He has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since Kennedy, the second-largest healthcare bill since Johnson, and the largest climate change bill in history.
and none of it matters because the other side thinks the work of government is to do as little as possible for the people it fleeces.
And their propaganda has been so good for the last 60 years that even half the left believes it but think they’re immune to it. See motions to every thread in Lemmy
And yet the quality of life for Americans is still declining, while the wealth gap keeps growing.
Yep, and a bunch of the things Biden supporters want to tout are making this problem worse, because his economic legislation and climate legislation and healthcare legislation and all the rest is almost entirely just throwing taxpayer money at businesses and hoping it trickles down to us somehow
Narrator - It didn’t.
If at first you don’t succeed, give businesses more money and try again.
I would argue the quality has been improving as if late. But kind of hard to blame him for the fact that the world was gripped and massively disrupted a by a pandemic and the financial moves by the fed to stave off an even worse financial melt down led to high inflation. But we’re going in the right direction, even if it isn’t fast enough for some people.
Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation for most people. The wage increases reported are mostly driven by top earners. It isn’t moving at the bottom. Longer lines than ever at food pantries. I remember when Democrats used to at least pretend to give a shit about that stuff.
This has been a decades long problem that he has contributed to over his entire career.
He’s been ok. Way better than that last guy though!
I feel that he is mostly honest and wants to do the right thing but he doesn’t always get it right. At least he tries.
If he didn’t run a campaign against Bernie, I’d agree. Bernie could have done wonders for this country.
Not so subtle reminder that YOU are not immune to propaganda.
Stop confusing democrats/liberals with leftists.
Democrats will probably almost universally agree that he’s been a good president. Tribalism is a hell of a drug.
It’s the leftists that won’t. And speaking as a leftist, he’s done a lot better than I thought he was going to. He ended up pushing for more progressive ideas than I thought he would. Good for him. He’s been stymied by the courts and his own party on some of them. And that why I, as a leftist, think the democratic party is still (less) trash. They had a majority for two years. Did some stuff. Could have done more. You can be all “but but Manchin/Sinema” all you want, but I’ll bet all the money in my pocket against all the money in your pocket, than if Manchin and Sinema were to announce that yes, they’d vote to abolish the filibuster, there would be two other democratic senators who would come out and say no. And that’s fine as it relates to their world view. They’re liberals. They’re not leftists.
Dude blocked the strike, fucked the BBB and is supporting genocide.
Fuck Joe Biden.
Eh, I’m of two minds about the strike. On the one hand, he got the rail workers their sick days after the fact. On the other, he really pissed me off and threw labor under the bus by making it illegal (again) for them to strike. You can’t be a pro labor president and take away labors most powerful tool.
I don’t know anything about the BBB.
100% with you on Gaza.
the fact he made it illegal tells any leftist all we have to know
Your patriarchal assumptions of “he” are very telling
Is Biden not a “he”?
EDIT: Not trying to be a smartass I genuinely don’t understand what they’re trying to say here.
The person I was replying to originally said:
the fact he made it illegal tells any leftist all he has to know
They edited it after I commented without saying anything.
Ohhhhh ok. Appreciate the context thanks.
Democrats will probably almost universally agree that he’s been a good president.
Looks like he’s slid into around 60/40 approval within his own party. Indies have him 30 pts lower than that.
And speaking as a leftist, he’s done a lot better than I thought he was going to.
Okay, but what about if you’re speaking as an unaligned voter in a swing state?
Then I’m saying “at least he’s not openly fascist but the democratic party still fuckin sucks.”
I mean, I wish. But Democrats threw tens of millions of dollars to a “Pro-Trump” Dem Senate candidate in Tennessee. Mayor Adams, up in NYC, has echoed a host of the Trump “immigrant invasion” talking points, when confronted with bus-loads of women and children kidnapped and displaced by governors’ Abbot and DeSantis.
