“Managing the presidency as a political pawn isn’t an option and neither is political passiveness.” John Johnson II, 03/12/24
By John Johnson II
The job of America’s president is becoming more demanding and conflicted. Former president Lincoln won the Civil War, ended slavery, and saved the Union. Former president Franklin D. Roosevelt navigated this nation through the great depression and achieved a World War II victory. These weren’t simple feats. President Biden faces yet a slate of even more existential problems. How can he avoid becoming a political pawn, save our democracy, and win the 2024 presidential election?
Biden must avoid becoming a political pawn before he can accomplish the other items on his slate. Collins Dictionary defines pawn as an individual used by others for their own advantage. Consequently, it’s important to identify those who’ve attempted to snarl Biden as their political pawn.
At this very moment, the Trump led Republican Party has moved against Biden using the immigrant issue and looming budget crisis to make him a political pawn. He’s left fending to rescue his presidential aspirations for 2024.
The Israeli conflict has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians including women and children. These murders have deeply marred Biden’s presidency. He’s again pitted using decisive measures to save the hostages as well as prevent Palestinians from becoming increasingly collateral victims.
Palestinian and Muslim voters at home cast uncommitted votes expressing their disgust with Biden’s military armament of Israel’s brutality and impending genocide in Palestine. Biden now stands as a political pawn on an imaginary chess board. He’s facing charges of antisemitism from Israel and rejections at home from Middle Easterner voters.
Black people on the other hand are tired of their use as election pawns; therefore, for 2024, they’re flexing the political power of their ballots. It’s a known fact, Biden can’t checkmate Trump and win the presidency again without the Black vote. Dispatching emissaries to round-up Black voters during voting seasons is insufficient as well as insulting.
For Biden to salvage Black voters’ commitment, he must more forcibly stand against voter suppression and decriminalize marijuana using an Executive order. He should also issue an Executive Order to at least hasten police reform at the Federal level. Further, using the power of Presidential pardons to free tens of thousands of Black people and prisoners of color imprisoned for minor marijuana charges would correct justice denied. January 6th insurrectionists already received far more lenient sentencing.
Black people and others of color shouldn’t be relegated to support, maintain, and enrich America’s industrial prison complex. The estimated funding of $74 billion for our nation’s incarceration levels surpasses the GDP of 133 other nations. While Black people only constitute 13.65 of the U.S. population, they comprise 38% of the prison population. This suggests that the Lady of Justice isn’t blind and she’s prone to tilting the scales of justice against Black people.
The figures cited above, clearly indicates that “white privileged” exist and that the criminal justice system in America targets Black people. For example, despite Trump conviction for sexual assault against a woman, he’s poised to become the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. With this kind of criminal record, a Black person couldn’t get a job at Walmart. The U.S. Senate and the Supreme Court have made America look like a “banana republic.”
SCOTUS used its power to allow Trump to remain on every states’ presidential ballot for the 2024 election. Certainly, Biden should have the courage to use his presidential powers to address social, health, educational, and political discrimination throughout America. Dr. King spoke out against discrimination. and Medgar Evers heroically spoke against racism and Jim Crow laws. And they weren’t political pawns. White supremacist assassinated both men because they fought against racial discrimination.
Biden can’t afford to make the 2024 presidential election a choice between him and Trump. Trump shouldn’t remain a choice for any patriotic American. However, Biden, as the reigning president, must take more forcibly the following decisive actions to demonstrate that he’s not a political pawn:
withhold any more funding for Israel’s war against Hamas if they fail to heed the demands for a cease fire, allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, and commit to a two-state solution;
exhibit a stronger stand against voter suppression;
use all available Executive Powers to address the immigration problems at the borders; and
inform American voters that Republican Congresspersons, at the directions of former president Trump, are behaving as domestic terrorists should they refuse to vote against shutting down the government.
Biden during his state of the union delivered a powerful speech assuring the American people that he’ll honor his oath to the U.S. Constitution just as former president Frankling D. Roosevelt. He also assured that as president he supported and would defend , our NATO Alliance, which includes Israel. However, he also made it clear that Israel, “has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.
Thus far, Biden by way of actions, words, and political acumen has suggested that he’ll never succumb to political passiveness or threats such that he becomes a political Pawn.
YOU BE THE JUDGE!
