Nine stars
I have once again decided to embark on a mission to read a number of books on subjects that will be of great importance to the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Election. This was a great success as I prepared for 2020, with an outcome at the polls (and antics by both candidates up to Inauguration Day) that only a fiction writer might have come up with at the time! Many of these will focus on actors and events intricately involved in the US political system over the last few years, in hopes that I can understand them better and, perhaps, educate others with the power to cast a ballot. I am, as always, open to serious recommendations from anyone who has a book I might like to include in the process.
With the events of July 21, 2024, when Joe Biden chose not to seek re-election, the challenge has become harder to properly reflect the Democratic side. I will do the best I can to properly prepare and offer up books that can explore the Biden Administration, as well as whomever takes the helm into November.
This is Book #14 in my 2024 US Election Preparation Challenge.
With the news on July 21, 2024, Joe Biden not seeking re-election tossed some interesting ideas into the political wing. However, one cannot dismiss the effects that Biden had during his time in the West Wing. Chris Whipple offers up a view of the Biden Administrstion during his first two years in office. In a book that explores the year leading up to the 2020 election through to the end of 2022, Whipple explores the country Biden came to lead and many of the decisions he made during the first half of his term. Willing to look at things through a critical filter—though doing so analytically and not simply whingeing—Whipple provides an interesting look at events, as well as comparing things during the Trump Administration. This is a great book that leaves the reader wondering what the future holds, even with Biden not taking the Democrats to the polls in November 2024.
Chris Whipple makes it clear from the outset that Joe Biden's candidacy in the 2020 presidential campaign was anything but easy. Having served eight years as vice-president, standing aside in 2016, and reemerging in 2020, Biden set his eyes on the Oval Office. While he was on the campaign trail, plans with a transition team (standard for the front-runner, even a year ahead of time) stalled when the Trump White House was scared to admit potential defeat. Whipple explored the difficulties trying to build that bridge, which was exacerbated when President Trump tossed out his election fraud garbage. However, it all came to pass, once the country outwaited the January 6, 2021 tantrum. It was time for Biden to lead and he had a massive agenda to accomplish.
Joe Biden and his administration faced challenges not seen for decades when they took office in January 2021. As Whipple explores each of these, he tries as best he can to explain them through critical eyes and a filter that seeks to analyse, rather than simply point fingers. From a raging COVID-19 pandemic, to economic strains, and even the Afghanistan War, the Biden Administration sought to represent the people effectively and with honour.
Whipple takes on all these issues in a thorough and transparent manner, but there are times that there is nothing but criticism that can be offered. The extraction from Afghanistan was thought to be necessary, especially as the Trump Administrstion riled about the uselessness of America's presence there, but did little. While Biden did remove US troops, the removal was akin to tearing off a bandage without making sure the body could properly heal. That said, as Whipple documents, Afghan leadership became lax and relied heavily on US peacekeeping, which opened Taliban insurgence and a return to theocratic, terrorist rule. Were there disastrous endings in Afghanistan? Most assuredly, but Biden wanted to end the long and drawn out presence, turning into a disaster for him and his military advisors.
Trying to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden had to try untangling the Trump mess and tackle the major issues around vaccinating the public and do so effectively. While many were quick to criticise, Whipple points out that Trump left the county not fully ready to push back against the pandemic. Biden did all he could to make it right, stumbling along the way. There was so much left unknown and yet Biden was painted with the brush of inactivity because thing were not quelled as soon as Biden entered the Oval Office. The attentive and intelligent reader can read between the lines and see that one can only be critical of how they handled what was given to them at the start of the presidency.
Did Biden have some major flaws when it came to economic and environmental issues? Most definitely, but Biden also had to handle what he had on his plate. Cutting costs to keep the country balanced was one thing, but there were many who struggled to deal with their day to day lives. Biden worked hard with Congress to pass needed legislation, proved harder with a razor thin majority in the House and even seat representation in the Senate. Working to juggle various demands, Biden sought to negotiate and cajole, all in an effort to make a difference.
Whipple spends countless moments throughout the book exploring the Russian build-up along the Ukraine border. He explores how Biden and his international counterparts sought to make a difference and tried to read the political tea leaves, hoping not to push the world into World War 3, while also protecting its ally. Biden did not want to conflict, but he was not ready to offer any appeasement and turn away. While Vladimir Putin pushed on and started the war, Biden used all the channels at his disposal that stop things without pushing a nuclear war. That some say Trump could have acted to ensure things never started is futile, as the former president played Monday morning quarterback and spouted his worrisome connection to dictators that might have ended things before they started. This is not the place for Russian collusion talk or Manchurian Candidate potential in 2016, but I guess i just put it out there.
Working with many key advisors and actors, Joe Biden sought to run the country effectively through the first half of his term. Using Vice-President Kamala Harris as an international diplomat, as well as his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Biden did whatever he could to quell international chaos while fighting on the home front. His errors were multiple, but also trying to work with the hand dealt to him, Biden sought to make a difference. Whipple denotes that Biden piled too many 'musts' to accomplish at once and tried to solve them on, leading to various stumbles and delays. As he serves the rest of his term, no longer shackled with having to run for reelection, Biden can try to make things right and prepare to hand things over to another president, someone who will have to take what he did as their basis. One can only hope it will be progress and not regression!
Chris Whipple tackled a great deal in this book, both analysing the Biden Administration and explaining the situation the country found itself when Biden assumed office. There were certainly blunders, as are detailed in the well-documented chapters, but also successes. Whipple illustrates these and tries to offer a well-rounded approach to the book. Using many interviews and public pronouncements, Whipple cobbles together this piece and seeks to present it to the reader. Some may love it, others hate it, but no one can call it sycophancy. That was what I hoped to find as I prepare this challenge. Whipple did just what I hoped and left me wanting to know more.
Kudos, Mr. Whipple, for a thought-provoking piece that will prove intriguing as the second half of the term comes to light.
No comments:
Post a Comment