On his 99th day in office, President Biden gave an address to a joint session of Congress albeit to a more sparsely populated room due to COVID restrictions.
Biden's address ran 65 minutes and was a largely a low key affair punctuated by phrases full of passion. Naturally there was talk about how his Administration managed to vaccinate 220 million Americans in less than 100 days along with the passage of the American Rescue Plan. Biden also spoke about the proposed American Jobs Act and the American Families Act. These are the most ambitious plans set out by an American President since LBJ. Of course, it is far from clear whether these proposals will see the light of day with Republicans unable to pronounce the word yes. There were also words about climate change, criminal justice reform, immigration, declaring white supremacy as terrorism, compassion towards transgendered Americans and championing democracy over autocracy.
He did all this in as broad based and respectful way as possible. Biden is truly the anti-Trump.
Alas there were 74 million Americans who voted for Trump and South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott spoke to those Americans in his response to Biden's remarks. Unfortunately, Scott resides in a political universe where facts are at best optional. It is hard to take Scott seriously when he says Georgia is making it easier to vote and harder to cheat when voter fraud is statistically insignificant. It is even more difficult to take Scott seriously when he claimed:
This Administration inherited a tide that had already turned. The coronavirus is on the run! Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump Administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines.
When Biden came into office daily COVID infections were over 100,000 a day while 100,000 Americans were dying every 30 days. There were vaccines but they weren't getting into arms. The Trump Administration didn't even get halfway to its goal of immunizing 40 million Americans by the end of 2020. Biden's pledge of administering 100 million vaccines in 100 days was viewed as a pipe dream in many quarters. As we approach Day 100 of Biden's presidency we are now at 220 million vaccines administered.
Yet we should not underestimate Scott. He has a personable demeanor and could broaden the Republican Party's appeal to the African American community and beyond. But the jury is very much out as to whether the Republican Party would be smart enough to elevate Scott as a presidential candidate. At this point, if Trump wants the GOP nomination then he will get it without batting an eyelash. Although it would be intriguing if Trump selected Scott to be his running mate. Again, whether Trump would be smart enough to do such a thing very much remains to be seen.
But let's say there is a Trump-Scott ticket. If Biden-Harris can deliver on their ambitious agenda and if they are associated with recovery from COVID-19 then they would be an even more formidable pair in 2024 than they were in 2020.
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