America and McDonald’s are intertwined. The pinnacle American fast-food chain, for many inside and outside the United States, McDonald’s embodies “American food.” With more than 13,000 restaurants across the U.S., there are more McDonald’s than there are hospitals in this nation.

With such a presence in the U.S., it’s only natural that it influences our lives. Culturally, socially and economically, McDonald’s is everywhere whether we’re “loving it” or not. Nevertheless, the fast-food chain leaves a profound impact on American politics as it does “American food.”

Just as McDonald’s simplified and industrialized food efficiency, so too has American politics “supersized” into incompetent operations. Rather than pass landmark legislation or help people — such as last seen in the 1960s with the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, etc. — the U.S. today fails to solve anything and only delivers the minimum needed to sustain society.

Akin to McDonald’s, politicians serve low-quality policy to the American people. Moreover, present presidents share more with McDonald’s managers than their predecessors — none more so than President Joe Biden. Despite the daily expectations being fulfilled, everything else the president serves is cheap, too little, too late or not provided.

In a similar vein to the ice cream machine being broken, so too is the U.S. broken with Biden as its current McDonald’s manager.

Improperly managing or neglecting crises, constantly making you question what they’re doing (and why they don’t solve the “simple stuff”) and failing to serve quality (or any) policy, Joe Biden runs the U.S. as its “McManager-in-chief.”

This is not to criticize the productive, working-class managers out there. However, for those who complicate their employees’ lives, the comparison is warranted.

Before his inauguration, Biden stumbled upon his first “McManager-in-chief” moment. Campaigning for then-senate candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Biden promised Georgians (and Americans) $2,000 stimulus checks that would “immediately” arrive in his upcoming COVID-19 relief package.

Two months later, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which delivered $1,400 checks to Americans — $600 short of the aforementioned $2,000.

Democrats defended the $1,400 arguing it paired with President Trump’s last stimulus of $600 to equal $2,000 in total. However, through bureaucratic shenanigans and resistance from the conservative-democratic senator Joe Manchin, Biden failed to meet his administration’s first promise of $2,000 checks.

Poverty in the U.S. has increased over recent years amidst the debilitating COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Economic Forum, the COVID-19 recession “may have widened the gap between the rich and the poor” and further punished the poor who “are finding it harder to bounce back.”

The group also reports that 11.4% of Americans live in poverty — nearly 40 million people — a statistic exasperated by the pandemic’s effect on Americans’ livelihoods. Additionally, the statistic doesn’t account for the countless more working-class who live paycheck to paycheck as the cost of living increases.

Although $1,400 is better than no stimulus, the deficiency of Biden to pass his first promise mirrors the failure of a McDonald’s manager to run a structured and engaging workplace.

The difference between $1,400 and $2,000 is astronomical: An additional month’s rent, bill or any cost of living could be covered with the extra $600. Yet, without the simple thought to follow through on his promise, Biden cheaply served Americans.

Another misstep by Biden is neglecting to continue the Child Tax Credit. As part of Biden’s Rescue Plan, the credit rescued children from poverty and enabled lower-class families to make ends meet. Journalist Joan E. Greve describes the checks as “a lifeline for many families struggling to financially recover from the pandemic.”

According to NPR, the checks reached 61 million children and cut monthly child poverty by a staggering 30%. A “lifeline for many families,” no rational person would let this astounding policy lapse — unless this individual is the presidential McDonald’s manager too muddled to rally congressional support and extend the checks.

Since its expiration in January — due to congressional deadlock — Greve reports “3.7 million more American children were experiencing poverty … The increase was disproportionately high among Black and Latino children.”

While the “Child Tax Credit machine is broken,” Biden does offer his words of support and honesty. In March, Biden candidly submitted, “I’m having trouble getting it passed again — and that is the Child Tax Credit.”

Although the honesty is refreshing, the frankness is nothing more than a McDonald’s manager telling you they stopped serving breakfast at 11 a.m. You arrived expecting breakfast, yet the most you can do now is shrug and debate what’s next.

Speech after speech, Biden continually invokes the Rescue Plan as his presidential magnum opus. Nonetheless, the plan was signed in March of last year; today, several of its actions require renewal or additional funds. With no substantial continuation in sight, Americans suffer while Washington delivers little.

The steps for Biden to escape his fate of being the next “McManager-in-chief” are easy: Do something. Rather than supply the same speech discussing a plan passed last year and shrug off the “broken ice cream machine,” get to work. Americans can’t survive with “supersized” inefficiency: Fix the machine and serve Americans quality.

Nathaniel is a junior in LAS.

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