When the President Is a Follower, Not a Leader

 

Barton Swaim offers a cogent encapsulation of "Joe Biden's Long Career of Conformity" (op-ed, April 9). This is a president whose most salient quality is his willingness, and eagerness, to go along to keep his career moving along. 

It may be this very pliability that catapulted him to the pinnacle of the political profession. The factions of the Democratic Party, eventually including its powerful left wing, saw an anodyne, nearly empty vessel into which to pour all its aspirations. 

"I seen my opportunities and I took 'em," as a notable Democrat of yore once put it.

One can easily conjecture that Mr. Biden, deep inside himself, knows that this flexible approach is what brought him to the White House. So why could we have reasonably expected his presidency to be anything other than an exercise in discerning the direction of the wind to determine where and how to proceed? As Mr. Swaim points out, how could we possibly expect a second Biden term to be any different, except in degree?

Mark M. Quinn

Naperville, Ill.

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Mr. Swaim explains Mr. Biden's career clearly, but he should have used a different term instead of "conformity." He should have said what Mr. Biden has been ever since he nearly flunked out of law school: a follower.

Mr. Biden learned quickly that Delaware voters didn't care if you didn't have an original thought in your head as long as your politics didn't affect them personally or financially. That gave him an excuse to never work a real job.

Fifty years later, Delaware still doesn't care. I hope the rest of the nation, however, has learned the lesson of what happens when you elect a follower in a time of Democratic Party extremism.

Andrew Rokita

Wilmington, Del.

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Ronald Reagan was often called the Teflon president. Given, as Mr. Swaim writes, "Mr. Biden's pliability is his most notable quality," should he be referred to as the Play-Doh president?

Gregory Marshall

Marietta, Ga." [1]

1. When the President Is a Follower, Not a Leader. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 12 Apr 2024: A.14.