{"id":2067797,"date":"2023-10-15T05:27:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T09:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/putting-the-shine-on-biden\/"},"modified":"2023-10-15T05:29:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T09:29:19","slug":"putting-the-shine-on-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/putting-the-shine-on-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Polishing Biden&#8217;s Image"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">6<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fputting-the-shine-on-biden%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2067797&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The\u2063 Last \u2062Politician: Inside\u200d Joe Biden\u2019s White House and the Struggle for America\u2019s\u200c Future<\/h2>\n<p>In \u2064popular esteem, the politician today ranks somewhere\u2064 between the telemarketer and the journalist. With a\u200d long \u200cand dishonorable \u2063record of dishonesty and chicanery, he was never much admired for \u2062sure. But in the last decade or so, as the burden of America\u2019s multiplying political and social pathologies\u200b have \u200bbeen laid at Washington\u2019s door, his standing \u200dhas plumbed\u2063 new depths.<\/p>\n<p>So to most Americans, a \u200bsuggestion of \u200cthe extinction of the species of <em>homo politicus<\/em> might be a welcome development. The Last Politician would\u200b surely go unmourned.<\/p>\n<p>Not in Franklin Foer\u2019s estimation. For Foer, a\u2062 former editor of the <em>New Republic<\/em> and fully reliable purveyor of all of the\u2062 left\u2019s verities, labeling President Joe Biden the Last Politician is a form of secular canonization. \u2062The\u2063 46th president is, in his accounting, among the very noblest of a noble breed.<\/p>\n<p>Foer was given\u200d extensive access by the\u2064 White House to \u2062write \u200b <em>The Last Politician<\/em>, one of those fly-on-the-wall accounts \u2063of the first two years \u200dof a \u2062presidency\u200b of the sort popularized by \u200cBob Woodward. The officials\u2019 \u2064decision to\u200b cooperate \u200cclearly paid off.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden of Mr. Foer\u2019s depiction\u2014imagination might \u2064be a \u2063more accurate description\u2014is not the fumbling, mumbling, stumbling president\u2063 we have all come to see on our screens these last two years nor the\u2062 predictable Democratic party hack we have \u2063known throughout his more than half a century in national politics.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2063 figure who emerges from the pages of this book would make the sculpted residents of \u200dMount Rushmore climb\u2063 down from their rocky perch in glad abdication. \u2063Biden is the savior \u2064of the \u200bnation, the man who rescued America\u2064 from the various scourges of recent years: \u2062former president Donald Trump, of course, and the existential threat his MAGA\u200c Republicans posed to our democracy; COVID-19 and the existential threat the pandemic posed to our health; climate change and the existential threat it represented to our \u200bplanet.\u2064 Foer\u2064 could have gone on, presumably but, like Alexander the Great who wept\u2062 salt\u2064 tears at the\u200d age of 30 because\u2063 he had no\u200b more worlds left to conquer, Biden has apparently slain all comers.<\/p>\n<p>You think I\u2019m exaggerating? Foer \u2064faithfully recounts and endorses Biden\u2019s soaring self-estimation: There are more references in the book to Franklin Delano\u2064 Roosevelt than to Bill Clinton: Early on in the presidency, we are told that &#8220;comparisons to FDR \u2026 felt strangely\u200c within reach, especially to Biden.&#8221; By half way through \u2064year two, he was convinced his legislative \u200dachievement was\u2063 already &#8220;greater than the combined\u200c accomplishments of FDR \u200dand\u2063 [Lyndon B. Johnson].&#8221; \u200b(Historical footnote: FDR was\u2062 president for 13 years; LBJ for more than\u2064 5.)<\/p>\n<p>Most of these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/putting-the-shine-on-biden\/\" title=\"Polishing Biden's Image\">real-time \u200bcontemporary-historical accounts\u2014<\/a>even\u200c the most hagiographical\u2014offer at\u2063 least some revelatory material that, even \u200cif only for \u200dcolor, offers some valuable insight\u2062 into a presidency, warts\u2063 and all.