Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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No, I am not anxious every day of my life.
Americans have developed a relatively new pastime. Or should I say we have overdeveloped a very old pastime.
And that is picking on our elected representatives mercilessly until we either feel better about ourselves or we make those on the receiving end of our wrath feel worse about themselves.
That’s what Americans always do because, I suspect, we have had it so good for the past couple of centuries — relative to the rest of the world — that complaining is just part of who we are.
But there is a difference between complaining about this or that, disagreeing with him or her and criticizing this policy or that one — and expressing outright, visceral fear for what might become of our country if it falls into the hands of an autocrat hellbent on destroying our democracy.
So, when I am asked if I am fearful about President Joe Biden’s handling of our economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the final days of our never-ending war in Afghanistan, a weak jobs report for more than one week at a time and a supply chain in need of some fixing, my answer is clear.
No, I am not.
Being president of the United States is the most difficult job in the world. Even harder than being a single mother of four small children, but only because what the president does on a daily basis affects every single mother on the planet.
No one gets to do this job mistake-free. No one can do this job without “blowing it” from time to time, making the wrong call and saying the wrong thing at the worst time. That is the job.
Biden is making his share of mistakes, to be sure. We can run down the list if it makes anyone feel better.
But he is also doing so many things right — working through the pandemic and increased vaccine availability; moving toward a legislative fix for our basic infrastructure needs, which have for too long been ignored; charting a most difficult path toward uplifting a middle class that has been practically destroyed over the past decade; and improving our worldwide standing with our allies and understanding with our adversaries — and for all the right reasons.
To the point that, unlike his immediate predecessor who made every decision to advance himself at the expense of most Americans, this president is doing his best to make all of our lives better, safer and more meaningful.
Will he succeed? I don’t know but I am pulling for him because his success will be America’s success.
Will the next few years trying to solve some of the biggest and most complex problems yet to take the world stage cause some anxiety? I should think so.
But that concern, that anxiety we all feel from time to time in our personal lives and in the life of this republic, will not be the daily, inescapable, unrelenting, unabated, undeniable and unbelievable angst that defined America for the four years immediately preceding the Biden administration.
So, no, I am not fearful, anxiety-ridden or beside myself with fear for our country at the hands of a sociopath — anymore.
Today, I am feeling the same way I used to feel when Ronald Reagan or George Bush or Bill Clinton or Barrack Obama was president.
I am hopeful for the future and clear-eyed enough to understand that it won’t be easy getting there.
But, anxious to the point of mental paralysis? Not any more.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun
