By M. Mike McNair, EdD, Publisher, The Buckeye Review
Guest Column
For all the surveys being touted about so many people not wanting Joe Biden to seek re-election, I point to the same survey’s predicting a red tsunami in the midterms. The surveys were vastly overstated and colossally wrong. No doubt the same junk science is being applied to the surveys that news outlets are using to report most people surveyed do not want Biden to seek re-election. To that and to them I say…read the room. Read the midterm results. And read the successes.
We can be proud when he speaks on the world stage. We are confident he will not embarrass the United States. This is in stark contrast to the unpredictable guffaws of Donald Trump’s appearances.
Trump’s tawdry appearance in Helsinki in 2018 is seared in the international community’s conscience as he cow-towed to the Russian leader and threw the American Intelligence community under the bus. And his giving a pass to American Nazis at Charlottesville VA in 2017 with his “nice people on both sides” quibble was disgraceful. This was long before the extortion of the Ukrainian president for political gain, which led to his first impeachment. But this is not about Trump.
President Biden said America is back two years ago when he was elected. Since then he has been incredibly successful legislatively. Keeping his commitment to build from the middle out rather than the top down has been consistently applied in decisions as well as legislation. Honoring the direction of the nation and uniting NATO and the western coalition has been a safety message that gives comfort to a watching world.
Internationally the globe needs America’s economy to be stable and its direction to be certain. The inflation that is raging is a global issue affecting all economies. So too are the global tensions with Vladimir Putin’s offensive against Ukraine, Xi Jinping’s obvious intentions toward Taiwan, notwithstanding the U.S. leadership and Kim Jong-un’s sabre rattling on the Korean Peninsula. Not to mention Iran and the Middle East.
Domestically, the real Infrastructure bill will have deep and long positive implications in states both red and blue. The American Rescue Plan funds, too, have a wide reach around the nation. Witness the health initiative launched in this edition of the Buckeye Review about the Youngstown Health Department. It will likely be a model for other communities to make health care a priority. Imagine that. Expanded health care amid an international health crisis that is still reverberating through the economy.
Republicans are gladly spending the ARP and Infrastructure Bill funds and taking credit for the flow of cash while they voted against it. Hubris! Then turn around and blame the cash flow for the soaring inflation. Which, by the way, is not true. The inflation Reduction Act, which both reduced the deficit and reduced health care costs for seniors on insulin, was huge.
Due to the tendency to be a little skittish about age, even those close to the president completed understated his recent birthday as he turned 80 years old. But there are many octogenarians functioning at high levels and, if we’re honest, we hope we all can do the same. Obviously, there is a sunset on our vitality and longevity, but his predecessor and the GOP leader is not much younger.
I’m not sure who is saying Biden shouldn’t run, more importantly, why not. The Democratic Party is passing the leadership torch in the House of Representatives to a younger group of leaders. The seniors are not leaving. Their experience and wisdom are valued, needed. In the multitude of counselors, there is safety. But at the helm, clearly America and the world needs a longer tenure of President Joe Biden.
Ed. Note: M. Mike McNair, EdD, is publisher and editor of the Buckeye Review. In 2018 when the Vindicator became extinct, the Review became the valley’s oldest publication, serving the general market of Youngstown-Warren, generally with particular emphasis on the African American community, since 1937.
A former member of the Youngstown Rotary, he has served the valley in multiple roles including, Communications Supervisor for Youngstown City Schools; executive pastor; Founder of 100 Black Men, a mentoring program; relationship coach and clinical counselor.