Reactionary is Not Leadership

Winston Churchill spoke these words decades ago but never has there been a more perfect example of the meaning than President Joe Biden.

“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities.” ? Winston Churchill

Americans concur in their disappointment with the job performance of Joe Biden after just fifteen months of his term. That is not my opinion. The polling results back that statement. Biden has dipped to 34% in the most recent approval ratings. That is pathetic and almost as low as Congress.

Let me digress for a bit and look at approval ratings. They show that America is not in love, or even like, with our leaders in Washington. Let’s take a look.

Joe Biden 34%

Kamala Harris 32%

Chuck Schumer 26%

Mitch McConnell 20%

Nancy Pelosi 32%

Kevin McCarthy 20%

Pathetic numbers, no matter what scale you put them on. The interesting thing for me is that as bad as the Dems are doing, the Republicans could not be worse. What does that mean? I have no answer for that.

Back to Biden/Harris. There is nothing proactive to this dynamic duo. The only thing they were quick to do was pull the military support out of Afghanistan before the civilians. Oh wait, that did not work out too well, did it.

The speeches given by Biden while he was in Europe may have sounded forceful, but were they? When the White House staff had to jump into action to reverse some of your dramatic moments, you lost technical points and many style points. The Ukrainian people have their homes, towns, and the countryside as they knew it blown to ash. It does nothing to ease their pain to have you proclaim from Poland that you stand with them. So what. It falls flat, as it should.

You can talk about a world of peace and light, but when your next breath says this will be a long battle and painful for all of us, they don’t feel safe and comforted. These people are having their worlds turned upside down. If they ever return, what will they be coming back to? They know the reality is they now have nothing, not even a place to call home, and they are ready to start rebuilding their lives as soon as Putin is neutralized.

These people who remain close to their homes have no food, water, or medicines. This is why a long battle is not an option. When you are hungry and dehydrated, months are not an option. The Russians are in the same predicament. They did not plan on this confrontation going more than a week, so food and fuel are an issue. This constraint may be why they have not pushed further from the border.

As the sanctions tighten the noose around Putin’s neck and his support in Moscow continues to erode, that is when Putin may get desperate. He may see that conventional arms are not getting the job done, and losing is not an option. The world has to watch closely to see if he is preparing chemical or nuclear weapons. If so, all bets are off, and NATO or not, the world will have to come down on him with no mercy.

The insults and name-calling might be Biden trying to bolster his sagging poll numbers. Name-calling will not deter Putin and may force his hand to erratic behavior the world does not need. The world needs decisive leadership at this moment. The staff might not correct a wrong decision as you pull into Delaware for the weekend. We need you to be right the first time, and you have never shown an ability to be on the right side of history. This crisis may not end well for anybody.