Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I blame Obama.
According to people who didn’t pay attention in sixth-grade civics class, the president apparently is responsible for everything. And, if you’re under 40, then you know Barack Obama was the worst president in history (Unless you count Ronald “Racist” Reagan, George “Crack Desk” Bush, Bill “The Mass Incarcerater” Clinton, George “The Dumb One” Bush or Donald “More Racist” Trump).
Sure, President Obama singlehandedly solved the Great Recession, killed Osama Bin Laden, created the lowest rate of uninsured Americans in history and helped the Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years, but he also had his faults. He wore tan suits, failed to stop the Earth’s climate from changing and allowed the Falcons to blow a 19-point fourth-quarter lead in the Super Bowl. Plus, he didn’t do anything for Black people. Sure, none of the 43 previous presidents did anything for Black people but, for some reason, Obama failed to reverse 232 years of constitutionally enshrined, politically fueled, American-style racism.
Now it’s Joe Biden’s turn.
While anyone who learned about checks, balances and the three branches of government might take issue with this assessment, any Fox News host will explain how Biden caused every negative thing in the world. If you believe Republicans, the Biden administration is responsible for gas prices, Putin’s mental instability and brave police officers being blamed for unarmed Black people’s inability to dodge bullets.
Whether or not you support Biden, you need to understand how he has failed the American people. So we decided to list Biden’s biggest failures in order of importance.
10. Bipartisanship
What happened to reaching across the aisle?
Shortly after GOP party leaders decided to let people in Democrat-run states die of coronavirus, gerrymandered election maps in favor of the GOP and pleaded for Republican state legislatures to challenge election results, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called out Biden for not seeking bipartisan solutions.
When Democrats threatened to pass voting rights legislation and the infrastructure deal with a simple majority, Biden’s party was invoking the same nuclear option Republicans used during the Trump administration. To be fair, Republicans only used it during the Senate confirmation process because Democrats filibustered more nominees by any president in recent history. Also, to be fair, they were trying to stop Trump’s unqualified, right-wing nominees like a secretary of education who never attended a public school, a housing and urban development secretary who never worked in housing or urban development and more “unqualified” judicial appointments than any other president.
Calling Joe Biden out for being partisan is like Kanye calling out Tevin Campbell for being stalkerish.
Can we talk?
9. The Children
Since Joe Biden became president, schools have closed, white kids are being attacked by critical race theory and more and more kids are falling for the “gay agenda.” He doesn’t care about the rights of parents whose religious convictions tell them to discriminate. He rejects the advice of pediatric medical experts like Joe Rogan and Rand Paul. He has marginalized fake historians and patriots who love Confederate traitors in favor of schools teaching historical truths.
Everyone knows children can’t learn with their faces covered. And, do you want your children using the bathroom and running track with trans people? Who will think of the children?*
*This question does not include the non-white children who feel bad because their history is ignored, trans children who face discrimination and children who don’t want to catch COVID.
8. Voting
Joe Biden stole the presidency.
In December 2021, more than a year after the 2020 election, 71 percent of Republicans believed Joe Biden was not legitimately elected president, according to University of Massachusetts polling data. The fact that more people voted for Biden than any president in history means nothing. The Constitution means nothing. The Electoral College is fake.
Yet somehow, the people who believe Joe Biden can rig an election and leave no evidence of widespread voter fraud also believe that Black people don’t face voter suppression. Joe Biden cheated his way into the White House by allowing rigged machines, mail-in ballots and white voter suppression. Meanwhile, he rails against election integrity laws that make it harder for Black people to vote.
Where’s the equality?
7. Crime
Why has crime spiked under Biden?
Sociologists and criminologists would say that, since crime is a socio-economic phenomenon, it may have something to do with the COVID-induced economic problems. The conventional wisdom is that Biden’s anti-cop agenda has neutered police, making them reluctant to do their jobs and causing a rise in the crime rate. Even though the federal government has little input on local policing and we know that police don’t actually stop crime, it’s still Biden’s fault.
Aside from police unions, local police chiefs, the economy, the rise in unemployment, the defunding of social programs, closed schools, state legislators, lack of gun control, drug policy, the American education system, disproportionately white police forces and the entire approach to policing, who else could we blame?
Wait…did “conventional wisdom” just say that our brave police officers are too scared to do their jobs?
6. Ukraine
Biden is weak on Russia, which gave Vladimir Putin the confidence to invade Ukraine.
