While he winds down his presidency navigating the turbulent politics of the 21st century, President Joseph R. Biden is, in most respects, a very traditional president. He is a leader who is extremely respectful of precedent and whose principles and style are influenced by having lived through almost half of the twentieth century.
The great polar opposite of him, his predecessor Donald Trump, is the most extreme president in terms of style and disdain for tradition.
But a paradox was highlighted by Biden’s Wednesday night speech from the Oval Office. Trump stands for continuity in one respect, while Biden stands apart in another. Biden will not be nominated for reelection by his party because of this dilemma as well.
Throughout the majority of the United States’ history, and especially since the early 1900s, the president’s capacity to convey ideas effectively has been a key component of his authority. What this means is that the president has the unique ability to utilise his position in the Oval Office to influence public opinion and shape public opinion through the use of words and images, and to demand the nation’s attention on any subject or event at will. Having a national argument here is the best option.
Based on this specific and essential metric, Trump is the one who followed the historical grain of the United States while he used the presidential pulpit and the craziness and obsession that accompanied him after he stepped down. No matter how many people hate him or are willing to see him return to power, he still occupies a significant portion of the nation’s mind.
The unfortunate outlier was Biden. In essence, he has been an ineffective president.
He has been more successful than any president in the last few decades in carrying out the programmatic duties of his office, which include presiding over expansive legislation and actively utilizing the executive branch’s policymaking instruments.
From the days before television and radio, when most Americans would read about a president’s speech but never heard his voice, to the present, he has been arguably the least effective president in over a century when it comes to the performative aspect of the office — using words to rally supporters, contain opponents, and reframe arguments.
Unless he was giving one of his few monumental inaugural addresses, Joe Biden’s voice was nearly inaudible during his first months un office. (Historian and former journalist Jon Meacham had an impact on several of them.) As he nears the conclusion of his presidency, his voice has become increasingly muted, and more and more of his ideas border on being discursive and confusing.
This is where the paradoxes continue. Throughout his career, Biden has clearly aspired to be renowned as an engaging public speaker, adept at manipulating political rhetoric. During his Oval Office speech, a bust of Robert Kennedy was visible in the backdrop, indicating that he, like most Democrats of his generation, had a profound admiration and desire to emulate the Kennedys. When it came out that he had lifted some of the more eloquent lines from the stump address of British politician Neil Kinnock, his 1987 presidential campaign came to an end.
Throughout his career, he was renowned for his appreciation of his own voice and his refusal to participate in interviews or give impromptu speeches. According to a Democratic operative, there were instances when Biden would address a vacant Senate floor. Because Biden was staring at him, demanding attention and an audience, the one and only leadership aide present could not even move his fingers to reorganize documents or answer his phone.
It makes little difference if Biden’s trembling voice at 81 years old is caused by dangerous age-related decline or something less serious as long as he is unable to hold power. One major shortcoming of his presidency was the chasm.
His address on Wednesday night was widely praised by Biden supporters, even (or perhaps especially by) those who were relieved he relinquished the nomination he had won earlier this year in an almost uncontested battle. Some even went so far as to say that it will help cement Biden’s reputation for years to come.
Even if that’s the case, the same inconsistencies that were evident in the brief Oval Office address will most certainly characterize that legacy. For the sake of party unity and because “nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy” from the threats posed by Trump, he announced that he was withdrawing from the contest for the second term that was justifiable given his first term’s accomplishments.
However, the same person who defeated him in the past election would not pose such a formidable danger to a president who was successful in fighting a national argument and redefining debates to his benefit. Rather than stealing the election, Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi recognize that a Trump victory and a complete takeover of Congress would put him in the best position to weaken democracy.
There were several reminders of the president’s diminished ability to argue, regardless of how much people appreciated Biden’s speech’s words. Despite the use of scripted remarks, there were still instances where the speaker’s pronunciation was off or where sentences were abruptly cut off. Though it warmed up gradually to a more strong finish, the delivery was initially stiff and nearly cotton-mouthed.
“Did we act too quickly to kick him out?” his party haters asked after the show. However, his performance failed to inspire any dread. that would cause average voters to question, “What’s wrong with his advisors?!” Were they trying to protect him from interviews and other unannounced events?
Some saw parallels between Biden and FDR when he was early in his administration passing massive expenditure packages to invest in a post-carbon economy, construct new infrastructure, and stimulate the economy following the epidemic shutdowns. Those feel far away now, despite the fact that Biden accomplished more in his one term as president than many presidents do in two.
During his first run for president, FDR wisely declared, “The presidency is not merely an administrative office.” Biden must have known this. It’s far from the only thing. Whether efficient or not, it’s more than just an engineering job. There is unquestionably moral leadership there. When important national concepts needed clarification, each of our great presidents stepped up as thought leaders.
Attaining this level calls for the whole complement of current presidential powers, not simply half of them.
