What is it with singer James Taylor and the Democrats? In 2015, secretary of state John Kerry brought Taylor to France to sing "You've Got a Friend" in response to a major terrorist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.  The Guardian called this a "tone-deaf performance" and a "hokey" idea.  Foreign Policy called the Kerry-Taylor musical hug "awkward."  Vox called the performance an apology by the Obama administration for failing to send a high-level U.S. official to a large anti-terrorism rally.  National Review noted that Kerry was "roundly mocked" as an "international laughing-stock" for bringing Taylor to Paris to sing the song.  New York's Daily News opined that Kerry gave "a new meaning to the term 'tone deaf.'"  The Hill ridiculed Kerry's stunt as "You've got a friend diplomacy."

Last Wednesday, the Biden administration had Taylor sing "Fire and Rain," a song about suicide, on the day that the president heralded the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Dow Jones average fell by more than 1,200 points due in part to Biden's terrible economic policies.  Talk about tone-deaf.  You can't make this stuff up.

These are not serious people.  They live in an elite bubble, seemingly unaware of the economic pain and turmoil suffered by working Americans as a result of the administration's "green" energy policies (Taylor also made some remarks about climate change) and massive spending bills — just as seven years ago, the Obama-Biden administration thought that singing "You've Got a Friend" to the French people was an adequate substitute for resolute action against terrorists.

Taylor in 2016 opined that Obama was the greatest president of all time — yes, greater than Washington, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and the rest of them.  And he compared Donald Trump to Mussolini during the 2016 campaign, when he supported Hillary Clinton for president.

Taylor, of course, is entitled to his political opinions and his ridiculous historical assessments.  But why do the Democrats think that Taylor's song "Fire and Rain" will somehow boost the spirits of Americans who are paying too much for food, energy, and just about everything else?  And why did they think in 2015 that Taylor's "musical hug" would persuade the French people that the Obama-Biden administration was serious about combating terrorism?  The oligarchs in China and Russia are no doubt laughing at us.  And our allies must wonder who in the White House is promoting these diplomatic and economic stunts.  Where are the grown-ups?

Image: JamesTayor via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped).