Biden delivers an audacious address to Congress

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President Biden delivered his first address to Congress last night, and he didn't shy away from proposing bold solutions to a range of national problems. What came across loud and clear is that Biden is an old-school Democrat, who came of age when liberal policies were deeply tied to old-fashioned, can-do American optimism. He exudes that zeitgeist genuinely and astutely, without ceding flag-waving patriotism to Republicans, or solidarity with the working and middle classes to the far left. This may prove effective for him. After all, it's difficult to argue that we don’t face significant, long-standing challenges, and the less ideological among us are simply tired of inaction. Biden will have his work cut out for him with congressional Republicans and Democratic moderates, especially with his more ambitious (and expensive) plans. But Americans may be inclined to cut Biden slack if they see results. In any case, it looks like rumors of a Biden "caretaker presidency" were greatly
exaggerated. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** 'That's all I’m asking...that we do our part'
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The overriding message of President Biden's first address to Congress was that, together, Americans can do anything. As he spoke last night of the nation's slow but sure emergence from the coronavirus pandemic, he repeatedly gave credit for it to lawmakers of both parties and Americans at large for stepping up at a time of crisis. He now hopes to harness the same energy to address a host of other ills, some of which were laid bare by the pandemic. ([link removed])
* — Big government is back. The speech highlighted Biden's fundamental belief in the power of government as a force for good. He couched a series of domestic proposals—the $2 trillion American Families Plan, which would dramatically widen the social safety net—in common-sense language. "Doing nothing is not an option," he said. ([link removed])
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* — Jobs, jobs, jobs. To soften the blow to Republicans and even some members of his own party, Biden hammered home that his ambitious plans would put Americans to work. Seizing on his own roots and appealing to the working class, he spoke of a "blue-collar blueprint to build America" that would help the U.S. compete globally in the 21st century. ([link removed])
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* — It's a matter of democracy vs. autocracy. Ultimately, Biden argued, when America succeeds, democracy succeeds. "America's adversaries—the autocrats of the world—are betting it can't," he said. "They believe we are too full of anger and division and rage. They look at the images of the mob that assaulted this Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy. They are wrong. And we have to prove them wrong." —Associated Press ([link removed])

MORE: 'America is not a racist country': Sen. Tim Scott delivers GOP response —Politico ([link removed])


** Douthat: The GOP could use a new faction
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"Republicans running for the Senate (or the House, for that matter) could find in the Common Good Caucus a distinct identity in a primary campaign, a ready-made agenda to run on in the general election, and a built-in set of allies waiting in Washington if they win. In a legislative environment where many congresspeople seem to feel impotent and bored, a factional identity promises more interest, influence, and agency—especially for politicians who prefer the hope of actually legislating to the chance of becoming the next Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene." —Ross Douthat in ([link removed]) The New York Times ([link removed])

Ross Douthat is a writer and an opinion columnist at
The New York Times.

MORE: The Trump-rejecting Florida Republican who has a plan to fix the GOP —Politico ([link removed])


** Florida-Georgia line
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Taking the lead from its northern neighbor, Florida's House of Representatives has passed a bill that would impose a raft of new voting restrictions, similar to Georgia's, in the Sunshine State. Democrats have denounced the legislation as overly stringent and unnecessary, and Republicans argue that it installs necessary "guardrails" for securing elections, despite their acknowledgment that the state's election last year had been a "gold standard" without fraud. The legislation now faces a final vote in the full Senate before it heads to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it. —The New York Times ([link removed])


** 'The business model is addiction'
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A Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing this week offered hope of a way forward on social media echo chambers and the ways that content-pumping algorithms are reshaping human behavior—and not for the better. Policy leads at Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter testified, and Subcommittee Chair Chris Coons took a cooperative approach, observing that algorithms drive innovation but that their dark side comes with a cost. The hearing highlighted areas of agreement that could raise the chances of a tech reform bill passing the Senate, and Coons expressed optimism that a "broadly bipartisan solution" could be reached. —Yahoo! ([link removed])
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** Boot: Adopting Russia's worst tactics
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"The Kremlin strategy is not so much to make people believe its individual lies as to make them doubt the very possibility of truth. As the old saying goes: In a world where nothing is true, everything is permitted. Russia brought this nihilistic mind-set to its covert efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 and 2020 elections in Donald Trump's favor. But the American right, which was effectively allied with the Kremlin in both campaigns, has so successfully internalized the secret of Russian disinformation operations that it no longer requires much—if any—help from Vladimir Putin." —Max Boot in The Washington Post ([link removed])

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MORE: Russia, China sow disinformation to undermine trust in Western vaccines, EU report says —KFGO ([link removed])


** Focus on law and order
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A federal grand jury indicted three White men on hate-crime and attempted kidnapping charges yesterday in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. Travis McMichael; his father, Gregory McMichael, a former police detective; and William "Roddie" Bryan are already awaiting trial on murder charges, accused of confronting and killing Arbery, a Black man, as he was jogging in a Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood last year. The case went months without arrests until a video of the shooting went viral, drawing condemnations and comparisons to a lynching. —The Washington Post ([link removed])
* — More charges in Michigan. Federal prosecutors unveiled new charges yesterday against three men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year. Barry Croft, Adam Fox, and Daniel Joseph Harris were charged with knowingly conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, in addition to the federal kidnapping conspiracy charges that were announced against them in October. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — Guilty as charged. Brendan Hunt, a Trump supporter who called for killing members of Congress following the Jan. 6 insurrection, was found guilty yesterday of making a death threat against elected officials. The jury found that comments Hunt made in a video posted two days after the U.S. Capitol riot was a genuine threat to murder lawmakers. He faces up to 10 years in prison. —The Washington Post ([link removed])
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* — Learning his lesson. Seth Andrew, a former senior adviser in the Obama Administration, was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he stole more than $200,000 from a network of charter schools that he founded and used the money toward the purchase of a $2 million apartment, federal prosecutors say. Andrew is charged with one count each of wire fraud, money laundering, and making a false statement to a bank. —The New York Times ([link removed])

MORE: Biden nominee for Pentagon weapons buyer under investigation —Defense One ([link removed])


** Bump: Where are the consequences?
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"[Sen. Josh] Hawley both contributed to the anger of the crowd on Jan. 6, including by giving them a fist-pump of support that morning, and then tried to formally enact their will later that evening. The price Hawley paid for this? He had a book deal canceled—and then picked up by another publisher. He raised a ton of money in the first quarter...and basked in praise at the Conservative Political Action Conference." —Philip Bump in The Washington Post ([link removed])

Philip Bump is a national correspondent for The Washington Post.

MORE: Michael McGough: Don't let Republicans play the 'whatabout' game with a Jan. 6 probe —Los Angeles Times ([link removed])

Faced with the prospect of continued executive dysfunction, threats to our Constitutional system, and the unchecked menace of our nation's rivals, many of us held our noses and voted for Joe Biden in 2020. That's not at all the same thing as being optimistic about how this new administration would govern; it was just about getting rid of one very serious set of problems by trading them for a different, but maybe just as serious, set for a while.

And so far, the Biden Administration has been predictable, in many of the wrong ways. Okay, pretty good on the pandemic; but this has not been a president for all Americans—not at all. Let's not confuse being not-Trump with being good for the country! There is still so much to be done in order to achieve the thoughtful conservative policy reset that America so desperately needs. —Paul G., Utah
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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