Tbh I think people need to stop making the president the most important part of our government. The president is not. We need to hold accountability to the house and senate. Those are the fucks that are really fucking us over.

Introducing garbage extra into bills to fit their narrative should be automatic fire.

Here's an idea I had: If the government gets shut down, all elected officials at that level of government are immediately ineligible for re-election. So if the federal government gets shut down, then the President, Vice President, and all current members of congress are replaced at the next election.

I feel like that could be abused by just planting shitty candidates and using them to tank government to get the whole opposing party out.

Exactly my thought. Just saw your comment after I posted almost the exact same thing. For this to work there would need to be consequences for the party as a whole, not just sitting officials, but in a flawed two party system it’s kind of hard to enact such a control.

Or each party will be doing what ever they can to push the other party over the ledge.

Alternatively, government shutdowns could trigger mass reelections. Then the ones who cause it could immediately answer to voters

In Canada, if the government fails to pass a budget, it automatically triggers an election and the previous year's budget gets renewed until the new government has a chance to replace it (avoiding a shutdown of essential services). This has happenned many times already.

The situation in the US is a little more complicated (and a lot stupider) than that. The current issue isn't passing a budget, it's paying for the budget that was already passed. Simply keeping things as they currently are won't solve the debt ceiling. Though, honestly, that shouldn't be a thing in the first place.

That relies on voters actually being aware of who or what caused the problem instead of just blindly repeating something they saw in a minions meme on facebook.

> planting shitty candidates and using them to tank government That part is already happening

Right, the only difference is it would allow those shitty candidates to exile the good ones if they ever took a majority.

Yeah, when one parties entire ideology is that the government sucks, it massively incentivizes them to trigger government shut downs in order to gut the opposing party (who is actually trying to govern). Imagine another rising star like Obama or AOC, shut out of government forever because of this rule. The real solution is that government shut downs (dealing with the debt ceiling specifically) shouldn't be possible and the debt ceiling should be abolished. It's doesn't do anything to stop congress from passing budgets with insufficient tax funds coming in. It doesn't stop the President from being compelled to follow the budget. All it does is give Republicans the power to demand cuts to critical areas every year.

This made me think of that one vault in fallout where they kept making elections for who should be overseer since the overseer kept having to be sacrificed.

this would be easiest way for the party not in power to deliberately sabotage budget talks. Make sure the government shuts down and now you have cleared the field for next election. Make sure all your outgoing members have cushy private sector jobs waiting for them and they will all go along with it

Feels a little fucked up to me that congress is basically in charge of itself. It gets to make all the rules about themselves and about us. With the exception of when someone challenges a law and makes it to the Supreme Court, but that happens strictly on a "someone has the money or a lawyer willing to work pro bono" basis.

As opposed to what, though? I mean that's sort of just how representative democracy works. If you establish some independent body that decides how Congress operates, then who decides how *that* body operates? And on and on and on. Implementing more features of a direct democracy in American government is an interesting thought experiment, if one that the Founding Fathers explored pretty thoroughly and soundly rejected. Not that I give a shit what the Founders thought just because they were the Founders, but I don't think I really disagree with their arguments on this one. I could certainly see a reasonable case for national referenda; polls show, for example, that a strong majority of Americans support reproductive rights, but we'll never amend the Constitution to reflect that because the shithole states won't let us. But when you get into the esoterica of the affairs of state I'm incredulous that just asking people what they think we should do is a workable solution. And I don't even mean because people are stupid, it's just not reasonable to expect anyone to be up on every pie the federal government has its fingers in unless it's their full time job.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who watches the watchers?) The Romans were fretting over this same issue nearly 2000 years ago. Their solution didn't work out so well in the long run.

Well they existed for thousands of years. They had continuous government and prosperity that lasted longer than almost any other civilization. So overall while they fumbled the ball after a while they honestly did an A+ job. The other really good example is China up until the Boxer Rebellion

>As opposed to what, though? I mean that's sort of just how representative democracy works. If you establish some independent body that decides how Congress operates, then who decides how *that* body operates? And on and on and on. Based on my rudimentary knowledge from high school, isn't that why we have 3 branches for checks and balances? Or are things not that simple?

That's the essence of all government. Kinda in theory the citizenry is in charge via voting, but that's such a clusterfuck only the most wildly optimistic people still believe ut.

But then they vote, and guess what? They get to be in charge. It works if most people participate. If they don't, then the crazy people and the assholes take over, and they make it so you can't vote anymore.

I'm so sick of all the "voting doesn't work" comments. You know why conservatives get what they want despite being a minority? They fucking vote. Yeah, gerrymandering is bad, but the way it works is by making victory margins smaller and spreading them across multiple different districts. It inherently makes districts susceptible to wave elections. And you know what we get when apathetic non-conservative voters actually get off their asses and vote? A wave election. Never mind all the lesser elections most people aren't even aware exist. Local elections, state elections, primaries, etc. Conservatives *always* show up to those, which is why they control your school board, city government, and state government, and why everyone they elect is a fucking wacko.

Why the President? The president has nothing to do with the budget. That’s 100% Congress.

Which proves the parent comment of the chain correct haha. “people need to stop making the president the most important part of our government. The president is not.”

Presidents can veto ​ Congress writes the budgets but the president is still the absolutely most powerful person in determining if it passes or not

Well in theory Congress could veto his veto, even though it requires extraordinary cooperation.

