In rather unusual comments for a White House wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden admitted during remarks this week that the Biden administration’s fantastical free community college initiative is officially off the table after she championed it last year.
Biden, a community college English professor, made the admission while addressing a summit of community college leaders on Monday, noting that her husband, President Joe Biden, has had to make “compromises” on his agenda.
“One year ago, I told this group that Joe, my husband Joe, was going to fight for community colleges,” she said while addressing the Community College National Legislative Summit in Washington, as The New York Times reported. “But Joe has also had to make compromises. Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation — yet. And free community college is no longer a part of that package.”
The provision, which was the First Lady’s own pet legislative initiative, would have earmarked $45 billion to waive fees to pay for two years at community colleges.
It would have been included in the president’s Build Back Better agenda, which has failed to win the support of the last few halfway sensible Democratic senators, so compromise indeed has been the name of the game.
Yet an October framework from the White House meant to outline a compromise did not include the initiative, and the House-passed version of the bill earmarked funds for community colleges, but not for free tuition.
The Times said Dr. Biden previously noted that it might not be the “right time” to try to push free community college through, and President Biden told Democrats for months that the socialistic initiative might have to be cut to pass the rest of the economic package.
It sounds like it’s been dead in the water for some time at this point, and the First Lady just confirmed it.
“We knew this wouldn’t be easy,” she said on Monday. “Still, like you, I was disappointed. Because, like you, these aren’t just bills or budgets to me, to you, right? We know what they mean for real people, for our students.”
Yeah, who needs facts and figures when you have emotive appeals, amirite Dr. Biden?
“It was a real lesson in human nature that some people just don’t get that,” she added, in what the Times noted was an aside — not included in her scripted remarks.
This is most certainly not a great look for First Lady Dr. Biden, whose doctorate in education has been touted glowingly by the administration and its admirers.
What’s more, free community college is a pet policy point for the Democratic Party’s committed socialists and the sorts of voters who unironically aspire to a United States that more closely resembles communist Cuba.
The Biden administration has been stuck between passing legislation that will appeal to moderates and pleasing the vocal, radical base of increasingly far-left pop progressive figures. The latter might not necessarily represent a formidable voting bloc, but they certainly dominate the left’s narrative on politics, morality and society.
So not only did the First Lady’s first attempt at playing politics fall rather flat, but the Biden administration’s attempt to push through what would have undoubtedly been a major step toward legitimate socialism in the United States failed, too.
It’s interesting to contrast First Lady Biden’s first year in office with that of her predecessor, First Lady Melania Trump.
Dr. Biden has been glowingly touted as the kind of educated, successful professional woman that leftists subtly prop up as the preferable alternative to simple-minded housewives. Yet even with all her credentials and the adoration and praise of the fashion magazines that snubbed Mrs. Trump, Dr. Biden couldn’t get her one pet agenda pushed through.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump, whose resume includes racy fashion modeling, was ignored and oftentimes bashed by the mainstream establishment. During that time, she quietly worked at her broadly appealing anti-bullying agenda, also serving as an impressive boon to her husband when hosting foreign leaders or visiting them overseas as a cultured, European polyglot with incredible taste and a gracious, stately manner.
It just goes to show that all the talk, the doctorates and politically correct resumes mean very little when it comes down to actually getting things done.
The last thing our country needed was to take a step toward communist Cuba. Universities and colleges have already largely become indoctrination factories producing the kinds of voters who turn around and demand that their student debts be forgiven and that taxpayers fund free education for future generations of students.
The last thing we needed was to pay for the education of more socialist voters.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
