Great Expectations

Today, May 3, 2021, is the 103rd day of the Biden Administration. After what so many Americans have gone through over the past 4 years, it’s a pleasure to live in a country in which the volume is lower, the vocabulary far less noisome and the level of professionalism far more . . . well, professional. And to a great degree, these factors are being reflected in the polls.

According to polling published in Forbes, Biden’s overall approval rating through his first 92 days in office stood at 53.4%. Meanwhile, 40.1% of Americans disapproved of the job he's doing in the White House. After his first three months in office, Biden’s approval rating is higher than Donald Trump's (41.9%) and Bill Clinton's (52.9%) approval ratings were at the same point in their presidencies. However, it's lower than the approval ratings of Barack Obama (60.2%), George W. Bush (56.2%), and Ronald Reagan (67.6%) at the 92-day mark. From the point of view of bills passed during the first 100 days, Biden (11 bills passed into law) lags well behind his immediate predecessor (30), slightly behind Barack Obama (14) and way, way behind Harry Truman (53) and the granddaddy of ‘em all, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had an astounding 76 bills passed in a mere 100 days.

Last week’s address to a joint session of Congress received the overwhelming approval of 82% of those tuning in to the historic speech (mind you, a clear majority of those tuning in were Democrats). Just seeing and hearing the president beginning his speech with the words “Madam Speaker, Madam President,” was enough to bring tears to one’s eyes. It was, indeed, physical symbolism writ larger than any neon sign on the Sunset Strip. And talk about all the proposals brought forward in the name of our infrastructure, the world’s climate, American families, education, economic realignment and jobs, jobs, jobs. Through going from a throaty whisper to a cannon’s roar, President Biden reminded us that he is one hell of a masterful speaker; not in the manner of Barack Obama, the orator’s orator, but rather in the manner of a wise, loving uncle.

This is by no means meant to indicate an overwhelming unanimity of support among American voters. Heck, within 24 hours of his taking the oath of office, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene threw H.Res 57 into the hopper - a bill of impeachment against Joseph R. Biden for “abuse of power by enabling bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.” And, to add to the lunacy, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has suggested that Republicans will impeach Vice President Kamala Harris if the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives in 2022, after the South Carolina senator falsely claimed that she had paid bail for Black Lives Matter protesters who later “broke somebody’s head open.”

Despite what one might think, not all Republicans are against Joe Biden or consider his administration to be chock full of atheistic socialists or Zionist conspirators. Then too, not all Democrats are in lock-step with every position, protocol or pronouncement of the new administration. Case in point: there are a goodly number of Democrats - both in and out of elective office - who are less than pleased with Biden’s handling of immigration on our southern border. Members of the party’s progressive wing are less than satisfied with Biden’s approach to this issue, and believe he has broken some of the promises he made back during the campaign. Originally, Biden promised that as POTUS, he would raise the annual number of refugees permitted into the country up as high as 125,000. In a statement on World Refugee Day last summer, Mr. Biden, then a candidate for president, made his support explicit.

During the campaign he said, “I will increase the number of refugees we welcome into this country, setting an annual global refugee target of 125,000,” promising to “further raise it over time commensurate with our responsibility.”

After winning the White House, his transition team set about making good on that pledge, debating the pros and cons in a series of meetings in December, 2020. With only six months left in the fiscal year (which ends October 31, 2021), Mr. Biden’s advisers have recommended he could go beyond his campaign pledge. However, as of today, he is stuck at 15,000 refugees . . . the same number as Donald Trump in the last fiscal year of his administration.

In one of his first speeches on the issue, President Biden said “It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that’s precisely what we’re going to do.” He did not mention the number 62,500 (which is a figure repeatedly mentioned once he was inaugurated), but did double down on his promise of 125,000 starting in October, adding, “I’m directing the State Department to consult with Congress about making a down payment on that commitment as soon as possible.”

One should understand that there is a vast difference between asylees and refugees. The former wind up at our Southern border, doing everything in their power to gain admittance. Regrettably, they are stopped at the border and remain in Mexico, awaiting a hearing and praying that they are not sent back to the countries from which they are fleeing. Refugees, on the other hand, get through most of their paperwork in their native countries, express what their fears are about remaining in the lands of their birth, and then await the legal decisions which will grant them entry. Regrettably, there has been little progress for these folks; largely, they remain in the countries of their birth.

Despite all the promises and serious work among leaders within the administration, the number of refugees who may be admitted in the remaining months of this fiscal year remain virtually unchanged from those of the latter Trump Administration. This has raised the ire and hackles of the most progressive members of the Democratic caucus as well as the most conservative of Trump supporters . . . as if they truly cared. They both accuse Biden of going back on his word . . . not a comfortable position to be in.

President Biden’s change of plan has brought about changes around the world as well. Resettlement agencies had already booked flights for hundreds of refugees. Such immigrants must be identified as refugees by the United Nations or other organizations and clear several rounds of vetting that can take, on average, two years, according to the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization. Roughly 33,000 refugees have received such approval, and about 115,000 are in the pipeline to be resettled. This is, to put it simply, gut-wrenchingly difficult for those seeking entry as refugees.

There is still a lot of work to be done within the Biden Administration. The expectations are high, the administration is humane, and politics is - as ever - a treacherous zero-sum game.

But this by no means indicates that humanitarianism has no friends.

The Great Expectations of Fall, 2020, will find both allies and solutions before the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Welcome to our refugees . . . you have a family awaiting your arrival.-