Biden's fifty-first week in power was but his most recent disaster. It featured defeats on many fronts: foreign policy, healthcare, legislation, the US economy, and the polls. Let's briefly consider each.
The big news of the week came from the US Supreme Court, which quickly struck down Biden's efforts to force vaccines in workplaces across the nation. The 6-3 ruling came down along partisan lines, and most conservatives breathed a sigh of relief to see Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett all reach a good decision. The decision dealt a huge blow to Biden's pandemic power play and is a sign that the Supreme Court is willing to stand up to his executive overreach.
The same day the Supreme Court ruled on the OSHA vaccine mandate, Biden was dealt another major blow, this time from the US Senate. Biden - who had declared he was "tired of being silent" - came out swinging this week to end the Senate filibuster so that Democrats could jam through far Left legislation like the new "voter rights" bill. Biden's efforts on this front came to a crashing halt as Arizona's Democrat senator, Kyrsten Sinema, announced she would oppose any vote to jettison the filibuster. Joining Sinema is Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who applauded Sinema's decision. It appears that the two taken together will effectively end Biden's legislative agenda through the midterms.
This week also saw the meeting of US and Russian diplomats in Geneva as they discussed the anti-Russian aggression of the US and its NATO allies since the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia seeks an end to NATO expansion, a rollback of American and NATO infrastructure in eastern Europe, and the respectful treatment of Russia going forward. While little was achieved in the meetings, Russia was given ample time to make its case before the United States, NATO, and Ukraine. All are now on notice of Russia's redlines on Ukraine and its demands concerning NATO. When America and NATO refused to heed Russia's demands, Russian diplomats floated the idea of sending the Russian military to Cuba and Venezuela - a threat which if carried out, according to White House officials, would lead to a "decisive" US response. This knee-jerk reaction from the US government, however, proves Russia's point. Why does a Russian presence in the Americas demand a decisive military response from the US while Russia is told it cannot react the same way to the US presence in Europe? (More from Pat Buchanan.)
Interestingly enough, the Democrats' incoherence on Russia and the filibuster collided this week in the US Senate. Ted Cruz rallied six Democrats and every Republican but Rand Paul into voting for his virulently anti-Russian sanctions bill which sought in part to cripple Russia's new pipeline to Germany. (As a brief aside, the bill was so bad that its worth fearing a Republican takeover in the Senate next year. There may be enough votes to overturn a presidential veto - and if this bill passes in a year, expect a massive crisis between the US and Russia. Senate Republicans are on the wrong side of any policy concerning Russia.) The irony of the bill's failure was that the Democrats had declared both that they opposed the new pipeline and also the sought to end the filibuster - yet they used the filibuster to block the bill which aimed to sanction the pipeline they claimed to oppose. While we applaud the end result, it was yet another sign of Biden's policy incoherence.
Making matters worse for Biden, the US economy is in complete shambles. Inflation is hitting a forty year high while store shelves across the country are empty amid a continued logistics breakdown. It's no wonder why even a leftwing polling outlet like Quinnipiac now has Biden polling at 33%. The only question now is whether or not a GOP-controlled Congress can rid the nation of this incompetent administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment