By Lucky Okoedion
Few hours ago, in an elegant inauguration ceremony that involved some beautiful poetry and solemn singing of the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace”, after a church service earlier in the day, as Joe Biden the 46th president of the United States of America gave his inaugural speech, the world was held spell bound.
The smoothness of his words, the democratic rhetoric from a career politician like him who had spent almost half of a century as a career politician in mastering the art of using pleasant words to achieve an effect almost got the whole world stimulated to the point of orgasm. Except for few who remember that his former principal – Barack Obama, under whom Joe Biden served for 8 years as vice president was by far a smoother talker. But my God ! We missed those romantic words from an American president. The immediate past president of the US – Donald Trump was not a believer of smooth talks, probably because he was tired of decades of American presidents who are only good at giving nice speeches but arguably always failed in delivering on their campaign promises.
Of all the things his haters held against him, not even his greatest enemy could accuse him of not matching his words with actions. None could accuse him of not keeping any of his campaign promises. And there is hardly any leader any time in history who can rival him in keeping promises. No matter how controversial the promises were, Donald Trump kept them. Is it the risky promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel which most of his predecessors promised but lacked the courage to fulfill or is it the resolution to end all the war mongering all over the world for which the US had become notorious? Donald Trump may have been every other thing the American media has painted him as – “racist”, “white supremacist”, e.t.c, yet one thing is established and unrivaled probably till the end of time about Donald Trump – He was not a hypocrite ! He was a man of his words ! And he was not a war monger !
And now, we wonder, will Joe Biden be like Barrack Obama? All nice speeches and playing to the gallery but leaving on his trail the death and destruction of the life and livelihood of millions of innocent civilians in a once prosperous nation like Libya that is now in ruins, and the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa plunged into an insecurity and economic mess as a consequence of the resulting proliferation of armed groups in the region? Of course, the main stream media in the US and big tech who were obviously openly opposed to his predecessor would attempt to stretch this Joe Biden inauguration honeymoon for as long as the full length of his 4 years tenure. Yet, the rest of the world will not be easily swayed like the American public and the wannabe American citizens all over the world who are salivating over the prospects of US borders flung open. As a matter of fact, though Joe Biden’s speeches have tried very hard to stimulate erections in America and all over the globe, yet there are many who will not succumb to premature ejaculation. They will resist the urge and wait to see how it all turns out in say two years from now.
Personally, though I hope and pray that Joe Biden would prove me wrong, I believe that the smiles, smooth speeches and the “oh”, “awww” and “wow” by Biden and the US mainstream media are POLITICAL. I still hold the Libya plunder grudge against Joe Biden. Hence to me, all his nice speeches are a hypocrite STRATEGY to deceive the world.
My suspicion begins with seeing the US judiciary refusing to use the legal process of open court hearings to examine hundreds of eye witnesses of alleged voter fraud who swore affidavits under penalty of perjury. It would have been easier to silence Trump once and for all by using the judicial process to prove that his claims were baseless lies.
But the US refuses to do that because it will make too many people and the nation look bad. Being that it is the same nation that has started wars in other nations with the excuse of “promoting democracy”. The media kept saying that the cases were thrown out for lack of evidence whereas there is no record of any judge actually saying that. Which lawyer will say that eye witnesses with affidavits under penalty of perjury and surveillance videos are not admissible as evidence in a court of law? In which Banana republic?
I see Joe Biden’s call for unity and other smooth talks as nothing but classic politics. To me, it is the peace of a silent pistol. An act that I wished Trump had learned. Imagine a Trump who held all his controversial beliefs and policies, but coated it all sufficiently with this SHOW of niceness and civility? He could then decide to be racist without being noticed. He could then catch his opposition off guard and do any evil or good thing he wished.
If I were Trump, I would learn from this and begin to play the game by its rules. Beating them at their own trick. But ensuring I remain as sincere as ever (this time not to them but to my self and my core principles).
Nothing will change my opinion about Joe Biden unless he begins a military and humanitarian campaign to clean up the insecurity mess he and Obama plunged Sub-Saharan Africa into through their invasion and plunder of the once prosperous nation Libya. And begin to pay financial restitution to African economies.
The destruction of Libya has led to the proliferation of armed conflicts and terrorism in my beloved Nigeria. The Nigerians who are only concerned about easy visa to America and some clemency for their family and friends who are illegal migrants in the US may not care about this, but not me.
In my world, your smiles don’t matter. Your hugs don’t matter. Your poetry doesn’t matter. The elegance and niceness of your intentions don’t matter. What matters is the tangible long term consequences of your decisions and actions.
This is me saying that I am the last person in the world to be fooled by the smooth speeches of Joe Biden.
Lucky Okoedion is a believer of a new Nigeria where true democracy is practiced. He writes from Benin City, Nigeria. He can be reached on +2347038820118.
