OPINION: Biden’s Broken Promises Leave a Trail of Broken Hearts
One month into the Biden administration has shown his monumental promises become nothing more than monumental disappointments
In the realm of politics, broken promises and empty gestures are fairly common, and Joe Biden is no different. For Bush it was no new taxes, for Nixon it was ending the Vietnam War, and for Carter it was the energy crisis. The list of politician’s unfulfilled goals goes on and on. Biden has barely begun his term, but his big promises have made for some major early onset disappointment.
If there is one thing that most everyone could respectfully acknowledge about Biden in his Presidency so far, it’s his effort to increase diplomacy, provide COVID-19 economic relief and a return to an American society that values immigrants. However, we haven’t gotten very far past the effort.
Starting with the most disappointing aspect for many: the failure to stop the deportation of immigrant communities. Hearing constant smack talk from Biden about immigration facilities and procedures under the Trump administration, there was a hopeful thought that an improved immigration plan would be one of Biden’s first priorities. However, Biden’s desire to change immigration stopped there after the Texas hold. This hold was made by a Texas judge who refused to allow an order for a 100-day deportation moratorium, as this abrupt executive order gave no heads up to the state which was a requirement under the previous policies.
Biden still has the power to stop all deportations if he wanted to. ICE is a government agency that is under the jurisdiction of the president, and the agency still has power to allow or deny immigrant cases despite Texas suing the Biden administration. Though the hold is only temporary, over 20,000 immigrants have been deported since his entering of office and will continue to be deported at the same rate as the Trump administration if Biden does not address the situation. Until he does, I will question his supposed priority of immigrant and ethnic minorities.
Biden also lied about the $2,000 stimulus checks. The stimulus package that was a huge talking point for him in the height of the campaigns was harshly brought to light as the farce it was after the inauguration, when statements came out saying that the $2,000 was simply a sum of all the governmental help – adding the $600 in December with another $1,400 to come. Not only did the Biden campaign lie about how much they were going to give, they also lied about just how urgently these checks were going to be sent out. After a month of people still struggling to get on their feet, the package was barely moved to the Senate last week.
Lastly, another major campaign promise failure is the irony of increased diplomatic relations. One year into Trump’s term as president there were World War III scares stemming from Twitter nonsense and an arms race that almost occurred between Trump and Kim Jong-un. With only one month in the books, Biden has managed to airstrike Syria. Though the ethics around this decision are heavily debated, disrupting what was being called peace in the Middle East, does not sound like a very diplomatic decision.
Even though Biden’s record number of executive orders are well intended, it seems that his efforts have been stretched a little too thin, without much being done in any direction. Before he starts to attack one situation at a time, he may want to reconsider what is first most necessary. Until he does, I will continue to wonder what he truly cares about.
Niles Johanson • Jul 13, 2021 at 11:34 am
Unfortunately for those who believed Biden’s promises, he is not a man known for accomplishments in his near 50-year Washington DC career. He is the consummate politician who understands that the way to garner votes is to promise people the things they desire even when he knows he has little or no chance of delivering on those promises. Biden has always had a propensity to lie, as when he falsified his academic accomplishments or the myriad times he has adopted other people’s ideas and claiming them as his own (plagiarism) but his failing memory enables him to make even greater over-the-top claims. Basically, he has no vision or ideas of his own, hence once elected he adopted Bernie Sander’s socialist policies lock, stock, and barrel.
I do remember years back when Biden actually could handle himself well when responding to questions. He was pretty sharp and he always took advantage of his flashy smile and hug-giving nature. That Biden is long gone, now replaced by a dementia-challenged imposter who can barely give coherent answers to questions unless he has a teleprompter or a stack of index cards written out for him and softball questions provided to the press.
He clearly is not in charge of his office but the question is, “Who is running the presidency?”
When I observe his physical demeanor and his fumbling response to reporter’s questions (when they are allowed) I wonder what Americans who are paying attention are thinking about their 2020 voting choice. The Democrats, taking advantage of the pandemic, cleverly kept Joe in the basement and away from prying eyes and questions. In effect, voters had to vote for the ghost of Biden based on their recollections from past memories – not a rigorous evaluation of the frail man of today. Their choices were further tilted and skewed by a Democrat favorable press that had nothing but negative news on Trump and hid any negative issues about Biden (ie – Hunter Biden).
I used to think that the American public could sort out the wheat from the chaff and make an intuitively correct decision, and on the whole I think they can but occasionally they will make a bad choice. I believe they did so in 2020.