On Monday, President Joe Biden, went on a long rant, expressing his frustration about the state of American airports, even though he made funding for trains, a larger priority in his infrastructure bill. His tirade, occurred during a visit to Logan International Airport, in Boston, to promote more government infrastructure spending.
Whining about America’s airports he claimed-
“America invented modern aviation, but we’ve allowed our airports to lag behind our competitors’,” griping that “Today, not a single solitary American airport, not one, ranks in the top 25, of the world, ” angrily shouting “What in the hell’s the matter with us?!”
-President Joe Biden
Then he went to on to recall his visiting LaGuardia airport, in New York City, when he was the vice president and seeing a broken escalator. He continued-
“There was an escalator, this is God’s truth, going up to the gates, and it said, quote ‘Out of order, will be fixed in two months,'” he said, expressing disgust that international passengers could see signs like that while traveling….“All the international passengers flying through LaGuardia, taking a look,” and disappointedly adding “We wonder why folks in China and others think we’re a spent economy,” …“I thought to myself, this is the United States of America.”
-President Joe Biden
Sadly, no one instructed Biden in that LaGuardia is not an international airport – even though he makes statements to the contrary. Then stressing that airports were important for developing commerce and security, Biden continued his disjoint rant-
“Folks we gotta remember who the hell we are. I’m not joking when I say this, we kind of forgot,” …“We’re the United States of America."
-President Joe Biden
Then he jumped to complaining, that airport traffic jams were not only frustrating for passengers and pilots but bad for the environment, as idling planes contribute to air pollution. In his truly “flight of ideas” manner he rumbled loudly-
“This is the United States of America for God’s sake … this is not what we should be doing,”… “It’s about time to come back home and remember who the hell we are,”
-President Joe Biden
The truth is that Biden’s infrastructure investment priorities, don’t align with the rhetoric he deployed in Boston. Biden’s bill allocated $25 billion, for spending on airport improvements, but apportioned even more on passenger rail travel, to the tune of a whopping $66 billion in funding, most of it directed toward Amtrak. It seems unlikely that any major progress will be made on boosting airports to the level that Biden is seeking anytime soon.
In his true doddering manner, Biden repeatedly reminded the audience that they were in the United States of America. He came off sounding like a confused old man who needed a senior assistant, to remind him of the fact that he should stay on track or at the very least limit his off the teleprompter moments. It is embarrassing.
America does not need an angry grandpa, running across the countryside filling our heads with whining, complaints and basically negative rhetoric. This nation needs a leader who can move us forward, in a positive challenging manner without having to figure out who he is first, before he addresses those in front of him. We know we are Americans Joe – you may need a reminder for who you are but we KNOW who we are.
“You know, I have found a new way to get high and stay spaced out for hours on end, and the government can't stop me... It's called senility.”
- Robert Anton Wilson