\u200c You will \u2063find none in Foer\u2019s book. Instead, almost all the accounts of the major\u200d episodes of the Biden presidency he relates are essentially the versions we have been told already by those ever-so-reliable narrators who appear at the podium \u2062in the White House briefing room every\u200b day.<\/p>\n<p>Foer\u2062 perpetuates the myth that\u2064 Biden strained mightily to achieve bipartisanship but was rebuffed\u200c all\u200d the time by those cynical \u2064Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Joe Biden believed in the\u200d gospel of unity with his whole heart.&#8221; Oddly there \u2062is\u2064 no \u200cattempt to square\u200c his supposed commitment to \u2064this creed with Biden\u2019s routine denunciations of his opponents\u2064 as neo-fascists, or episodes such as his condemnation of immigration enforcement agents for doing\u2062 their job.<\/p>\n<p>The claim also sits oddly with the\u200b fact\u200c that the \u200dmain antagonist throughout the book is not\u2063 Trump\u200b or Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), but Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who, at\u200d last count\u200c was a Democrat, but whose reluctance to\u2064 go along with Biden\u2019s aggressive progressive agenda clearly better represented the views of middle \u200cAmerica\u2063 than\u200c the rest of his party.<\/p>\n<p>While lovingly\u2062 painting in the detail of Biden\u2019s many talents, Foer glosses gently over the evident flaws.\u2064 The question of his &#8220;age issue and \u200dmental powers,&#8221; \u2064as it is neatly described in the index, gets only a few mentions in the book and even these \u2064are cited mainly in support of \u2063the president\u2019s claim to greatness. In his handling of the Ukraine crisis, for example, his advanced age enabled\u2062 Biden to be &#8220;the West\u2019s \u200cFather figure&#8221;\u2014his &#8220;calming presence and strategic\u200d clarity&#8221; helped lead the NATO alliance\u2019s response so successfully.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden\u200d gets one mention\u2014and \u200cthis only\u200d as a criticism of Trump\u2019s attempts to get Ukrainian president Volodymyr \u200dZelenskyy \u2062to investigate the former vice president\u2019s son in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>As for\u200b Biden\u2019s long history of making\u200b up stories about \u2062himself, these are neatly euphemized: &#8220;A \u200bgood \u200dBiden story often gets better \u2063with age.&#8221; And that famous moment from an earlier campaign where he\u2064 was forced to leave the race after he was exposed for \u200dhaving used the words \u2062of a British \u200dpolitician? This we are told came \u200cabout because\u2064 he &#8220;inadvertently\u2062 plagiarized sentences \u200dfrom Neil Kinnock.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This Kremlin-level historical\u2064 whitewashing takes only a small break for\u200c obvious Biden administration failures: Foer \u2062can\u2019t quite portray \u2064the withdrawal from Afghanistan as a stunning success, and he does at least channel some \u200cof the concerns of \u200dthe senior military about Biden\u2019s insistence on a hasty departure from Kabul. But even here the Biden who comes across is\u200c empathetic and strategic. After all,\u2062 as \u200cthe author tells us, &#8220;When \u200dit came to foreign policy, \u2063Joe Biden believed he was\u200d the business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Try\u200b as he might, Foer can\u2019t quite avoid\u200d the subject of inflation, an old, almost forgotten economic torture that has been\u2063 unleashed in the last few years under Biden\u2019s presidency. But rather than ascribing any\u200d responsibility for the surge in prices to Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-intellectuals-who-started-out-liberal-but-ended-up-conservative\/\" title=\"4 Intellectuals Who Started Out Liberal But Ended Up Conservative\">massive government spending programs<\/a>, especially \u200dthe American Rescue Plan Act, the first\u200b item of legislation that pumped $2 trillion into the economy, Foer echoes the\u200d president \u2064in finding other culprits. The spike in\u2062 oil prices, we are told, was in part at least the \u200cresult of a &#8220;malicious ploy&#8221;\u2064 by the\u200d Saudis to cut oil production in the fall of 2022.\u200c Meanwhile domestic oil companies were &#8220;vindictively \u2026 dumping money into Republican coffers and keeping\u2063 prices artificially high at the\u200c pump.