Let’s Go, Joe!

Joe Biden wasn’t my first choice of presidents …nor was he my second choice …or third choice …fact is, I have yet to meet anyone who will admit that Mr. Biden was their first choice. And yet, you have to give the old man credit for one thing:  He’s a crafty old codger!

Thanks to the high quality of our intelligence services, Joe Biden was whip-crack full “ON” several months before Russia actually attacked Ukraine. Vladimir Putin made a terminal career mistake that will likely cause that organized crime family calling itself “Russia” to replace him with their next capo di tuti capi (as they have done continuously since Czar Nicholas). Eventually.

Today it’s pretty clear that Mr. Biden, a Cold Warrior with forty-plus years experience dealing with this very same persistent, highly adversarial spoiler, knew exactly what to do with Vladimir Putin, a stone-killer, but he didn’t have any other nations on board. Joe immediately set to work building a highly effective coalition. Today our allies are begging Joe to do what he really wanted to do all along:  Arm Ukraine to the teeth and give them the best real-time intelligence, air reconnaissance, strategic military consultation, and best support available anywhere in the world …oh, and by the way, the Ukrainians have to start cleaning up the legacy corruption in their government, starting right now (as in “immediately right now”). Noice moves, Mr. Joe!

I began this piece by implying that our President is a sly and crafty old coot …and not at all tongue-in-cheek, I stand by that assessment:  Not only is everyone in Europe desperately scrambling to sign on to Mr. Biden’s program, he also caused Ukraine to commit to a real effort to squeeze Trump-style corruption out of their government. Recall that Joe Biden spent decades assigned to various committees addressing corruption in the U.S.S.R. and later, in Ukraine, the birthplace of the American branch of the Russian Mob (Brighton Beach, New York Russian Mob, to be exact …and yes, there is a Trump connection …but that’s another story). Mr. Biden’s experience was hard-won, but he apparently learned his lessons well.

In the same way that the lessons of Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain are almost as relevant today as yhey were then, Joe Biden’s Cold War experience is as relevant today as it ever was. He wasn’t my first choice, but I’m glad we have him now.