While I'm too tired this late at night to pepper this post with facts and links in support of this assertion, let me go ahead and make it, and then you all can support it or rip it to shreds as you wish.
Here it is: the Biden administration initially had hopes that his presidency would prove to be transformative. For the most part, that hasn't panned out. Part of that is because it is difficult to pass major legislation without decisive majorities in both houses of Congress. In part it is because inflation unexpectedly roared back from the dead; Americans tend to blame presidents for inflation, even though it's largely outside the president's control. Frankly, part of it is that Biden doesn't come across as an inspiring leader: he's not especially articulate, and he makes his share (or more than his share) of verbal gaffes.
But in my conservative opinion, Biden is proving to be surprisingly effective as a president. COVID no longer is a major concern among Americans; he got a major infrastructure bill passed with some bipartisan support; and he managed to get a stripped-down version of Build Back Better (the badly-misnamed Inflation Reduction Act) passed.
He was getting credit earlier today for helping to defuse a railroad strike that could have dealt the country a painful economic blow.
In foreign policy, his administration badly bungled the Afghanistan withdrawal, but in my view, his handling of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has much more than made up for the Afghanistan debacle. He seems to have NATO on a more unified and determined footing than we've seen in years.
What do you think: is President Biden a good enough president for this moment?
Yes, I think President Biden is a good enough president for this moment. Actually a good enough president, full stop. Especially considering who would have been our president if a lot of people hadn't gotten out and voted. We dodged a bullet as a nation and a democracy. I'm worried that maybe we won't dodge it next time.
ReplyDeleteIf we had elected Bernie Sanders as president, it would have been a transformative presidency. But since the Democrats united around a Has Been to prevent that, I see no rational basis for ever thinking that Biden would be a transformative president.
ReplyDeleteHe is instead a mediocre Democratic president much like Carter and Clinton and mediocre Republican presidents like the two Bushes. His only saving grace is that he is not TRUMP.
That is not really progress let alone transformation! It is only stagnation against the possibility of further backsliding
As for Ukraine, they woke up Europe. So far America hasn’t messed things up.
As for the economy, there are still plenty economic interests such as the railroads which are hell bent on pursuing their own economic greed no matter what happens to the economy and the environment. There is no common economic and ecological vision that might unite us and transform the country.
I essentially agree with Jack on this. Biden is good enough for a hack. Trump has lowered the bar to below sea level. I am not happy with Biden's confrontation with Russia and the PRC, especially now that we've weakened ourselves with the Iraq and Afghan adventures. The US with NATO as support did not pursue peace and stability after the collapse of the Soviets and we're not without fault in this Ukraine thing. As for China, our capitalists are responsible for turbocharging their growth which has only served to entrench the Party which I don't call communist. Back to Biden. Given we are one of three empires in a collapsing global civilization, he's not a bad emperor. Definitely not transformative in the least.
ReplyDeleteGiven we are one of three empires in a collapsing global civilization, he's not a bad emperor.
DeleteYep, sounds like what the historians may write.
Listened to part of a long report on Where the Pandemic Money Went on NPR yesterday. It seemed to me to sum up the worst of both parties: Limousine Liberals throwing piles of money at a problem and Repubs ensuring the bureaucracy is inadequate to oversee fair distribution to businesses making off with millions under the Payroll Protection Act.
ReplyDeleteTransformation, to me, would mean more efficiency in social services, consolidation of programs, upgraded technology for expedited services, and less fraud. It would also mean the establishment of a minimum LIVING wage and repeal of right to work and hire at will laws that erode labor rights to organize.
Biden has done none of that.
However, Uncle Joe only makes me roll my eyes at times instead of cringe every time his flabby face with funeral home makeup comes on TV. So there's that.
We are still drowning in our own greed, waste, and filth (visit our Michigan Great Lakes algae blooms!), and I don't see anybody on the horizon interested in changing that. It would mean a 180 degree turn in our entire culture.
I disagree that Biden is a mediocre hack. He has served his country for about fifty years, which is more than most of us can say. He is a decent human being, (even though some bishops think he is not in the state of grace). I'll take "decent human being" over some of the pandering, cynical, demagogues in political life right now.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Katherine
DeleteDecent, yah sure, if that's your only criteria for a president. He is old, tired, and doing his best. His cabinet and VP are relatively young and energetic, but they're pretty much out of sight and doing ... what?
ReplyDeleteIs Biden better than Trump? Yes.
Is Biden "good enough"? No.