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that Foer\u2064 can\u2019t find much space to explain why, with all this \u2062bipartisan\u200b unity, FDR- \u2063and LBJ-eclipsing \u2062legislative achievement, an economic transformation, and \u200bsuch great wisdom and governing skills, \u2062Biden finds himself so deep in \u200bthe dumps, according \u2064to all opinion polls.<\/p>\n<p>If the book had spent \u2063more time assessing the \u2062reality of Biden\u2019s presidency and the politics that defined it and less trying to portray \u2063this deeply flawed and failing old pol as the national hero without equal, he might have gotten closer to an understanding of \u200bthe reality of the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2064 reality is that Biden had a historic opportunity at the outset of his presidency to unite a fractured nation, \u2062to acknowledge the fragile\u200d margins by which his \u200cparty had \u2064prevailed in the presidency \u200cand the Congress, and pursue a genuinely unifying approach.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, \u2064he \u2064chose \u200cto embrace the most progressive and partisan elements of his own party.<\/p>\n<p>It was\u200b an instinctively\u2062 political decision by a \u2063man\u200b who\u200c has probably done as \u2062much as anyone over the last \u200chalf \u200bcentury\u200d to discredit politicians. Still, it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll be \u2063the last.<\/p>\n<h3>About the Author:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Gerard Baker is editor at large of the<\/em> Wall Street Journal <em>and author of<\/em> American Breakdown: Why We No Longer \u200bTrust Our Leaders and\u200d Institutions and How We Can Rebuild Confidence <em>(Twelve).<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> In what ways does &#8220;The Last Politician&#8221; offer a \u2062biased and hagiographic account of Joe Biden&#8217;s presidency, lacking in critical analysis and \u2064new insights<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Lity to Biden&#8217;s policies or \u200cdecisions, Foer blames it on global supply \u200dchain disruptions and the COVID-19 pandemic, \u2062conveniently ignoring the fact that Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-propose-massive-new-legislative-package-cost-to-be-borne-by-taxpayers\/\" title=\"Biden to propose massive new legislative package, cost to be borne by taxpayers\">massive spending proposals<\/a> and expansionary fiscal policies have exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n<p>In his eagerness to portray Biden as the Last Politician, the savior of America, Foer turns a\u2062 blind eye to the many challenges and controversies that\u2063 have plagued Biden&#8217;s\u200c presidency. From the border crisis, where record numbers of illegal immigrants have surged into the country, to rising crime rates in major cities, to the disastrous handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, the \u200dbook conveniently overlooks or downplays these issues.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most glaring omission in Foer&#8217;s book \u200dis the cognitive decline and \u2062lack of mental \u2063sharpness that Biden has displayed.\u2064 While critics \u2063have raised concerns about his ability to effectively govern, Foer\u2063 brushes this\u2063 aside and instead presents Biden as a wise and strategic leader.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, &#8220;The Last Politician&#8221; is a highly biased and hagiographic account of Joe Biden&#8217;s presidency. It offers little in the way of new insights or critical analysis, instead presenting a rose-tinted view of Biden&#8217;s policies and actions. The book \u200creads more like a campaign pamphlet \u2064than a rigorous examination\u200b of the 46th president&#8217;s\u2064 tenure. While it may find a receptive audience among Biden&#8217;s most ardent \u200bsupporters, those looking for a balanced and objective assessment of \u200dhis presidency will\u200c be sorely\u200d disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In public opinion, politicians now fall in the same category as telemarketers and journalists. Their reputation for dishonesty and deceit has never earned them much admiration. However, over the past decade, as America&#8217;s political and social issues have worsened, the blame has increasingly been placed on Washington, further tarnishing the politician&#8217;s image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1204,"featured_media":2067798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2067797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}