Biden’s Stubborn Optimism

A trait of Joseph Biden, his extremely stubborn

optimism, like a magic lamp he’s rubbin’

to conjure magically for us a genial genie,

will not succeed, I fear, the omens seeming to this meanie

predictive not of genial genies.  An aggressive gremlin

likely to unravel Biden’s optimism, in the Kremlin

making pessimism – though unpopular- his brand

of mens insana in a White House made of sand.

He’s doomed to suffer pessimism like the rest of us,

thrown both by Putin and Xi Jinping underneath a bus,

his streetcar of desire steered by means of wishful thinking

speeding down a highway potholed by hopes that are sinking.

—

In the 6/17/21 NYT, Michael Shear writes (“After Putin Meeting, a Biden Trait Shows Itself Again: Stubborn Optimism”):

The president’s insistence on an “optimistic face” could open him up to criticism. But his allies insist it’s an essential ingredient to making progress.