In the 1972 film, The Candidate, Robert Redford utters a zinger of a last line. He plays the part of Bill McKay, a far-left California Democrat running for US Senate.
To succeed, as I recall the movie, he must unseat the popular GOP incumbent, and being desperate and so far behind in the polls, McKay/Redford makes promises that are sure to solve every problem in the nation and the world. Finally, after a bruising campaign, he wins, amazing everyone, including himself.
Following all the hurrahs, he has a private moment, and laments, “What do we do now?”
Fast-forward and you wonder if Joe Biden had the same kick in the gut reaction when it dawned on him that he’d won the presidency.
What does he do now, when a lifetime in politics only excelled him in the art of being there?
Too bad for him, and worse for us, that after the shouting it’s time to produce, and it’s time to make good on all those promises.
He must long for the days when talk was enough…and Joe talked all right. Yes, when he becomes president, he’ll fix everything.
“Ask me something easy. Like Afghanistan. I got us out of there, didn’t I?”
Now he is president and he’s fixed nothing and rather than accept responsibility and take action Mr. Can-Do suddenly shifts to, “Who Me? Not my problem.”
Or, as one Hollywood mogul used to say…include me out.
First…how this works…is blame Trump for everything. But that’s gotten old.
What new, and what’s news, is that Joe promised to shut down the virus. He had a plan, and during the campaign, trust me, he said, and as I approximate his comments –
“My plan will succeed where Trump’s failed.”
“Just vote for me and watch” …and now? Now the virus is worse than ever, and whereas for a time he said, “be patient, I’m working on it” … well, something snapped.
Last week, Mr. Trust Me opted for a different approach, saying that the solution is beyond his reach so do not look to him for answers…a watershed switch in leadership.
So, “Tough luck, America. You’re on your own. Figure it out for yourselves, and stop asking pesky questions."
“Did you really expect me to work miracles? Even the Israelis are having a tough time with this, and they split the Red Sea.”
On nearly everything else, Mr. Hands-on has become Mr. Hands-off…and so it goes with his answer for inflation…
“Well, what do you want me to do about it? I only work here, and get off my lawn.”
So too, the terrible spike in crime throughout the nation, happening in mostly Democrat states and cities. Like New York.
“Too bad, but those are regional and local issues, and something should me done. But why ask me? I’m in Delaware most of the time.”
About anti-Semitism sweeping the land…
“Shame. But I leave that in the good hands of Congress to solve.”
Ilhan Omar!
“Ask me something easy. Like Afghanistan. I got us out of there, didn’t I?”
True, but what about the thousands you left behind?
“They didn’t move fast enough to catch the last plane. Not my fault. You snooze, you lose. Next, you’ll be blaming me for the supply chain crisis.”
As a matter of fact…
“Talk to Pete Buttigieg about that, when he’s not on his honeymoon. That’s his department. I’m busy running a country.”
So, what about the border crisis that’s swamping the country. Millions of unknowns are drifting in.
“I gave that over to Kamala to solve that problem, and she did.”
But she didn’t.
“Talk to her, if you can find her, and she’ll explain everything, as only she can. I’m not the person to see about that, or anything else.”
New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.
He wrote the worldwide book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal,” the authoritative newsroom epic, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” followed by his coming-of-age classics, “The Girls of Cincinnati,” and, the Holocaust-to-Montreal memoir, “Escape from Mount Moriah.” For that and his 1960s epic “The Days of the Bitter End,” contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Website: www.jackengelhard.com