Then you’ve got Sinema in Arizona and Manchin in West Virginia and even John Ossoff of Georgia demanding hundred of millions for bigger and more heavily armed police forces to clamp down on any kind of public dissent in their historically red states. Our AG is once again refusing to close the torture camp in Gitmo, while Anthony Blinken runs around the Middle East peddling advanced weapons systems to extremist governments in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria and India.
You can “Trump would be worse” all you like, but this shit is truly awful on a scale its hard to overstate.
Pretty sure “but the democratic party still fuckin sucks” covers all that.
How do you describe any of this as less than open fascism?
If you ignore his genocide, maybe. Mussolini even made the trains run on time.
Maintaining the status quo in the face of looming danger does not make you a great president.
The best thing about Biden is that he is not Trump.
Also we’re not only supporting a genocide, we’re footing the bill.
Still the best president we’ve had since Obama
Obama is the only decent president I can name since wwii
Sounds like someone’s family wedding wasn’t droned.
You know, one thing I haven’t been able to find was how prominent the drone program was during the Bush administration. While Obama’s admin had more drone strike kills in like 1 year than did the whole of the Bush admin, one also has to question how many of the damned things were flying and launching missile strikes with civvie casualties during the Bush admin. If anyone has info on that, I’d like to read up.
Also, more drone strikes during 45 and 46 each than 44, too. But somehow this always gets glossed over. I don’t understand that.
I thought it was mostly about the prevalence of the technology. Bush was still in the era where we bombed family weddings.
Yeah. Drones allow for more targeted strikes. Drone warfare is scary and all, but is not like more civilians would have been alive today had Obama opted for more traditional strategies.
You can of course say America has no business intervening abroad in the first place. Fair enough, but by the time Obama entered into power the damage was already done. Anyone who thinks this is easy should take another look at Afghanistan.
America has gotten itself in a really shitty position. There’s no way of entering the white house and not leave with blood on your hands. But this whole Obama drone narrative is just willfully ignorant.
Underrated comment
“Actually you poors are having an amazing time and everything is great, you’re just too stupid to realize it.”
On average, wage growth has outstripped inflation in the last 2.5 years, so most people are better off, income-wise: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
Unemployment is near historic lows as well: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE
Stock market is currently insane, but that’s probably just an AI bubble.
If you hopped jobs yea sure you get a pay bump. Not if you stay.
So many butthurt socialists!
I used to think this as well. I was wrong. Even if Biden is reelected, there will be considerable work that will need to be done to halt our gradual descent into fascism. We need systemic change to our political and economic institutions to ensure they are fundamentally inclusive institutions. We must ensure majority rule in our democracy and enact socialist policies to both regulate and claim ownership of our economy. If we allow the flaws in our democracy and neoliberalism ideology to remain in place, then we will inevitably create an even larger fascist movement.
When Bernie lost the Democrat primary in 2016, I told my friend that they were being butt hurt over it when they didn’t want to support Hillary. Now, it’s obvious to me that so much more was at stake than just the aspirations of Bernie supporters. The people in the Republican party’s base that are knowingly supporting fascism didn’t spring up from the ground. Their attitudes and values were shaped by the neoliberal society we’ve been living under.
If we don’t show people a better society to live under while we have the chance, they will build a worse one. Not because they’re evil or unreachable. It’s because people are prone to internalize the flaws of their society as values. They are in a sense, working with the tools they’ve been given, but to everyone’s detriment. We must course correct as quickly as possible while we still have a democracy.
I think a lot of people are legitimately concerned about Biden’s ability to navigate us out of this situation. We cannot neoliberal our way out of fascism, as neoliberalism is how we got here. However Biden is the option we have at this point, so we need to vote for him in 2024 so we can at least have a chance to vote in a socialist in 2028.
Socialism will never work in America. Period. End of story. It’s well documented and researched fact. It’s barely only ever worked in smaller nations with considerably smaller populations.
