You Wanna Be Joe Biden?

Okay, so: You want to be Joe Biden? He's going to be president. Wow! Terrific! But I can think of a whole lot of reasons why not.

He's the head of a party that succeeded in only one (though certainly grateful) way: It got a rogue president out of office. But to underline his roguishness, he's decided never to concede and change his mind about leaving non-objectionably, despite losing every single one of his electoral challenges (and he will lose again next Wednesday).

Biden's party, which held an impressive margin in the House of Representatives, had that lead cut into. That means a whole lot of things, none of which will help him accomplish what he's said he wants to do.

His hopes to gain control of the Senate hang by a thread. His party has to go 2-0 in the run-off elections presently taking place in Georgia and decided next Tuesday. Granted, the state pulled off a great upset with its rejection of 45. Can it repeat itself? Without it, Mitch McConnell will slip right back into his all-too-familiar, though mildewing, role of Dr. No to anything the Democrats could possibly want, including federal court appointments and perhaps even some Cabinet positions. He has already promised to be obstructionist.

Whatever 45 has done in terms of ridiculous executive orders, Biden must now undo, including the effects thereof. Lots of administrative positions were never filled; he must now fill them. That will take time. He could be busy at other things.

He must undo bad and untrusting feelings amongst our allies, who are now wary of relying on the U.S. a bit too much. He must deal with a newly unleashed Russia, which has been allowed to ramble pretty much unfettered in its region and has hacked our computer systems something terrible. He must decide whether 45's no-holds-barred support of Israel can be balanced by a consideration of the Palestinian presence any longer. Through support of electric car development, he must draw down the effects of an excessive reliance on fossil fuels from Saudi Arabia, which has become a far more aggressive dictatorship that, as we have seen, will take out unfriendly journalists if it has to.

He must try to restore some negotiating leverage with an Iran that is absolutely furious at the confrontational stance of 45's policies to bring it back to the table. I fail to see how any trust can be renewed.

And what now of North Korea? 45 "fell in love" with Kim Jong Un. The result? A much more expansive nuclear arsenal, including the possibility of reaching the mainland U.S. As with most all of what 45 did, it was all for show. The hard work of negotiation never materialized. North Korea has us where it wants us. The only thing 45 never did was admit it. The only thing he did do was lose leverage.

Biden must climb back into the Paris Accords and try to strengthen them, after four years of running away from climate change. What improvements can be made? Can we sufficiently cooperate with countries who have committed themselves? Can we regain a leadership role?

He must restore, through appointments that may be resisted in the Senate, the depoliticization of the Justice Department so that law rises again above politics. His appointment of an Attorney General, not yet announced, will be crucial. Beyond that, he must direct Cabinet ministers to restore the purpose for which their departments were originally created.

The latter will mean more money. The Republicans will resist.

They have also resisted getting sufficient aid to small businesses and workers who have run short on funds, even though we are in for a long, tough winter in which the coronavirus has been allowed to grow faster than ever. They will try as hard as they can to make Biden look powerless, then swoop down in four years and try to replace him, perhaps with 45 again.

Beyond that, there are all those ridiculous executive orders, made ostensibly because President Obama made a lot of them himself so 45 wanted to make himself look equivalent and a real hotshot. But Obama's were made because of Mitch McConnell's obstinance, not as a mere gesture of untamed power. Many of 45's will have to be undone.

Biden's already trying to put his best foot forward, holding out a hand of cooperation and coordination. Nobody on the other side has moved a muscle in his direction. Everyone waits for Georgia's results.

But the first thing he can do to restore faith in government is a rollout of a decent plan and purposeful direction on vaccinations. We're all dressed up now but nowhere to go. I've been telling people that things will go much faster starting January 21. We're presently at a ridiculous snail's pace. Ten years to finish the job won't cut it. But the outgoing president does little more than play golf.

I wouldn't want to follow such a disaster. Yes, it might be easy to look good. But nobody knows the totality of the mistakes and unethically horrible decisions that have been made; journalists will be busy revealing the damage. The books that were written were revelatory, but plenty of people still haven't talked. Some of it will still attach to Biden the way the recovery attached to 45, who didn't deserve it. People's memories are short and very selective.

But most difficult of all will be to convince 74 million people who are still oddly angry, still in a world of their own, still listening to nonsense, that it's time to come in from the wilderness and get real again. That's a mindset that will be central to the coming struggle.

I wish Joe Biden a Happy New Year. I hope it is filled with accomplishments. But I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. One day closer to a vaccine. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark