Cock-of-the-Walk

Given the daunting stew of troubles he faced when he was sworn in, I think Pres. Joe Biden has done a pretty decent job. Bearing in mind the chaos that his predecessor at the White House left behind, as he made his exit on January 20, 2021, in my estimation Joe Biden's job performance merits a B-. 

My biggest single complaint stems from ineffectiveness of the administration's messaging, at times; the same goes for the Democratic Party, too. After all, it took persistence and skill to craft some praiseworthy, problem-solving bills and then get them passed though Congress. At times during the last 21 months Democrats in D.C. have done a rather lame job of selling the value of their accomplishments.  

Still, isn't a lot of the noisy criticism from the right being directed toward Biden's job performance pinned to his political party affiliation? Beyond that factor, doesn't much of the MAGA Republicans' hate for Biden have to do with his consistently optimistic, rather civil style? 

Owing to their rhetoric, the Trumpists appear to view civility as weakness. Fortunately, Joe has seemed hip enough to know that most of his supporters really don't want to see him acting like a preening cock-of-the-walk. Still, down through history, plenty of politicians in both parties have exhibited too much cockiness, at times. 

However, in this piece I'm looking at trends during the last 42 years. Since 1980, the two least cocky acting presidents both lost their reelection bids. Pres. Jimmy Carter, who lost in 1980, certainly wasn't cocky. It just wasn't his natural style, although I don't think he lacked any confidence. 

In cockiness, the contrast between Carter, the Democrat, and the 1980 Republican presidential candidate who defeated him, Ronald Reagan, was extreme. By the way the other one-term president in the last 42 years was George H.W. Bush, who followed Reagan and then lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton, maybe the cockiest acting Democrat of the last four decades. 

As America's commander in chief for eight years, Ronald Reagan was about as cocky as custom would allow in the 1980s. Back then he often reminded me of the distinctive way heroic characters carried themselves in the USA's late-'30/early-'40s action movies -- think of the young versions of Clark Gable or Errol Flynn, etc. Anyway, Reagan was a popular two-term president. His legions of admirers seemed charmed by his signature warmed-over, black-and-white movie swagger. 

Then Donald Trump came along to set a new standard for acting cocky. And, too many of his followers seem to like to imitate his style. That has made the style contrast between the two parties more stark than ever. 

Consequently, in 2022, MAGA Republicans apparently like to cast Biden, style-wise, as a socialist wimp who's afraid to dish out cruelty, merely for fun. Remember, as talk-show wags like to say about MAGA world, "cruelty is the point."

To wind up this mini-rant about toxic cockiness, I'll cut to the chase: There's just no point in reaching out to any strongman-worshiping MAGA Republicans. For the time being, it's plain they are irredeemable. With two-and-a-half weeks until election day, Democrats should focus entirely on getting out the vote efforts. 

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