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Taking political constraints into account, the Biden Administration was just about the most successful and effective, in policy terms, of the past 50 years. Unf

Taking political constraints into account, the Biden Administration was just about the most successful and effective, in policy terms, of the past 50 years. Unfortunately the political landscape is pretty unfavorable, with GOP-supportive media, a GOP-aligned Supreme Court and super wealthy people, increasingly extremist state governments in many parts of the country, decades of corporate consolidation, weakening civic institutions, and an electorate that largely ignores the details. Biden himself was never a great orator and his public charisma suffered further with age, but as far as governing goes, he did a great job. Harris would also have been an excellent president. Unfortunately building and fixing things (or just keeping things working, negotiating compromises, and so on) takes a lot of time and effort, and doesn't make for great pithy slogans or rile people up.

raw_anon_1111 1y ago
Exactly what did he do that had any long lasting impact? Obama had the ACA. Biden in fact was the worse Democratic President for not stepping aside early enough and letting the DNC have a real primary. It was sheer selfishness and ego. Results count - not excuses.
- jacobolus 1y ago
  Biden came into office in the middle of a Covid crisis substantially caused by the previous administration (which he then was unfairly blamed for the effects of by people arguing in bad faith). During the first two years of Biden's presidency the Democrats had a tied 50–50 Senate (including 2 prima donna Senators who repeatedly undermined Democrats' legislative priorities) and a narrow House majority. During the second two years they had a 51–49 Senate majority and lost control of the House. They never had the votes for anything like the ACA. But within the very difficult constraints of a 50–50 Senate with no possibility of abolishing the filibuster (i.e. requiring 60 votes, and thus significant GOP support, to pass any legislation), the Dems were remarkably effective in 2021–2022, exceeding my expectations. If you want to see sweeping legislation, you have to elect a Congress that with enough votes to pass it. Blaming Biden for not having the votes is an expression of political cluelessness.
  - raw_anon_1111 1y ago
    Again what did he do? The Covid vaccine was created and approved before he was elected. You really think people were excited about Biden like Obama or Clinton?
    - 1659447091 1y ago
      > Again what did he do? Inflation Reduction Act [0][1] Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [2][3] CHIPS and Science Act [4] He worked to use our tax dollars to spur re-investment in America. From factory construction and utility jobs to grid resilience and innovation. Not to mention that zero to few Republicans voted for these, yet they are the largest benefactors. Texas massive growth spurt in Green energy can thank Biden, but they won't even though they are happy to take the infrastructure investments and enjoy the cheaper energy and jobs. I'll just be happy if I dont have to deal with another Great Texas Freeze. Also, and even though, the coal mining communities didn't vote for him he made sure to single out investment specifically to coal communities "it announced $428 million in grants for 14 projects in coal communities, creating 1,900 jobs and leveraging $500 million in private investments." Those also include tax reform (to collect from super-rich tax evaders, expire the deep corporate tax cuts etc) and prescription drug reform to lower prices among other things like investing in green energy projects for low income communities. He brought investment back into this country without sucker punching our allies. Imo, that's what my tax dollars are for, for reinvestment back into building this country -- not to give rich business friends that donate meme coins to a family account extra large tax cuts or giving bonuses for rounding up brown people (including US citizens - google if you want links) and empower a federal immigration force to throw out any integrity and character they had before being told to make a spectacle. Anyway there is a lot in there is you care to read up on it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Projected_impacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Projec... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act#Macroeconomic_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act
