Tag Archives: bipartisanship. Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Not a SOTU, but it sounded like one

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden never once tonight uttered the words “The state of our Union is … “ whatever, but he might as well have said as much.

His speech that went more than an hour long before a sparse gathering of members of Congress had the sound and feel of a State of the Union speech.

It was his first such speech and it took place in an extraordinary environment. The COVID pandemic is still raging and it kept most of those who normally attend presidential speeches before a joint congressional session away.

Biden spoke to us in varying vocal tones. He whispered at times. Biden didn’t bellow exactly the way his immediate predecessor would do.

Yeah, I noticed that he got few hand claps from Republicans gathered before him, although he did get them to stand and applaud when he declared his intention to rid the world of cancer “once and for all.”

So here we go. President Biden is now 100 days into a new administration. The second 100 days well could be even more consequential than the first 100.

I will wait patiently for when we can see the president deliver a speech to us before a packed House chamber.

national news

Bipartisanship? It’s toast!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This pearl of wisdom came from a noted progressive commentator,  the brilliant Rachel Maddow.

She writes: Now that Mitch McConnell has made clear that no Republican will vote for the infrastructure bill, there is now no reason for Democrats to waste time trying to do the ultimately futile thing they might otherwise do of trying to make Republicans happy while compromising the bill, all in the hopes of picking up a few Republican votes.

The grown-ups can now work among themselves to craft a better bill.

Maddow is host of a show on MSNBC. She acknowledges per progressive political credentials. That all said, I am afraid she has spoken a brutal truth about President Biden’s search for unity and bipartisanship in our federal government.

Biden wants to enact a $2.25 trillion infrastructure package. He won’t get any Republican support for a project that in an earlier, more perfect, time would have transcended partisan political concerns.

This one won’t get there.

What, then, is the Democratic president to do? President Biden is left to deploy his partisan pals in both congressional chambers. They will get some version of the infrastructure package approved.

I wish them well. I want the bill to become law. We need to build things again. We need to put people back to work. If congressional Republicans don’t want to sign on to this monumental legislation, well … so be it.