The right-wing nut jobs led by the Triumvirate of Idiocy, aka Goetz-Taylor Greene-Bobert need to be remarginalized. Ditto the left-wing academics who think that if only we used everybody's preferred pronouns, it would be all unicorns and puppy dogs with everybody getting a prize just for showing up.
Only someone who can cut through this bullsh*t so that we can consider serious solutions to real problems--climate change, income inequality, the crisis in public education, DACA, and the fact that we are hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs--is going to be "good enough."
I guess I’ve lived in DC too long, watching how things work from up close. But it seems that Biden’s incremental approach may be better than trying to upend too many things at once. There is a real danger of provoking a backlash before the MAGA monster has been more weakened than it is now. He’s actually had some fairly significant bipartisan successes. Bipartisanship and compromise used to be SOP, but that disappeared with the rise of the Tea Party and Freedom caucuses. Obstruction for the sake of obstruction became the name of the game with Republicans especially, starting in the 90s. They still don’t run on policy but on the culture war. The key is to defeat the GOP everywhere, and especially in the presidential election in 2024. The country is so emotionally on edge right now, that a barn burning Dem could end up making it easier for the GOP to be back in the WH and Congress in two years. If that happens it’s good- bye America. Goodbye freedom. Goodbye hope for all of those issues that you cited. The Orban style extreme will take over. Interesting that Orban is upset that the EU parliament has just declared that Hungary is no longer compliant with EU policy and is no longer a “full democracy “. That is our future if the GOP wins. Biden is walking a dangerous tightrope and I think he’s right to take it slowly and carefully. It would be great if the Dems could come up with a younger, more pro- active candidate but they too might act too recklessly in their next nominee.
DeleteLOL, old , tired, and doing my best, that pretty well describes me.
DeleteBiden helped dig the hole out of which he claims to be lifting us. He voted for the SHAFTA's, he voted for the military adventures, he supported the tough-on-crime carcel state. Meanwhile, the last thirty years saw rapid, radical changes in the service of extremist capitalism. Only another rapid change of direction can balance things. But, yes, the mental inertia of the public could limit what gets done.
DeleteEverybody's exhausted except for the intellectual deficients making the most noise.
DeleteAnd that's worrisome because we cannot afford to be tired.
We can expect extreme social upheaval as climate changes and more weather disasters, pandemics, and human migration increase. I'm not at all optimistic that we're up to it.
Nate Cohn has an interesting piece in the NY Times about why this mid-term may not bring about the shellacking of the incumbent party that usually happens at this point in a presidential administration.
ReplyDelete"If there’s a saying that captures why midterms go so poorly for the president’s party, it’s the idea that “midterms are a referendum, not a choice.” If it’s a referendum, the Democrats are in trouble. After all, President Biden’s approval rating is in the low 40s.
"But this year, there’s a pretty good reason to think this won’t just be a referendum: Donald J. Trump.
"Consider this: “Donald Trump” still earns more Google search interest than “Joe Biden.” It’s nothing like prior midterms, when the attention was focused all but exclusively on the president...
"The emergence of “democracy” as one of the more important issues in the election is almost entirely a function of [Trump's] presence, whether it’s by promoting “stop the steal” sentiments, endorsing candidates on the right, or fanning fears of election subversion and political violence.
"Mr. Trump doesn’t just make it harder for Republicans to make the midterms into a referendum. He has made it less likely that Republican candidates will even try to make the midterms into a referendum. Republican candidates spent the primary season focused on earning the support of Mr. Trump and his supporters, rather than focused on Mr. Biden. It led them far from the classic “check-and-balance” midterms message, in which a challenger promises to work with the president where they agree but block the excesses of his agenda."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/upshot/midterm-election-trump-dobbs.html?campaign_id=29&emc=edit_up_20220915&instance_id=72019&nl=the-upshot®i_id=87407961&segment_id=106954&te=1&user_id=7bba122dbc8acf5289c69a5c9f2867a2
Trump is the id of the GOP, and he brings out the worst elements of the party. Meehan Maddock, vice chair of the Michigan GOP got smacked a bit by other Repubs when she called Pete Buttigieg "a weak little girl." Michigan AG candidate Matt DePerno called his Den opponent Drunk Dana and accused Nessel, a lesbian, of being a "groomer," and he is not polling well.
DeleteYou'd have to be stupid not to know that Republicans hate gays, poor people, and women who "get themselves pregnant," but most of the time they couch their contempt in polite words and switch to the issue they really care about: money.
Possibly the Country Clubbers are realizing that their money concerns are in danger when all the talk is sidetracked to culture issues that are pushing away the right leaning independents and libertarians they need to get their people in office.
s/b Meshawn Maddock.
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