The new US president may not be an original thinker, a courageous leader, or exude personal magnetism, but are liberal democracies best served by such leaders in times of crisis? In fact, those hoping for a new New Deal in America can take comfort in the precedent of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
NEW YORK – It is easy to underestimate Joe Biden. The new US president has been dismissed by some people on the left as a party hack, a trimmer, a holdover from a corrupt and broken establishment. An article in the conservative journal National Review bore the headline: “Joe Biden: Mediocrity Personified.” It was written by that right-wing admirer of great men, Conrad Black, the former newspaper owner and convicted fraudster.
NEW YORK – It is easy to underestimate Joe Biden. The new US president has been dismissed by some people on the left as a party hack, a trimmer, a holdover from a corrupt and broken establishment. An article in the conservative journal National Review bore the headline: “Joe Biden: Mediocrity Personified.” It was written by that right-wing admirer of great men, Conrad Black, the former newspaper owner and convicted fraudster.