This has been going on for years and for years the entire notion of a functioning socialist system in America has been proven to be a farce.
It’s well documented and researched fact.
This has been going on for years and for years the entire notion of a functioning socialist system in America has been proven to be a farce.
Then show sources.
It’s barely only ever worked in smaller nations with considerably smaller populations.
This inherently contradicts your argument. There is no principle, that has been proven with any math or science, that says the inclusive institutions that make up social democracies elsewhere in the world do not scale to a country the size of the US.
We’ve had numerous social programs over the years and economic regulations that are in line with socialist policies. Medicare, Obama Care, social security, and even things like public drinking fountains are all examples of this. We have laws on the books against monopolies and the government oversees corporate mergers. Unions used to be a powerful force for workers rights. While they are not full collective ownership of the means of the production, they are a step in the right direction and are in the middle of a resurgence thanks to Biden. Our society has already benefited from socialism despite people painstakingly refusing to acknowledge that.
The idea that socialism cannot work in America is an internalized value people pick up from living in our neoliberal society. It has nothing to do with historical, political, or economic facts.
ROFL! Always a manifesto of nonsense from you people.
We’re don’t here.
This article covers the concept of internalizing our society’s flaws as values. I highly recommend you read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/29/donald-trump-americans-us-culture-republican
Also, I recommend Robert Reich’s youtube channel. It should give you the context to reevaluate assumptions about society.
And if you need someone spicier then there is always Vaush.
is the profiteer of a few wars on his election campaign now?
As an employee at Raytheon, Mr. President Joe Biden has my full support.
Biden has been a fine president, but notably failed to do a number of things that are important to me such as legalizing marijuana, codifying into law RvW, ending Citizen’s United, increasing the minimum wage, etc. I like Joe Biden, and he’s way better than the other guy, but I wouldn’t say “great”.
Then vote Democrat across the board. He needs a majority in both the House and Senate for some of those, and a super majority to go against the Supreme Court afaik.
Voting matters. If you want results, Biden needs the numbers.
You mean like all those other times Democrats had majorities and, checks notes, delivered milquetoast Republican bills?
You mean that one time for 3 months during Obamas term, where they were focused on trying to get Healthcare reform in? Because there’s no other time in recent history where the dems controlled both houses with a dem potus
Yeah actually, because what we got was a repackaged healthcare bill that was written by none other than Obama’s presidential opponent Mitt Romney. It was a fucking godsend to insurance companies and hasn’t actually improved health outcomes for the average American. In fact if the current burnout working people in the Healthcare profession is anything to go by, this age of insurance is diametrically opposed to serving the public.
Or we could talk about Clinton’s pull yourself up by your boots straps impact on social safety nets and gutting of Wall Street and bank regulations maybe?
Don’t forget railroad buster Biden and Israel apologist Biden.
Still better than “million American deaths due to incompetence and pushing psuedo-science” trump though, don’t get me wrong.
Keep in mind, the Biden administration continued to negotiate on the unions behalf until the companies capitulated and gave sick days. The rail unions celebrated the victory and gave Biden credit.
The rail unions celebrated the victory and gave Biden credit.
There is a huge difference between union leaders and what they say on behalf of it’s members and the rank and file members themselves. Kneecapping rank and files power, their only power which is to withhold their labor, is not something that is celebrated.
The President cannot unilaterally do any of those things.
And the things he could do unilaterally (student loan forgiveness), he absolutely tried to do , but was cockblocked.
Absolutely. I mean, it’s utterly fascinating that people think the President can somehow overturn a Supreme Court decision (Citizens United). The civic literacy in this country is fucking awful, and it’s clear that a huge portion of our electorate doesn’t know or understand anything more complicated than a one-line soundbyte.
Honestly?
He has been fine, on the balance.I don’t like that he’s gone around Congress to sell weapons to Israel. The Palestine genocide is horrible, and it’s disgusting that he’s not doing everything he can to put a stop to it.
