What’s Up, Joe? I Thought I Knew Ye…

President Joe Biden gave one of the most gripping State of the Union presentations back in February that I’ve ever witnessed—and I’m not a fan of the venue. But they finally caught the key to Joe; drop the teleprompter and let him speak extemporaneously. With nothing more than subject-notes, he hit home-run after home-run, bringing both sides of a divided house to their feet. He was obviously having a great time, and I was as well.

Since then, he

• lowered the costs of families' everyday expenses,

• has more people working than ever in American history,

• is producing more in America with union wages,

• rescued a shattered economy,

• changed the course of the pandemic,

• began to rebuild our infrastructure,

• presided over an historic expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed Veterans,

• passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package,

• boosted the IRS budget by nearly $80 billion to reduce tax evasion and increase revenue,

• created more jobs in one year (6.6 million) than any other president in U.S. history,

• halted all federal executions after Trump had vigorously reinstated them, and

• is only 3 years older than Trump, plus (drum-roll) is not a fascist.

But Joe, what’s been going on with you lately?

In 2019 Biden said he would not sell weapons to the Saudis, stressing that he would make them “pay the price” for their killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. “I would make it very clear we were not going to sell more weapons to them. We are going to make them pay the price and make them the pariah that they are.” He said further that there is “very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia,” and, in reference to Yemen, said he would “end the sale of material to the Saudis where they’re going in and murdering children.”

Ah well, that was then and now is now.

The only thing that hasn’t changed is Saudi. For some reason, unknown to me, Joe is now an apparently close buddy to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But (according to the Associated Press) ‘concerns about human rights eventually were eclipsed by other factors, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the volatile oil market after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and recognition by the Biden administration that the crown prince will likely be an important voice of one of the Middle East’s most important countries for years to come.’

And so, there you go. Damn those ‘eclipsing other factors’ that force us to provide weapons that kill children in Yemen.

But Israel is another thing, right Joe?

Well, maybe yes, maybe no.

Two weeks ago, Joe Biden said he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that occupying Gaza would be “a big mistake” and that the two-state solution was the only way to bring an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. “I made it clear to the Israelis I think it’s a big mistake for them to think they’re going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza,” Biden told a news conference in San Francisco. “I don’t think that works.”

(VOX) President Joe Biden announced from the Oval Office that he would seek “an unprecedented support package for Israel’s defense” of $14.3 billion. “We’re surging additional military assistance,” he added.

Surging, I guess, is among the moral choices wars demand, at least in failed America wars

We surged in Vietnam, again in Iraq and many times across 20 years of war in Afghanistan. In all three cases, we ended up surging our own troops onto evacuation helicopters, our former local aides hanging off the landing gear, sure to be killed off when we left.

But getting back to Israel, killing children in Gaza is so much different than killing children in Yemen and Ukraine. You have to keep current. Yemen and Ukraine are old news and Gaza has the world’s total attention right now. At the very least, that’s true unless China attacks Taiwan. Then, all bets are off.

Although there are differences, if one cares to look.

• Ukraine is an independent country that told its Russian invader that it’s not welcome, thank you very much. It is, perhaps, the bravest thing I have seen in a very long lifetime,

• Saudi is backing the Yemen government in a civil war because it wants no part of insurgents that close to home, and

• Israel, answering a Hamas attack on its territory, isresponding with a revenge killing in Palestine.

That’s always the historic result when nations go to war. Civilians bear the brunt of the consequences, and it’s also their children who die.

But it’s Joe Biden that has an election coming up.

Sorry Joe, I thought I knew ye.

Apparently, as Bogart explained so well in Casablanca, “I was misinformed.”