Old man in a hurry.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. is 78 years old. He is the oldest person to occupy the White House. And as he approaches the traditional 100-day presidential evaluation marker Friday, he has set a stunning, breathless pace.
He has won approval of a stimulus bill, has proposed an infrastructure offensive and has placed a tax bill on the American agenda. He has announced the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, challenged Russia on cyber interference, engaged China in a sobering trade reckoning, taken steps to return to the Iran nuclear agreement, and set out goals to battle climate change.
Instead, Biden will visit Congress and speak to a country seemingly just as divided as it was during last year’s presidential campaign and the polarizing months that followed.
Biden has yet to reach a compromise with Republicans on any legislative action, including the COVID-19 relief bill, which passed earlier this year with no GOP votes after Republicans offered a bill less than a third the size of the one favored by the White House.
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There are some signs that Biden and Republicans may be able to strike a deal on infrastructure or police reform. But there is plenty of skepticism, too.
Donald Trump makes his debut in National Portrait Galley s presidents exhibition
Peggy McGlone, The Washington Post
April 26, 2021
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1of3A photograph of former president Donald Trump by Pari Dukovic has been installed in the America s Presidents exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which reopens to visitors May 14, 2021.Washington Post photo by Salwan GeorgesShow MoreShow Less
2of3Wall text accompanies the photograph of former president Donald Trump in the America s Presidents gallery at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.Washington Post photo by Salwan GeorgesShow MoreShow Less
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When the National Portrait Gallery reopens May 14, visitors will have the first opportunity to see a President Donald Trump portrait in the popular America s Presidents exhibition.
Power to the People was a chant used by anti-war and civil rights protesters in the 60s. John Lennon wrote a song with that title in 1971. The idea flowed from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution which begins, We the people.
The concept behind that phrase was that the people, not the government, are sovereign and the government s power is granted to it by the governed.
That has been reversed in our day as government has become evermore powerful, some would argue dictatorial, as demonstrated by restrictions on our liberties with the COVID-19 virus used as the excuse.