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Opinion>Campaign
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
JOE BIDEN IS NO GEORGE WASHINGTON, AND VALLEY FORGE PROVED IT
by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 01/06/24 10:30 AM ET
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by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 01/06/24 10:30 AM ET
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Biden condemns Trump, Jan. 6 uprising in speech on democracy
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“This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.”
That line, from the speech of President Joe Biden at Valley Forge this week, may
have been the most accurate observation in the entire address kicking off
Biden’s 2024 campaign.
The speech was a masterpiece of contradiction. Biden started by denouncing how
Donald Trump’s campaign is only “about him” and “obsessed with the past.” He
then spent virtually all of the speech obsessing about Trump and Jan. 6, 2021.
It was an early indication of the Orwellian character of the speech. Facing
the lowest polling numbers of any modern president, Biden attempted a
constructive substitution. “Democracy is on the ballot,” he said. So voters do
not have to vote for him. When they see Biden, they should just read
“democracy.”
That will require more than an act of substitution in the voting booth. It would
require an act of willful blindness.
Biden spoke of how Democrats are fighting to protect the “right to
vote.” Democratic activists and officials across the country are seeking to
remove Trump from the ballot even though he is the most popular choice for the
presidency right now.
In fact, dozens of Democratic officials have sought to remove 126 Republicans
from Congress on the same basis. Even as Biden was telling citizens to vote
Democrat to preserve democracy, a Democratic activist was seeking to remove a
GOP congressman from the ballot in a nearby Pennsylvania district.
Biden’s speech would be more credible if he had joined principled Democratic
politicians who have denounced this nationwide effort. As usual, he has remained
silent as he did on court packing in the last election.
It would also have been a tad more convincing if his party were not preventing
citizens from voting for anyone other than Biden in the primary. Florida called
its Democratic primary for Biden and blocked opposing candidates,
despite two-thirds of Democrats wanting an alternative to Biden. Faced with such
polling numbers, the party establishment is so committed to democracy that it
has decided voters cannot be trusted with a choice. North Carolina’s Democrats
became the latest to bar anyone but Biden from the ballot.
Democratic officials are approaching democracy the way Henry Ford responded to
calls for different color choices for the Model T. He pledged to provide “any
color the customer wants, as long as it’s black.” In this election, voters can
choose anyone they want, as long as it is Biden.
For millions of voters, democracy may be on the ballot but it is aspirational.
If you vote for Biden, you might just get democracy back, but only after the
election.
Even more galling was Biden’s claim to be the defender of free speech. As I have
previously written, Biden has been the most anti-free speech president since
John Adams. His administration has been unrelenting in pushing for censorship
and blacklisting of those with opposing views.
The Biden censorship efforts have been described by one federal court as
unprecedented in our history and a virtual “Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’” The
Biden Administration has called for the censorship of even true statements that
it deems misleading.
For Biden to run on free speech is about as convincing as Bill Clinton running
on abstinence.
Biden hopes that voters will buy the “don’t vote for me, vote for democracy”
line. However, it does not appear to be working thus far. Indeed, the Valley
Forge speech was another example of “the sound of one hand clapping” with the
same 40 percent or so that is clinging to Biden in the polls.
This time, however, he dropped the hellish red back drop from Philadelphia in
2022, when he denounced Trump supporters as enemies of the people. Instead, he
did everything he could to channel the spirit of George Washington, short of
appearing in a Continental uniform.
Of course, Washington was a unifying figure in his time. He did not declare all
Tories to be traitors. Many Tories and former loyalists would ultimately join
his cause. Biden portrayed the 74 million voters for Trump as virtual redcoats
seeking the return of the monarchy.
The key to Washington’s success is that he was at Valley Forge. He lived through
the deprivations imposed upon his men and defended democracy by refusing
invitations to become a monarch. If Biden wants to assume the mantle of a
Washington, he could start by supporting democracy, practicing it in both the
primary and in general election by calling for voters to be given their choice
of candidates.
Given his record, Biden’s effort to disguise himself as George Washington left
him looking foolish in a uniform two sizes too big for his stature.
Biden has a consistent record of only supporting principles and positions that
bring political benefits. While James Freeman Clarke once said that statesmen
think of the next generation, Biden seems rarely to have thought beyond the next
election.
Moreover, Biden’s effort to champion the Constitution was contradicted by a long
line of decisions finding that he has violated the Constitution with impunity.
This includes rulings that his administration has exceeded his authority and
engaged in racial discrimination in federal programs. Indeed, Biden has often
displayed a cavalier attitude toward such violations.
For example, the Biden administration was found to have violated the
Constitution in its imposition of a nationwide eviction moratorium through the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Biden admitted that his White
House counsel and most legal experts told him the move was unconstitutional. But
he ignored their advice and went with that of Harvard University Professor
Laurence Tribe, the one person who would tell him what he wanted to hear. It
was, of course, then quickly found to be unconstitutional.
Biden showed the same disregard over the unconstitutionality of his effort to
unilaterally forgive roughly half a trillion dollars in student debt.
Biden rarely allows principle to stand before politics.
That is why Biden is no Washington. It is not even clear that Biden makes a
convincing Biden. His checkered history of violating the Constitution has left
little real notion of what he values beyond the politically expedient.
The tragedy of Biden is not that he has not reached the heights of Washington.
Few ever have. The tragedy is that we may never know if Biden could rise to meet
his own Valley Forge challenge.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest
Law at George Washington University Law School.
Tags George Washington Joe Biden
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