in a STEM field, so I'm not exactly the kind of person who has any interest in populism. (Saying you got something wrong is expected in a lot of STEM fields.)
I don't necessarily think anyone needs to be fired over the failures, but there needs to be some acknowledgement that institutions messed up and are doing something to make sure they don't fail the same way in the future. It would also be nice if people who were seriously adversely affected by these failures got some sort of acknowledgement and possibly compensation.
It was a strong piece Damon. Well argued.
We are here for one reason only: The Culture War.
It is the youth driven culmination of decades of zero sum struggle over immutable characteristics that have acquired religious extremism. Social justice is now the religion of the irreligious Left who march through our institutions with the zeal of ISIS. Beheading resistors and subjugating the rest.
And we would expect a full throated defense of social liberalism from the 81 year old President who ran as a moderate Uniter. Yet, instead, fully embraces absurd extremism from his left flank. His long career of positions and wind-blown flip flops showing us exactly who he is. And if I’m wrong about this - then where is his triangulating Sister Soulja moment?
The economy can rage on. But “the personal is political” poison we’ve all grown addicted to has divided us irreparably.