Voters Chose Boring Over Bombast
They Got Biden’s Penchant for Pontificating. Michael Shear The president’s remarks on Wednesday, delivered to a friendly and respectful crowd of supporters at McHenry County College in this Chicago suburb, even included “reconciliation,” which Mr. Biden quickly admitted was a “fancy” Washington word. As the president travels the country pitching his plan for spending trillions of dollars to reshape the American economy, he is facing a rhetorical reality that has long plagued many of his predecessors: There is a vast difference between explaining and inspiring, and Mr. Biden — who was recently called the “explainer in chief” by his press secretary — often struggles to reach the potential oratorical heights of the office he holds. Mr. Biden’s ambitions are vast and the substance of his presidency has been dramatic at times: an end to the nation’s longest war, a historic focus on equity and spending proposals bigger than anything before. He sometimes describes his agenda as a way...