- hedora 1y ago
  Basically, take any transcript from the election where JD Vance or Trump said they were going to fix some US domestic crisis that Biden had created. They were lying through their teeth. Biden had already fixed the crisis. Trump's undone that work, and is now going around claiming to have fixed stuff. One example is how Trump is going to get a bunch of people to build factories in the US: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/C307RC1Q027SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/C307RC1Q027SBEA Biden also got the inflation caused by Trump's ZIRP + deficit spending under control, despite digging us out of COVID. (The inflation surge during Biden's term had already been predicted by most economists by the middle of Trump's first term. NPR even ran a series about "printing unlimited money bad" in 2018 or 2019.) Also, Trump inherited the lowest crime rates in living memory, and then declared a national emergency about surging crime.
wrs 1y ago
The term was "excited", not "successful and effective". The excitement for Obama vs. Biden was not even close. ("Yes we can!" vs. "Let's elect our doddering but normal 80ish white guy, not the crazy 80ish white guy!")
- jacobolus 1y ago
  I can't disagree with that. I was initially excited (and later pretty disappointed) with Obama, especially with the amount of time he wasted trying to engage with people obviously acting in bad faith, with the way he let himself be pushed around by folks who were aligned against his ideals, and with the extent to which he disengaged after leaving office. Clinton was sadly an even bigger disappointment. I had initially very low expectations of Biden, didn't vote for him in the 2020 primary, and was quite impressed with his actual governing.
  - raw_anon_1111 1y ago
    What did he accomplish?
    - jacobolus 1y ago
      What topic areas specifically are you interested in? I'm assuming you don't want a list of hundreds of bullet points of small legislative or administrative changes. The most newsworthy things are stuff like getting us out of the forever wars in the Middle East, standing up to Putin and rallying NATO and other allies to support Ukraine, making big investments in American manufacturing and alternative energy, working to reign in large corporations and protect consumers and the public in a wide variety of ways big and small, protecting workers' salaries and fair treatment, improving access to healthcare and keeping costs down, protecting women's access to healthcare despite a hostile misogynist Supreme Court, working to relieve punishing student loans (again with opposition from the Court), ...
      - raw_anon_1111 1y ago
        The FTC and his war on corporations was a failure none of the lawsuits went anywhere and it made the environment worse for startups. Now VC funding is nowhere near the level it use to be outside of large AI companies because large tech companies are squeamish of acquisitions - lLimiting the path to successful exits. What they are doing now is hiring out all of the people they want from startups and leaving the undesirables in a lurch and decimating VCs investments - Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all used this playbook. The problem with “administrative changes” is that they can easily be undone. And he didn’t “protect women’s healthcare” at all. The red states are still seeing women die because doctors are afraid to perform abortions when the life of the mother is in danger and blue states aren’t - the status quo. The very reason that Biden is an inconsequential President was because everything he did was easily undone between his lack of willingness to step aside even though he and everyone else knew he should and trying to do things through executive orders. The Supreme Court is another symptom of old people not retiring when they should, dying on the bench allowing a Republican President to nominate replacements.

