This past weekend we suffered yet more tragedy from devastating “once in a century” tornadoes ripping for hundreds of miles across 6 states. Dozens are dead and hundreds more wounded. And for once, the Biden administration has actually sprung into action, pledging immediate aid and resources to the affected communities. It was a moment where he actually took up the mantle of leadership he was bestowed upon winning the presidency.
Despite his compassion and swift action, however, Biden’s response to this disaster serves in many ways to highlight the major shortcomings of his presidency so far. Case in point, Biden is dead wrong that these natural disasters should not be made political. First, Republicans like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky have long histories of voting against aid when it isn’t their own constituencies affected. Of course we shouldn’t be like these monstrous hypocrites, but neither can we allow their behavior to go unnoticed.
Biden and the Democrats make a huge mistake when they don’t ceaselessly tie the Republican party to their monstrous behavior. People’s lives are busy, and frustratingly, the effects of politicians actions are often too temporally removed from the consequences for most Americans to correctly assign blame. The Republicans get this, and they blame Democrats whether they’ve done anything or not. Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to shield Republicans from consequences, by not highlighting their behavior.
Second, and perhaps more systemically, Biden swift action to unilaterally address this emergency situation, but not others, shows just where is his and the democratic party’s priorities lie. The Build Back Better Agenda, the child tax credit, and student loan debt repayments, these are all wildly popular policies, with huge impacts on the daily lives of millions of Americans, and yet while Democrats make speeches to this effect their rhetoric stands in stark contrast to their actions. Biden’s agenda has been slow walked and is languishing. The child tax credit is expiring soon. Is Biden pressuring Congress? Is he twisting arms? No of course not!
Instead of fighting for the American people the Biden administration is busy trying to restart collecting student loan debt! This is bad politics, and bad economics. Biden’s poll numbers are already cratering, the Democrats are on the ropes electorally, and squeezing American’s whose only crime was to become educated can only exacerbate the situation.
Time and again Biden and the Democrats show that while they aren’t gleeful nihilists like the Republican party, they are far from a party looking out for the American people. Discrete disasters like last weekend, and the rapid response, are the exception, not the rule. If we are to make our politics responsive to the needs of the people, it’s going to take consistent and steady action, not single, flash in the pan responses. We need to be in it for the long haul, to build a movement which can unite people and demand government help not just when pictures of death and destruction cross our screens. So join us each week in united power, and don’t shop on Tuesday!
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