Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's JournalI know that everybody has their issues and things they want to achieve
but is it absolutely necessary for NPR to run stories every day with some group or another complaining about Biden "not doing enough" to address their issue- legitimate though it may be- and he's only been in office for under 100 days so far, especially considering:
1. Biden basically had no real transition because Trump-run agencies stonewalled and slow-walked the entire transition process, basically almost having to be dragged to court to do what every outgoing Administration has done right up through President Obama. There's also little doubt that Trump installed last minute cronies at major agencies to help stonewall sharing of information and hide sensitive documents
2. Confirmation of heads of major cabinet positions due to Republicans slow-walking the power sharing arrangement following the Georgia runoff elections
3. We are in the midst of a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic that was horrifically mismanaged by the previous Administration.
4. There was a literal coup attempt/insurrection leading up to the Inauguration that is still being investigated and dealt with- and some of the people behind it are still, amazingly, in office.
So, at the risk of sounding like I'm minimizing people's legitimate issues and concerns (I'm not) and/or making excuses- albeit legitimate ones- for why they have yet to be addressed, I'm calling on everybody to just chill out for a second and let the man unpack his toothbrush and focus on the most pressing needs first and just..........be........ a little patient and cut the guy some slack. I am concerned that these people are letting the media use their concerns to gradually cut away at his support and demoralize activists and convince them that nothing is going to change. I remember sort of the same thing happening with President Obama and it's disheartening. A lot of these things are problems that have been festering for years and it's been nearly impossible to address them because they keep getting buried under constant Republican shenanigans and messes that they keep creating while they're in office. Just cut the guy some slack. And news agencies- find some different things to cover.
I've noticed a political pattern since Clinton (1993)
Democrats came in to office winning WH and Congress and passed a big economic plan in 1993 to address the Recession then, angering Republicans and getting votes for none of them. Republicans lied and smeared about the package and won Congress in 1994, riding a "populist" wave of anger against government, taxes, "the elite" etc..
After two miserable terms of George W. Bush and a Great Recession to have to deal with, Democrats came into office winning WH and Congress by large margins and immediately passed a Stimulus Plan (which attracted a small number of Republican votes but the package was pared down to win those votes). Republicans lied and smeared about the package- Plus Obamacare- and won the House in 2010 and, later, the Senate in 2014, riding a "populist" wave of anger against government, taxes, "the elite", etc (known as "Tea Party" ).
After one miserable term of Donald Trump and a Pandemic and resulting economic disaster, Democrats came into office winning WH and Congress (by the smallest of margins) and immediately passed a Relief Plan (which got no Republican votes). Republicans are lying and smearing about the package now. The question now is whether Republicans are going to be successful in lying and smearing about that package- or anything else- ride that "wave" into victory/gains in 2022/2024. Going into the final votes, the Relief Plan commanded around 70% of support of all Americans and a substantial number of Republicans (citizens). How they will manage to make "Lemonade" out of those "Lemons" is anybody's guess?
I realize that there are lot of factors and this is somewhat oversimplified but I think that it's pretty accurate.
It would be nice to see them try
Biden's press conferences would be exact opposite, of course, but I am losing no sleep about whether he is giving press conferences or how many how often. As long as his WH is being open and transparent and not hiding information or stopping important information from coming out, that is what I'm mostly concerned about. And he has people capable of speaking for him too, so I don't know what he would add. Not necessarily the media but I know that right-wingers are trying to twist his lack of press conferences into their own paranoid conspiracy theories about his mental/cognitive well being but we all know that's nonsense as well.
I think that a lot of Democrats have come to regret Franken's resignation prior to an investigation
I'm not sure I know how I feel about Cuomo. He was certainly a better and more stable leader than Trump was during the past year dealing with COVID and I have some concerns about how and why all of these allegations are hitting Cuomo now, with Trump out of office and subject to investigations and potential prosecution in his state. I personally think that, unless there is something egregious and/or some kind of serious misconduct that has been thoroughly investigated, we should not be so quick to force elected officials to up and resign their positions. And I would be willing to extend this same standard to Republicans accused of impropriety as well, even though they're less likely to be held accountable at all, but we still need to be the better example and hold our own accountable but I think that overall we need to stop rushing to get people to resign and let investigations happen before demanding accountability- actually make sure that people are proven to be guilty before talk about how we are going to respond. I feel like many resignations are the result of a period of intense media scrutiny that causes us as a party to start panicking about appearances and pushing us into just cutting our losses quickly, even if an investigation is pending. It may be very well that Cuomo has serious issues and maybe he should ultimately resign if the investigation reveals significant problems that undermine his ability to govern, but let's not make "Trial by Media" the dominant standard of justice in this country.
Profile Information
Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 01:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,402