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Oof. This guy has been the biggest positive surprise of the US presidents in my lifetime. Expectations were low, but he actually turned out to be a good preside
by ahartmetz 2y ago
Oof. This guy has been the biggest positive surprise of the US presidents in my lifetime. Expectations were low, but he actually turned out to be a good president (from a European perspective). No new wars, no more talk about shifting defense focus to Asia, generally nothing unreasonable. Good support for Ukraine, no doubts about NATO - rather the opposite. Basically, the rich uncle on the other side of the pond has been a good one.
I presume that his attitudes and staff selection carried the day, and maybe could have done so for another term. But his mental capacity was clearly declining, and he is in fact expected to handle some things personally.
- indil 2y ago>No new wars >Good support for Ukraine You're looking through a particular narrow lens.
- lr1970 2y ago[flagged]
- kccoder 2y agoBiden started those wars? American troops are on the ground in those conflicts?
- rsynnott 2y agoNaughty old Biden used his time machine to force poor innocent Putin to invade Crimea in 2014, clearly.
- jeffbee 2y agoTrump would (has promised to do so on live television) just give Ukraine to Russia. Biden/USA/allies have stood down Russia, which has been seriously damaged both by battlefield losses, by not achieving their strategic goals and instead entering a second Afghanistan, and by the rapid conversion of the EU economy to no longer need Russian energy.
- oezi 2y agoI think you are spot on (and a bit puzzled why you got downvoted). The energy transition in Germany away from Russian gas was a economic achievement I didn't think possible. It costs Europe dearly but has accelerated renewable transition remarkedly.
- luuurker 2y agoRussia started its invasion of Ukraine in 2014, not 2022.
- thegrim33 2y ago"On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
- reducesuffering 2y agoFrom your source: "in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014." Russo-Ukrainian War: "The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea"
- Hikikomori 2y agoWhat would trump have done other than not helping Ukraine at all and allowing israel to kill even more civilians?
- richrichie 2y ago[flagged]
- laidoffamazon 2y ago> He came to power under questionable circumstances, winning none of the bell weather counties, most votes ever received (even more than Obama), massive dumps of mail in ballots after the close of the election day, etc. Honestly, I think the rest of your point can be safely ignored after saying something like this
- shmoe 2y agoThe worst losers.
- dangjoker 2y ago[flagged]
- laidoffamazon 2y agoThey have been 100% better than the 4 years previously. I make 2.7x more than I did in 2020 and my net worth has 5x'ed. I knew a lot of people in my team at Amazon that got laid off - they all landed better jobs or other jobs at Amazon. Most importantly, I no longer have to contend with a pandemic due to a world-beating vaccine rollout championed by Joe Biden. Also - I don't know what kind of soup you're buying, the kind I like hasn't changed price much. It's around $3.60. I'm also aware that a 10% tariff as championed by the last President will raise prices even further on things I rely on - like out of season fruits.
- ofcourseyoudo 2y agolol he tried
- dangjoker 2y ago[flagged]
- purple_ferret 2y agoUnfortunately his domestic achievements have been somewhat mediocre. His signature achievements essentially were one time cash payments to people. I really do think his major failure was not pushing for a lasting achievement like implementing federal parental leave. He had the chance, but opted for a 1 year extension of child tax credits. And of course the US has an illegal immigration problem. European right on the rise from 1/10th the number of illegal immigrants the US gets.
- vlovich123 2y agoArguably he saved the US from a major recession that all the experts were predicting post COVID. But avoiding a disaster is harder to campaign on.
- votepaunchy 2y agoDifficult to have a recession when the federal deficit is 6.3% of GDP: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727
- seaal 2y agoLooking at those charts makes Biden's presidency look even more successful to me given everything he walked into.
- jeffbee 2y agoThe US economy is extremely robust right now and the European countries that took a balanced budget austerity approach are in shambles. Look at England. Just carnage over there. Deficit spending makes sense when the spending invests in the future. Every mortgage holder understands this implicitly. If these deficit levels concern you the obvious first place to start would be on the revenue side, by letting the Trump 2017 tax cuts expire.