Sure this is Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine. Sure, Putin has been planning this since before Biden took office. Sure, that second Trump impeachment happened after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Trump to say: “Russia is gonna invade us if we don’t get that military aid.” Sure, Putin was probably emboldened by the international community not doing anything when Russia interfered in a certain country’s 2016 election. Sure, the Ukraine-Russia conflict dates back to colonialism and Katherine the Great. Sure Putin is an authoritarian dictator who does what authoritarian dictators do.
But if Biden would’ve just done more things that no one has specifically enunciated, none of this would have happened.
5. The Economy
Here are three ways Biden ruined the economy:
- Gas prices: Biden could have easily lowered the price of crude oil for the 81 percent of crude oil not produced in the U.S. and solved the international gas crisis that is going on in countries around the globe.
- Inflation: Inflation is a very complex issue that can’t be explained in a single paragraph. Like other presidents and world leaders throughout history, Biden hasn’t been able to unilaterally control the supply chain, pricing and blatant profiteering of major corporations and private businesses.
- Unemployment: Remember when Biden tried to pass the Build Back Better deal that would have given money to small businesses struggling during COVID, expanded the Child Care Tax Credit, helped working mothers with child care and offered two free years of community college? Many of those businesses closed, many mothers can’t afford to work and pay for child care, and companies are scrambling to find skilled workers. If only someone would have thought of that.
4. The Coronavirus
Joe Biden didn’t create COVID and neither did Trump.
All Biden did was pay more attention to science and facts than his predecessor. He didn’t suggest alternative cures like hydroxychloroquine, springtime and bleach. He didn’t hold superspreaders events. He didn’t hold rambling daily briefings where he beefed with mayors and governors about how masks weren’t cute.
And yes, Biden deserves criticism. He fumbled the ball in a lot of areas when handling this unprecedented pandemic.
“Unprecedented” means…
Never mind.
3. Freedoms
If there’s one thing Republicans love, it’s “freedoms.”
Back when America was great, a red-blooded American male could walk around spreading hate, conspiracy theories and deadly viruses. But under Biden’s new “woke” agenda, everyone is racist, homophobic or a bigot.
When will he stop restricting the First Amendment rights of free speech advocates like Joe Rogan and Dave Chappelle, who didn’t lose any money, contracts or audience size when they were “canceled?” Why is the Biden administration pushing this vaccination agenda like every other administration? Why can’t we exhale COVID droplets, baseless lies and racial epithets like our forefathers?
Why won’t he shut up about the fact that racists, liars and anti-vaxxers won’t shut up
2. White Jesus
Joe Biden hates Jesus.
“Biden has made it clear that he intends to weaponize the law to crush dissent, in order to implement a far-left agenda,” said Kristen Waggoner, a white lady who works for an organization that impacts white people. “That impacts not just people of faith, but all Americans who want to live life according to their convictions. The government can’t engage in religious bigotry…The government should not single out and punish those who believe that the best home for a child includes a married father and a mother.”
Before Joe Biden, America was a place where religious freedom was important. And by “religious freedom,” I mean the version of Christianity that is acceptable to a white man who is married to a white woman and has sex in the missionary position with the lights off, the way God intended.
Now God is exacting his revenge on Joe Biden for promoting the radical agenda that includes LGBTQ rights, multiculturalism, non-Christian religion, abortion and allowing people to believe that their lives matter.
God doesn’t like ugly but he hates happiness, equality and love.
To be fair, Republicans think happiness, equality and (especially) love equals “mouth stuff.”
1. Race Relations
America is not a racist country.
Joe Biden just loves playing the race card, identity politics and race-baiting. His divisive agenda has fractured the country along racial lines that were erased by Barack Obama’s presidency. He has demonized white people, the police and made Black leftists want handouts.
Joe Biden did not shoot Breonna Taylor. He didn’t shoot Ahmaud Arbery or kneel on George Floyd’s neck. He didn’t go to Waukesha, Wisc., with a loaded long gun nor did he create the wealth gap. He does not fund Black schools or police Black neighborhoods. He didn’t build the school-to-prison pipeline, the credit rating system or the “Democratic plantation.” He doesn’t shoot Black people in the face, reject their employment applications, erase their history, steal their votes, redline their neighborhoods or call the police on their children.
He isn’t particularly charismatic, smart or astute. He has probably done and said some racist words. I do not think he is evil, and I don’t think he’s in my top 10 favorite presidents. No one loves Joe Biden.
He’s a political tool. He is like a hammer or a pair of needle-nosed pliers or a white man who people voted for because he wasn’t Trump. That’s right, Joe Biden is just a man.
Thanks, Obama.
Michael Harriot is a writer, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His book, Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America, will be released in 2022.
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