18 March 2021
The Revolution Begins
by J.R. Thomas
Like many Americans and commentators, we have been waiting for President Joe Biden’s first press conference to hear direct from the President as to what his strategies and intentions are in these first months of his presidency, and to hear him answer questions about an increasingly radical programme in the process of delivery.
But the press room doors in the White House remain locked; dust gathers on the podium; the electronic mikes remain untested. The President has established a new record; 53 days into his presidency and he has not put himself to that crucial test, that of the White House press conference, the US equivalent to Prime Minister’s questions in the House of Commons, and just as challenging. No president in modern times has gone nearly so long without this formal exposure to his press and his nation. A couple of days ago it was announced that Joe will give a speech on Thursday evening – after we have gone to press, alas – to update the America people on the pandemic in particular but on other matters. This will be a formal address with no questions, and press conferences will start “soon”. After all, the White House press office says, Mr Biden is “laser-focused” on measures to combat the pandemic, and often takes informal questions from reporters as he moves around. Well, perhaps and maybe. But no President has ignored for so long the tribunes of the people with their notepads and chewed biros, even such Presidents as Roosevelt busy with World War Two, and Kennedy laser-focused on the Cuban missile crisis, and Reagan tearing down that wall. They all thought it important to inform the citizenry as to what they were up to, and why, and solicit public support for their actions.
What is going on? It is known that Kamala Harris is not keen on press conferences either – she avoided them as much as she could during the campaign last fall; and she continues to do that now. Which for any Veep is correct, the job requires the holder of that office to speak only on specific matters they may be responsible for, and never to outshine the President. There are numerous theories abounding, none of them to do with Mr Biden being so busy that he has not got time to get behind a podium. He, after all, and unlike Ms Harris, has always showed great delight in the past in joshing with the press and getting his voice across. One theory is that the Presidential memory is not so good, and Mr B. does not want to be made to look a fool if he occasionally stumbles over responses and forgets the odd name. The other theories are rather less polite versions of the same theory. Perhaps we should echo the immortal words of Denis Thatcher, a man highly resistant to the charms of the press corps, who, when asked why, said “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open it and prove it.”
But Mr Thatcher was not President of the USA, of a country aspiring to world leadership once again. He did not say “America is back!”, or launch airstrikes into Syrian airspace, or send a cheque for US$1,400 to every American earning under $75,000, at a cost to the US Treasury of $1.9trillion, or open the US’s Mexican border to children (so many that the reception facilities on the Texas side are overwhelmed). And usually if politicians do any of these acts, especially within their first 50 or so days of taking office, they would want to explain why they did so to the voters via the media. Silence ill becomes a President.
What we can see is a remarkably radical programme, one that sounds strongly socialist, what we might have expected from that fiery hotbrand Bernie Sanders had he won the nomination and the election, not from friendly shoulder-shrugging laid-back moderate Joe Biden. To an extent, in foreign policy matters, we are back to the days of Barack Obama, seemingly with added gunships, as the withdrawal policies of President D Trump are paused, if not reversed. America, Joe said last year, is a force for good and is happy to assist in making the world a better place by, if necessary, beating up the bad guys. And the technique of reviving the economy by helicopter cash sluicing was also well flagged as part of the Democrat policy platform, though sending middle class citizens cheques, particularly to those citizens who have stayed comfortably at home not spending whilst their savings piled up, seems a little … undirected. And does raise questions as to how this will be paid for and when. And at what point cash help becomes a cash incentive to vote Democrat next time
But what is distinctly odder is several policies now underway, seemingly with even less trumpeting than a Trump tweet; they include a major revision to social security payments that will increase payments made to recipients by over 20% and may make the cheque mailing frenzy a permanent feature, further support for green programmes, a vast spending programme on roads, rail, and airports (not very green that, sir), all this costing, it is estimated, over $4 trillion. Plus of course the $1.9 trillion committed on Covid relief. To pay for it? Large increases in corporation tax and capital taxes and further borrowing, though USA government indebtedness is already the highest ever at approaching $30 trillion. Income tax though is not likely to be raised except on those earning more than $400,000 a year. And no wealth taxes, so the President has said. Most remarkably Joe seems to have abandoned his personal life-long opposition to abortion and abortion operations will now get federal funding.
Plus. Lots and lots of social reforms to further outlaw discrimination. Help the past subjects of discrimination. Assistance to rapid integration of more recent and illegal immigrants into American society. Generous open door immigration programmes, especially to the south west. This all adds up to a truly remarkably radical left manifesto and more than one commentator has asked if this is really Joe’s programme, or if it is being pushed on him by others in the party. Equally interesting is whether this is really a programme which will attract public support at the next round of elections, to take place in November 2022. These are crucial as the Senate is equally split between the parties with Ms Harris in her role as Speaker controlling the casting vote. Lose that and the programme is going nowhere much, at least until the next Presidential contest in 2024.
Social changes are one thing. They will work or maybe not; they will be popular or maybe not. But the problem with trying to override the basic rules of economics is that eventually somebody, inevitably, gets the bill; there is no “not”. In the United States of America, a country whose economy is already under great stress, that bill will soon be delivered. Mr Biden’s tax changes go nowhere much to meeting the cost of his new-found radicalism, and at some point soon either expenditure will have to be cut dramatically, or income taxes increased across the board. And most voters understand enough economics to know that. So do a number of old-fashioned Democrat Representatives and Senators, a few of whom are already muttering quietly. Joe’s silent honeymoon could soon be over.