- shepherdjerred 2y ago> His signature achievements essentially were one time cash payments to people. I was so excited for the infrastructure bill, but unfortunately it got way stripped down. You can tax me at any percent you'd like if you're using it (efficiently) for public transit.
- RickJWagner 2y ago[flagged]
- topato 2y agoHaha, he says he is European, talks about decions he's noticed from a "world stage" point-of-view, and you respond with your partisan vitrol. I'm not sure you can claim moral lapses when you've cited propogandized and exaggerated far-right talking points. I think felonies, positively adjudicatied rape accusations, and paying for sex while your wife is pregnant are all the new standards for a POTUS that lacks moral fiber....
- croes 2y agoDon't forget the prehistory: >The Trump administration in February 2020 negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government, freed 5,000 imprisoned Taliban soldiers and set a date certain of May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal. >And the Trump administration kept to the pact, reducing U.S. troop levels from about 13,000 to 2,500, even though the Taliban continued to attack Afghan government forces and welcomed al-Qaeda terrorists into the Taliban leadership.
- timeon 2y ago[flagged]
- _l7dh 2y agoThis is a very partial view. A good number of people, including American democrats were disgusted by his unwavering support to the current genocide in Gaza. Many believe he could have stopped it with a phone call and explicitly refused. I know many who swore they would not vote for him, regardless of the circumstances.
- stemlord 2y agoYou're saying you know democrats who would rather accept trump over biden?
- nozzlegear 2y ago> Many believe he could have stopped it with a phone call and explicitly refused. This seems to take all of the culpability, motive and free will away from Netanyahu. I'm not saying Biden couldn't make that call, but why do we assume Bibi would have actually stopped if so?
- dmurray 2y agoDepends what was in the phone call! If he said "I'm going to drone you and everyone in your cabinet and all of your family" that would probably have done it, coming from the one person on earth who can credibly make that threat. Biden's aides could probably come up with a more nuanced and more statesmanlike but equally effective threat than that, of course. Any US president would have great leverage to threaten an Israeli PM personally or politically, or threaten changes to US foreign policy that would work badly for Israel.
- mschuster91 2y ago> Any US president would have great leverage to threaten an Israeli PM personally or politically, or threaten changes to US foreign policy that would work badly for Israel. US Presidents aren't dictators and there is no way _any_ policy change too bad for Israel wouldn't have led to serious financial issues for any party. AIPAC is damn well connected. In any case, I don't believe Netanyahu would have caved. No matter the threat - the crimes of Oct 7 were way too serious for any Israeli PM to leave unanswered. It was the equivalent of 9/11 - and just like the US back then, who completely flattened Afghanistan in retaliation, there is no way any other Israeli PM would have had any other realpolitik option than to fight until Hamas is gone off the face of the planet.
- LetsGoApp 2y agoBiden's wise choice exemplifies true leadership, and ultimately, it's a testament to the enduring influence of Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's revered elder statesman, who remains a powerful force to this day.
- neverbehind 2y ago[flagged]
- shepherdjerred 2y ago> I presume that his attitudes and staff selection carried the day, and maybe could have done so for another term. But his mental capacity was clearly declining, and he is in fact expected to handle some things personally. Biden's presidency makes me wonder if we really need a head of state these days. Is it really necessary to have such a single powerful figure in the executive branch? The biggest exception (IMO) would be in times of crisis, where a strong executive is necessary.
- techostritch 2y agoI feel two ways in this, you probably need one voice for certain key tactical decisions, but the fact that everyone feels the presidency is this important in America supports the idea that the presidency has gotten way to powerful. Loosely speaking, the person who is president shouldn’t matter as much as who is in congress.
- miki123211 2y agoThis is how it works in most European democracies. The balance between the President, the Prime Minister and the Congress or Parliament is different in different countries. In most of Europe, the President is mostly a "figurehead". The President does the diplomatic stuff, wines and dines with foreign leaders, maybe has the ability to veto laws or pardon people, but it's the prime minister who actually runs the government and appoints the cabinet.
