In two recent columns, George Will, the conservative Washington Post writer, looked at politics in advance of today’s midterm elections and correctly found much of it lacking.
Will has a gift for making fine points with his wry sense of humor, such as this observation on Nov. 4: “Twenty-six days before Election Day, the last pre-election inflation numbers showed that government-made inflation, which the Biden administration 18 months ago called “transitory,” is like all “temporary” government programs: long-lived.”
He noted that this summer, the typical household was spending $460 a month more than it did a year ago for the same set of purchases. How, he wondered, could Democrats have overlooked the pain that rising prices would cause them at election time?
“It was always fanciful for Democrats to think that, although tens of millions of Americans supported overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion rights could be a more politically potent issue than inflation, which infuriates everyone,” Will wrote.
His disdain covers both sides of the aisle. Will said that if Herschel Walker, with his character flaws completely exposed, wins Georgia’s U.S. Senate election or forces the incumbent, Raphael Warnock, into a runoff, “we will know 2022 is Year 6 PAHT.”
That stands for Post-Access Hollywood Tape, and it refers to the recording of Donald Trump that became public a few weeks before the 2016 election, in which the future president made derogatory comments about grabbing women — and still got elected.
“That tape did not derail its vulgarian star, and a Walker victory will indicate that blinkered partisanship now obliterates all other concerns, including character,” Will added.
If, as seems almost certain, Republicans regain enough seats today to become the majority in the House of Representatives, Joe Biden will be the fifth consecutive president to lose control of the House in a midterm election, going all the way back to Bill Clinton.
This track record says two things: A lot of voters have been changing their minds regularly. And both parties in Washington are giving them reasons to do it.
This year, only the most ardent partisan could make a case for keeping the House in Democratic control. The president has been a strong defender of Ukraine and has done a good job of improving global alliances. But he and his party over-borrowed for covid-19 relief, and Biden single-handedly made the constitutionally questionable call to forgive billions of dollars in student loans.
Democrats also have presided over the most painful price increases in 40 years, which, as Will wrote, really does infuriate everyone.
Will believes Biden should have kept his 2020 promise to be a bridge president instead of giving in to the most extreme impulses of the Democratic progressive wing. In his Nov. 2 column, he said Biden is too old to seek a second term, and that Vice President Kamala Harris is not qualified to succeed him.
Such criticism is not limited to Democrats. Republicans face a similar decision in two years.
“In 2024, the Republican Party might present the nation with a presidential nominee whose unfitness has been demonstrated,” Will wrote. “After next Tuesday’s sobering election results, Democrats should resolve not to insult and imperil the nation by doing likewise.”
Will is correct. America faces many challenges, and to meet them, the public needs to move on from both Biden and Trump, who will be 82 and 78, respectively, in 2024. Our country, blinkered partisanship and all, would be far better served by two different candidates.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