Side note: I know. The U.S. is morally contorting itself to replenish Israel’s weapons stocks because the U.S. needs Israel to be a regional bully to keep Iran and its proxies/the major oil suppliers in check while the U.S. and its European allies decarbonize their economies to a point where U.S. oil can supply them without causing domestic oil prices to spike. The U.S. doesn’t want Russia supplying them, so supporting a genocidal regime is the only palatable option - and Israel knows this, so they’re forcing the U.S. to be complicit.
But Biden leads the state dept, no? Why are their diplomats blocking the U.N. from stepping in as a peacekeeping force? He has other options than to be a pawn.Anyway.
My real problem is the Democratic Party. Polling shows that the average voter supports way more liberal policies than political parties do. But politicians tend to vote with economic elites, rather than the average person. And in this cherry-picked example, you can see voter turnout massively increased when people think their values are being represented (2018: Marijuana legalization, 2022: Abortion Rights.)Democrats had a majority in 2021/2022. They had the trifecta. They controlled the legislative and the executive.
They could have strengthened the VRA. They could have fixed campaign finance. They could have expanded the Supreme Court. They could have tried to do something about gerrymandering. (I know, states rights. Blech.) They could have rebalanced the House of Representatives. They could have made the temporary tax cuts for low earners under TCJA permanent, and’s made the permanent tax cuts for high earners temporary. They could have codified abortion rights. They could have amended the ACA to make it better. They could have forgiven student loans before it became a political mess.Nah. They whined about Manchin and Sinema – candidates their national and local parties supported. Said that’s why they couldn’t get anything meaningful done. Then they lost the house and now it’s just clown shoes all over again.
It’s not all the Democrats fault. Under the current system, it’s significantly easier to court a few monied interests – corporations that can chuck unlimited donations, or wealthy patrons that can spin up a PAC and launder their personal funds to you. It is easier. More money means they can devote more effort to court voters, spin narratives of good vs evil and how this election is the most important one. ‘It may be the last if we don’t vote blue no matter who!’
They didn’t fully create this system, but they are benefiting from it. They cater to the wealthy, make excuses to the voters for why they don’t do anything, and try just hard enough that they don’t lose elections. It’s why they chase the thin margins in “the middle” rather than disaffected liberal voters. So they can preserve a decaying status quo, rather than change it.Biden is the most prominent Democrat right now. All things being equal, he owns the Democratic Party’s failure to lead. And that includes their lack of action in 2021/2022 His successes are marred by the party’s failures. A referendum on him is as much a referendum on the Democratic Party as it is anything else. At least in my opinion.
I assume most others, regardless of whether or not they blame Biden or the party, feel the same. It might be a bit hasty to assume civic illiteracy if someone doesn’t take the time to name the individual sources of their frustration.
Are all this “wow Biden was actually the greatest president ever but we didn’t notice” news that started floating around a part of his upcoming election campaign?
I was curious because of how unashamedly propagandist this article is. So I clicked on the author link. It seems this is the only article he’s ever written for this website (I hesitate to call it a news outlet). Also, it says he’s a former republican political consultant now working for the Lincoln Project. That’s apparently the name of a moderate republican PAC that is trying to fight Trumpism.
So why would a political news website outright publish propaganda from a PAC without any commentary? I’ve never heard of the new republic before, but they seem to be an otherwise unremarkable progressive political magazine. I couldn’t say whether the new republic is getting paid by the PAC to publish this, or whether they just took it because it generally aligns with their own stated political views. I will say that, although it is mentioned at the bottom that the author currently works for the Lincoln Project, I had to really look for that. it also wasn’t clear to me at first this was a PAC. So in my opinion, proper journalistic ethical standards are not being upheld here.
Given the article’s origins, it’s pretty safe to say none of this is genuine. These are moderate republicans who hate Trump, trying desperately to destroy Trumpism. If they truly believed their own article they’d be democrats. And if you’re here wondering if the article is worth reading, I’d say it is practically fully content-free. It’s all just hopium.
