My blog users already know that I hardly ever resist the temptation to add historical perspective to my US news coverage.
You can imagine my interest when I learned that the 46H The president had asked a group of retired historians and historians to speak with him at the White House.
It is still too early to assess the Biden administration’s performance, but after the measures that residents view positively, vaccination and stimulus plan, it is already mired in crisis on the southern border and faces an alarming homicide problem.
Much has been said about the advanced age of the former vice president, when he was 78 years old and became the oldest elected president in his country’s history. However, this venerable era was accompanied by extensive experience, but also with a more keen sense of history or an interest in its heritage.
It’s not impossible that this first term is his only chance to stand out, and since he doesn’t know whether he will be able to preserve the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, he is in a hurry to act. He wants to act quickly and in a purposeful manner and will not hesitate to use force to activate his thoughts.
Using force here means putting pressure on the more conservative Democrats in the Senate, tempering the enthusiasm of the most progressive wing in the House, but also, and above all, reviewing Senate actions to restrict Republicans’ resort to systematic obstruction.
If her intentions are clear enough, why should she summon specialists from the past? If Biden calls Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Mitcham, Michael Pichloss, Michael Eric Dyson, Joan Freeman, Eddie Leather Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, or Walter Isaacson who represent Yale, Princeton, and Harvard, it is because he knows the task at hand. And he would like to draw the similarities.
When we deploy such an arsenal to accelerate vaccination, when we propose a record sum for an economic recovery plan and when we aim to present a historic infrastructure plan, we may also be able to name a few inspiring and respected leaders.
Biden’s main predecessor was Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Franklin Delano Roosevelt). The portrait of a president facing the crisis of the 1930s and World War II denotes respect and strong leadership in the face of adversity. While the FRD has faced powerful opponents and fierce opposition, historians generally support it. As Biden himself claimed, he is not Roosevelt, but …
Whether you’re traveling, covering the news, or on an exercise in judgment, you should always have a historian in your luggage or in your arsenal, because I often enjoy repetition. Biden seems to be sparing a step back and that he intends to make sure that he is not forgotten. In any case, it suffices to say on Thursday, at a press conference, that he intends to run in 2024.