raw_anon_1111 1y ago

Exactly what did he do that had any long lasting impact? Obama had the ACA. Biden in fact was the worse Democratic President for not stepping aside early enough and letting the DNC have a real primary. It was sheer selfishness and ego. Results count - not excuses.

jacobolus 1y ago
Biden came into office in the middle of a Covid crisis substantially caused by the previous administration (which he then was unfairly blamed for the effects of by people arguing in bad faith). During the first two years of Biden's presidency the Democrats had a tied 50–50 Senate (including 2 prima donna Senators who repeatedly undermined Democrats' legislative priorities) and a narrow House majority. During the second two years they had a 51–49 Senate majority and lost control of the House. They never had the votes for anything like the ACA. But within the very difficult constraints of a 50–50 Senate with no possibility of abolishing the filibuster (i.e. requiring 60 votes, and thus significant GOP support, to pass any legislation), the Dems were remarkably effective in 2021–2022, exceeding my expectations. If you want to see sweeping legislation, you have to elect a Congress that with enough votes to pass it. Blaming Biden for not having the votes is an expression of political cluelessness.
- raw_anon_1111 1y ago
  Again what did he do? The Covid vaccine was created and approved before he was elected. You really think people were excited about Biden like Obama or Clinton?
  - 1659447091 1y ago
    > Again what did he do? Inflation Reduction Act [0][1] Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [2][3] CHIPS and Science Act [4] He worked to use our tax dollars to spur re-investment in America. From factory construction and utility jobs to grid resilience and innovation. Not to mention that zero to few Republicans voted for these, yet they are the largest benefactors. Texas massive growth spurt in Green energy can thank Biden, but they won't even though they are happy to take the infrastructure investments and enjoy the cheaper energy and jobs. I'll just be happy if I dont have to deal with another Great Texas Freeze. Also, and even though, the coal mining communities didn't vote for him he made sure to single out investment specifically to coal communities "it announced $428 million in grants for 14 projects in coal communities, creating 1,900 jobs and leveraging $500 million in private investments." Those also include tax reform (to collect from super-rich tax evaders, expire the deep corporate tax cuts etc) and prescription drug reform to lower prices among other things like investing in green energy projects for low income communities. He brought investment back into this country without sucker punching our allies. Imo, that's what my tax dollars are for, for reinvestment back into building this country -- not to give rich business friends that donate meme coins to a family account extra large tax cuts or giving bonuses for rounding up brown people (including US citizens - google if you want links) and empower a federal immigration force to throw out any integrity and character they had before being told to make a spectacle. Anyway there is a lot in there is you care to read up on it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Projected_impacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Projec... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act#Macroeconomic_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act
hedora 1y ago
Basically, take any transcript from the election where JD Vance or Trump said they were going to fix some US domestic crisis that Biden had created. They were lying through their teeth. Biden had already fixed the crisis. Trump's undone that work, and is now going around claiming to have fixed stuff. One example is how Trump is going to get a bunch of people to build factories in the US: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/C307RC1Q027SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/C307RC1Q027SBEA Biden also got the inflation caused by Trump's ZIRP + deficit spending under control, despite digging us out of COVID. (The inflation surge during Biden's term had already been predicted by most economists by the middle of Trump's first term. NPR even ran a series about "printing unlimited money bad" in 2018 or 2019.) Also, Trump inherited the lowest crime rates in living memory, and then declared a national emergency about surging crime.

wrs 1y ago

The term was "excited", not "successful and effective". The excitement for Obama vs. Biden was not even close. ("Yes we can!" vs. "Let's elect our doddering but normal 80ish white guy, not the crazy 80ish white guy!")

jacobolus 1y ago
I can't disagree with that. I was initially excited (and later pretty disappointed) with Obama, especially with the amount of time he wasted trying to engage with people obviously acting in bad faith, with the way he let himself be pushed around by folks who were aligned against his ideals, and with the extent to which he disengaged after leaving office. Clinton was sadly an even bigger disappointment. I had initially very low expectations of Biden, didn't vote for him in the 2020 primary, and was quite impressed with his actual governing.
- raw_anon_1111 1y ago
  What did he accomplish?
  - jacobolus 1y ago
    What topic areas specifically are you interested in? I'm assuming you don't want a list of hundreds of bullet points of small legislative or administrative changes. The most newsworthy things are stuff like getting us out of the forever wars in the Middle East, standing up to Putin and rallying NATO and other allies to support Ukraine, making big investments in American manufacturing and alternative energy, working to reign in large corporations and protect consumers and the public in a wide variety of ways big and small, protecting workers' salaries and fair treatment, improving access to healthcare and keeping costs down, protecting women's access to healthcare despite a hostile misogynist Supreme Court, working to relieve punishing student loans (again with opposition from the Court), ...
    - raw_anon_1111 1y ago
      The FTC and his war on corporations was a failure none of the lawsuits went anywhere and it made the environment worse for startups. Now VC funding is nowhere near the level it use to be outside of large AI companies because large tech companies are squeamish of acquisitions - lLimiting the path to successful exits. What they are doing now is hiring out all of the people they want from startups and leaving the undesirables in a lurch and decimating VCs investments - Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all used this playbook. The problem with “administrative changes” is that they can easily be undone. And he didn’t “protect women’s healthcare” at all. The red states are still seeing women die because doctors are afraid to perform abortions when the life of the mother is in danger and blue states aren’t - the status quo. The very reason that Biden is an inconsequential President was because everything he did was easily undone between his lack of willingness to step aside even though he and everyone else knew he should and trying to do things through executive orders. The Supreme Court is another symptom of old people not retiring when they should, dying on the bench allowing a Republican President to nominate replacements.