Tools and puppets don\u2019t have plans, and Biden is both.<\/p>\n
There is no plan.<\/a> President Joe Biden is “rattled,”\u00a0according to NBC News<\/a>, and “looking to regain voters\u2019 confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign.”<\/p>\n How? By trying to change the media narrative. On May 30, Biden published an op-ed in the\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0<\/em>that explained “My Plan for Fighting Inflation<\/a>.” The next day, Biden wrote a “guest essay” for the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>on “What America Will and Will Not Do in Ukraine<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Bad poll numbers and a collapsing domestic and international situation have excited the typically drowsy president into action. There\u2019s a problem, though. The closer you read Biden\u2019s op-eds, the less he has to say. This new, annoyed, engaged Biden may be a prolific writer and speaker. But he\u2019s not an incisive one. He won\u2019t admit that there is a connection between his ideology and America\u2019s problems. He can\u2019t decide between giving Ukraine the weapons necessary to defeat Russia or settling for a war of attrition.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s\u00a0Journal\u00a0<\/em>op-ed is a masterclass in passing the buck. He doesn\u2019t bring up his “plan for fighting inflation” until midway through his thousand-word piece. My inner college professor wanted to send the article back to him with suggestions for revision. Number one: Always move your best material to the top!<\/p>\n The plan itself is gauzy and thin. “The Federal Reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation.” You wouldn\u2019t know that from listening to Progressives, including some of Biden\u2019s nominees to the Federal Reserve, who argue that the Fed\u2019s interest in price stability distracts it from promoting full employment, green energy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Now Biden wants the Fed to correct not only its mistakes, but his own. Let\u2019s see if his faith in an independent central bank can stand the test of higher interest rates, higher unemployment, and lower incomes.<\/p>\n Parts two and three of Biden\u2019s inflation plan are the remnants of his Build Back Better agenda: some clean energy and housing subsidies here, a few tax hikes there. He mentions his use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices, but not his appeals to Venezuela and OPEC to boost the oil supply. As for the obvious answers to America\u2019s energy problems\u2014a complete reversal of Biden\u2019s hostility to oil and gas exploration and production, huge investments in nuclear power, and emergency efforts to increase refinery capacity\u2014Biden has no words. His devotion to the environmental lobby and to green energy blinds him. If the Progressive Left rejects nuclear power, the “clean energy future” it desires won\u2019t arrive.<\/p>\n This mismatch between ends and means is visible in Biden\u2019s Ukraine policy. The president tells\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>readers that the United States sends Ukraine weapons “so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.” The desired end state is “a democratic, independent, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression.” And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is in the driver\u2019s seat. “I will not pressure the Ukrainian government\u2014in private or public\u2014to make any territorial concessions.”<\/p>\n All good. Why, then, limit the weapons deliveries to systems with ranges of 40 miles? Why slow-walk and agonize over each tranche of support? Why engage with Russia in farcical and dangerous negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons? Why not take a more active role in\u00a0peace talks<\/a> between Ukraine and Russia? The Biden policy is static even as the shape of the war changes in ways that favor the aggressor. The president\u2019s goals are laudable. But his tactics are calibrated for a war that Ukraine is winning.<\/p>\n And Ukraine is not winning. At least not now. The Ukrainians defeated Russia\u2019s attempt at regime change. But they have been less successful in removing Russia from eastern Ukraine and from their port cities in the south and southeast. Absent a change in Biden administration policy\u2014in the ranges of weapons systems America provides Ukraine, in the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to relieve the Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, or in a major diplomatic effort\u2014the war will turn into a frozen conflict with no clear resolution and with mounting humanitarian costs. How that situation would help anyone, including Biden, is unclear.<\/p>\n Then again, little Biden says or does makes sense from the vantage point of either policy or politics. He\u2019s right to be rattled. He\u2019s also clueless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tools and puppets don\u2019t have plans, and Biden is both. There is no plan. The closer attention you pay to Biden, the less he has to say. President Joe Biden is “rattled,”\u00a0according to NBC News, and “looking to regain voters\u2019 confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign.” How? By … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crap-for-brains","category-goobermint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81902,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81901\/revisions\/81902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe closer attention you pay to Biden, the less he has to say.<\/em><\/p>\n