Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021 promising a 'normal' presidency. He would unify feuding Americans after the Donald Trump years. How different the reality has been – in fact it has been nothing short of a comic opera. It's as if our dear Uncle Joe has been wandering through the hallowed halls of power with all the navigational acumen of a toddler amidst a labyrinth of Legos.
The year kicked off with a flourish of presidential gaffes, each one a testament to the man's unique brand of diseloquence. Picture this: a statesman at the podium, a nation at his feet, and from his lips, instead of pearls of wisdom, tumble the verbal equivalent of marbles. His speeches have become a kind of national bingo, with listeners eagerly awaiting the inevitable "gaffe" that sends Twitter into a frenzy of memes and mockery.
Uncle Joe's administration has been like watching a slow-motion train wreck, where the train in question is laden with policies that seem to have been concocted after one too many glasses of Chardonnay. From infrastructure to foreign policy, it's been a parade of well-intentioned, yet often bewildering initiatives. One can only imagine the meetings where these ideas were born; perhaps they were conducted in the spirit of a kindergarten class, with crayons and nap time for all.
But let us not dwell solely on the comedic aspects of Uncle Joe's tenure. There has been sincerity in his approach, a kind of earnestness that harkens back to a bygone era when statesmen were not merely politicians but were expected to embody some semblance of wisdom. However, this sincerity often seems trapped behind a veil of confusion, like a wise man lost in a fog of his own making.
Foreign dignitaries, when meeting Uncle Joe, must feel like they're in a diplomatic version of "Who's Line is it Anyway?", where each encounter is an improv session, and the points don't matter. His approach to international relations has been to treat every leader as if they were a long-lost uncle at a family reunion, with hugs aplenty but perhaps lacking in the strategic depth one might expect.
As we reflect on this year, it's clear Uncle Joe has been a character in a narrative that could only occur in the United States, where the line between satire and reality is thinner than ever. In the end, his year has been a "Duh" moment for the nation, a reminder that in politics, as in life, what you see is not always what you get, but it certainly can be what you laugh at.
In the grand scheme, Uncle Joe's presidency is a reminder of the human element in governance – flawed, fallible, yet striving for something more. And in this particular year of duh, we've all been reminded, perhaps with a chuckle or a sigh, of the enduring human comedy of leadership.