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Good to know, thanks. I’m not too familiar with the American news media, although I know there’s a lot of it around. I checked them briefly and they didn’t seem all too different from e.g. Huffington Post or other similar sites, which is why I called them unremarkable. It’s interesting to see they have a long history.
I don’t think this materially affects any of my conclusions on the article itself though.
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You know it! I’m just thinking what’s the point? I don’t like Biden, but I gotta vote for him anyway cause the alternative is way worse. I DO NOT want to go back to seeing 24/7 news feeds about Trump doing something worse each day or playing golf for the nth time.
You know one of the few things I liked about Biden was that I was able to go days or sometimes weeks without hearing anything about him. Campaign seasons suck.
Yes, the Biden presidency has been blissfully “boring”. I might have hoped for better, but I’ll settle for stagnant compared to 2016-2020.
Boring? We are involved in two major regional wars with constant threat of escalation, global economic chaos, and the highest inflation in a generation. Fallout from a pandemic, the feds have been raising interest rates to the point the whole economy is fundamentally changing.
We are living through historic times. I feel like the world hasn’t been normal or “boring” since Dec 2019
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Most important election of our lives, fighting for the sake of our democracy, literally everyone from Russia to China to Saudi Arabia is out to get us so we have to stick together, don’t you care about climate change, don’t you care about immigration reform, don’t you care about student debts and health care?!!!
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Actually, the last four years have been incredibly normal. What are you even complaining about?
Can’t believe it is both the Best of Times AND the Worst of Times. Crazy.
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Background: I supported Bernie in the 2016 primaries; I ended up voting for Hillary. In 2020, Biden wasn’t even my 3rd pick in the Primaries (Warren, Sanders, maybe Buttigieg and even Steyer.). I still voted Biden, despite a clear lack of enthusiasm because I know how much easier it is to break and corrupt things than to simply maintain it or build upon a trillion-piece puzzle.
Overall, Biden has been a pretty great President if only for one simple fact: The genuine experience and expertise of his cabinet. When I think of Donnie, I think of Bill Barr, Richard Spencer, Mike Pompeo, and other scum of his cabinet. These people are psychopathic, smarter than Trump, and dangerous. While they’re incompetent in their actual roles, they leveraged their offices to incredibly nefarious ends.
The true stars of Biden’s administration has been his advisors and cabinet: Blinken, Yellen, Garland, Austin, Kirby, Bill Burns, Jake Sullivan, etc. These are the people that keep the machine running. Who actually take advice from reputable experts in respective fields, like Dr. Fauci.
So yes, given the bigger picture, Biden has been a great President; partly because of stability; partly because of contrast with chaos.
And folks, yes, it’s campaign season now. Expect a massive influx of ads and opinion pieces and a general attempt to drum up energy and awareness to a crucial election. Don’t shoot yourselves in the foot; the right has massive megaphones of propaganda they’re using every single fucking day to distort reality. Don’t be afraid to push back.
Don’t forget Betsy Devos, the education secretary who’s essentially never gone through public education, daughter of billionaire Edgar Prince.
A secretary of transportation Elaine Chao married to freakin Mitch McConnell of all people.
A Postmaster General Louis DeJoy with no experience at USPS who owns delivery companies that directly compete and contract with them who hasn’t been ousted yet…
People rag on Joe’s purported poor mental capabilities, but his power is from having effective, competent people in his cabinet who are not merely sycophantic conservative donors.
I knew I’d forget a bunch of terrible people… There were so many…
Don’t forget the blatant nepotism and incompetence from Ivanka and Kushner, etc.
For liberals, maybe. For leftists, fuck no.
In Europe, he’d be on the right
Anywhere, he would be. Using location as a barometer for left vs right, rather than the actual mechanics proposed, is bourgeois methodology.
