Mistakes Will Be Made: Saturday Political Soap Box 276

 When I voted for Biden to become President and the reign of Trump, I did not expect perfection.  I believed that Biden was a good man who would work hard for the American people.  I did not expect a flawless administration.  I did not expect everything to be puppy dogs and ponytails.  I did not expect him to fart rainbows and wave a magic wand that evaporates all our problems.

I did expect us to move away from the vile and contemptible Trump years, where every morning, I dreaded looking at the news for fear of what horrible thing had happened.  Day after day, his words and actions ate at the base of democracy and decency that is supposed to identify us as the greatest nation on Earth.  And no matter what he said or did, no matter how much his actions hurt them, I was surrounded by people who would not wake up to his madness.

I was hoping for a return to normalcy.  I prayed for the reestablishment of democratic norms and civil disagreements.  And that I believe Biden has delivered on.

Biden ended our 20-year fiasco in Afghanistan.  No one was ever going to "win" that conflict.  It was unwinnable.  The country is unconquerable, as others throughout history have found out. Even Trump wanted us out, even though he didn't have the stones or planning skills to actually do it.

President Biden held firm and completed the withdrawal.  Parts of it were not pretty.  Parts of it went wrong.  But overall, we evacuated more people out in as short of time as had ever been done before, well over 100,000. Yes, the Taliban took over more quickly than some anticipated, and there were some terrible visuals.  But we did get out.  We did end our military involvement.

Drone strikes have always been more inaccurate than portrayed in the media.  This has been true of whichever administration is using them.  Sometimes they work as they should.  Sometimes they go awry.  I don't like that.  You don't like that. 

Domestically, Biden has surprised me by being a bit more progressive than I thought he was.  The legislation that has passed, and what he has proposed are significant and needed changes and investments.  But he has also waffled on eliminating the filibuster, and whether reality or perception, he has let Joe Manchin take too much control of things.

I wish he would do more to reduce student loan debt.  I wish he would endorse Medicare For All. I would have hoped that Vice President Harris was given a more prominent role (although that may just be the usual ignoring that the media does of any Vice President).

The Delta Variant has caused havoc and death in America. But I am hard-pressed to blame the President for the immature and selfish actions of the unvaccinated (primarily led and cheered on by media and politicians of the far right).

Speaking of the far-right, it is deeply saddening that Trump may be out, but Trumpism is still alive, a disease still eating away at this country's soul.

Overall, though, I am grateful that we can argue over issues now instead of whether or not we will continue democracy or persecute those who we perceive as "the other."  

Yes, mistakes have been made.  And more mistakes will be made.  But at least now, they are the common flaws we see in all men of goodwill.

May we continue in that direction.