- occz 2y agoThere's also the constitutional monarchy-model we have here in Sweden, where the head of state is fully ornamental, with no power to speak of.
- mongol 2y agoI think this varies varies between countries. Sweden indeed has an almost (formally) powerless monarch. I think the UK has a monarch with some real power but that does not put it to use? And how Denmark, Netherlands, Norway etc fare on this scale would be interesting to learn.
- joshcsimmons 2y ago[flagged]
- gergi 2y agoThere are certainly things Biden can be criticized for but your comment is hyperbole that has little bearing on reality - > most of the major cities here are no longer safe objectively, nearly every major cities is safer now than at virtually any time in the past 50 or so years. > massive hordes of illegal immigrants This uptick trend has been noticeable for the last 30 years so I'm not sure how this is attributable to Biden. Additionally, as a percentage, we are still not yet relative to the percentage of population that is an immigrant as compared to the late 1800s. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states-2024 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested... > But yes, I agree, ignoring the reality of all of those things, pretty good! But yes, I agree, if you ignore reality, you can blame Biden for everything :)
- croes 2y agoSo all cities were safe under Trump and no illegal immigrants?
- joshcsimmons 2y agoI never mentioned Trump in my original post?
- croes 2y agoIf the cities are no longer safe under Biden, they were either safer before or they weren't. If the weren't, why blame Biden? And why writing "no longer" instead of "still not". If they were, you mean they were safer under his predecessor: Trump
- stemlord 2y ago>most of the major cities here are no longer safe This is practically verbatim conservative news propaganda
- burtonator 2y agoHe got us out of Afghanistan too... this was a huge win and was very risky. Doesn't get enough credit for this one. Agreed on NATO + Ukraine too but I wish they would allow us to strike Russia directly even with NATO equipment.
- conradfr 2y agoNot a huge win for women in Afghanistan though.
- rjbwork 2y agoEnough ordnance lying around for them and their army and menfolk to have fought if they wanted to. At some point we have to say enough is enough. Thousands of American lives, trillions of American dollars, and 20 years ought to have been enough. If not, then it's just not a job that is reasonably accomplishable by a foreign state. I wish them all the best in building a free society for themselves over the next decades, but they'll have to do it without American boots on the ground. Maybe its China's turn to try to conquer the graveyard of empires.
- Larrikin 2y agoThe US was in Afghanistan for twenty years. Everything the US did there collapsed in a few months after twenty years. It seems like after the second Osama was killed everything done there was a waste of time and money for the US. It's a terrible situation, but it's a terrible situation whenever there is a country using religion to justify oppression and war. The people have to be willing to get rid of the oppressors.
- arp242 2y agoThere were just 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan before they pulled out, and below 10,000 for years before that. There are more U.S. troops in countries like Germany, Italy, or Spain. In the end it was a very small commitment for the US, with huge gains not just for Afghan people but also for the US.
- xcv123 2y ago[flagged]
- mschuster91 2y ago[dead]
- skellington 2y ago[flagged]
- cheese4242 2y ago[flagged]
- sumedh 2y agoWhich new war did Biden start?
- defrost 2y agoThe war on failing US infrastructure.
- sumedh 2y agoHas Congress authorised that war?
- defrost 2y agoIt's been signed into law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_...
- sumedh 2y agoSo what is you point then if Biden signed it and where does it say its a war on that page?
- defrost 2y agoFailing US infrastructure has been singled out as a major pressing issue by US Engineers (professional societies, etc) for at least 15 years that I'm aware of. It's been cited before 2016 as a trillion dollar problem. The point is that this something that one POTUS chose to talk about and frequently hyped "Infrastructure Week" and also something that another POTUS chose to do something about. ^F informs us there are 33 instances of "war" on that page, most in "award", "forward", etc. Two as the actual word "war".