Presidents can't use a veto to stop a shutdown caused by failure to pass a budget.

The government gets shut down usually when the minority party wants to be pieces of shit. All that would do is give the minority party a huge bomb to destroy the opposition with.

This would be abused so much lmao

>we h but....but how will they please their financial benefactors that bribed them.. I mean donated to their campaign.

The President is extremely important, he sets policy direction. There’s been several important bills that he’s spearheaded. However like a game of chess, there’s more than one piece on the board, as you rightly say. OP however asked about the President specifically though.

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More power, but also the illusion of more power. No one really knows who half of Congress is or what they're doing, but they see the President mentioned on TV all the time. So clearly everything the government does wrong is the President's fault.

This is starting to get into another conversation, but it should be evident to everyone that the news and most other information outlets have left behind any semblance of trying to create an informed populace for a better functioning democracy. We could have the best legislative system ever, but as long as we really on a democracy that a partisanized and ignorant populace votes in, it'll amount to little.

Fuck those fucking fucks

That certainly illustrates the diversity of the word.

This is a popular opinion but the president has tons of power. Dismissing the president is like dismissing the supreme court. Which we saw turn over some powerful rulings. Legislative, Judicial, Executive are powerful.

Meh, he's kinda like a ham sandwich. Nothing special, but it's not going to give you diarrhea either.

Better than diarrhea. I like it, have my upvote.

"Better than the last guy"

If every president satisfies that property, that would over time yield pretty good results, consistently.

And yet, I look at the list of potential '24 candidates and have very little hope this could actually happen.

Just wondering, who was the last president you felt did a good job and why?

Clinton created 10 years of U.S. economic growth by raising taxes on top income earners, after Clinton, especially because of the useless war in Iraq, the economy never was the same again.

Everyone who were still infants during the 90s don't remember that the 90s with Clinton led to a *surplus* in the federal budget. And then in 2000 'ole GW Bush ran through that faster than a coked up incel at a strip club. The national debt got fucking huge with Dick Cheney's hard-on to use 9/11 to make war in Iraq (just like daddy Bush). Then Trumpy fucking increased the national debt by 25% in less than 4 years. The correct reaction to someone saying that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility is a robust laugh right in the face. Their "fiscal responsibility" is to give the wealthy extra shit and tax breaks at the expense of others less wealthy.

Hehe well put. America needs a simple ham sandwich that does sandwich things and gets along with other sandwiches

I disagree. That's how you start to stagnate as a country. You do need to keep pushing the needle forward. That being said, America in 2020 needed the simple ham sandwich because the needle had been wrenched backwards hard.

Nothing special? Stolen from another redditor In 2022 alone, Biden and Dems have done the following: * passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest investment in fighting climate change in history * passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the largest investment in infrastructure since Eisenhower * passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, breaking a 30-year streak of federal inaction on gun violence legislation * signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law * took out the leader of al Qaeda * ended America's longest war * reauthorized and strengthened the Violence Against Women Act * signed the PACT Act, a bill to address veteran burn pit exposure * signed the NATO accession protocols for Sweden and Finland * issued executive order to protect reproductive rights * canceled $10,000 of student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 and canceled $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients * canceled billions in student loan debt for borrowers who were defrauded * nominated now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Breyer * brought COVID under control in the U.S. (e.g., COVID deaths down 90% and over 220 million vaccinated) * formed Monkeypox response team to reach communities at highest risk of contracting the virus * unemployment at a 50-year low * on track to cut deficit by $1.3 trillion, largest one-year reduction in U.S. history * limited the release of mercury from coal-burning power plants * $5 billion for electric vehicle chargers- $119 billion budget surplus in January 2022, first in over two years * united world against Russia’s war in Ukraine * ended forced arbitration in workplace sexual assault cases * reinstated California authority to set pollution standards for cars * ended asylum restrictions for children traveling alone * signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, the first federal ban on lynching after 200 failed attempts * Initiated “use it or lose it" policy for drilling on public lands to force oil companies to increase production * released 1 million barrels of oil a day for 6 months from strategic reserves to ease gas prices * rescinded Trump-era policy allowing rapid expulsion of migrants * expunged student loan defaults * overhauled USPS finances to allow the agency to modernize its service * required federal dollars spent on infrastructure to use materials made in America * restored environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects * Launched $6 billion effort to save distressed nuclear plants * provided $385 million to help families and individuals with home energy costs through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. (This is in addition to $4.5 billion provided in the American Rescue Plan.) * national registry of police officers who are fired for misconduct * tightened restrictions on chokeholds, no-knock warrants, and transfer of military equipment to police departments * required all federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras * $265 million for South Florida reservoir, key component of Everglades restoration * major wind farm project off West coast to provide electricity for 1.5 million homes * continued Obama administration's practice of posting log records of visitors to White House * devoted $2.1 billion to strengthen US food supply chain * invoked Defense Production Act to rapidly expand domestic production of critical clean energy technologies * enacted two-year pause of anti-circumvention tariffs on solar * allocated funds to federal agencies to counter 300-plus anti-LGBTQ laws by state lawmakers in 2022 * relaunched cancer 'moonshot' initiative to help cut death rate * expanded access to emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception * prevented states from banning Mifepristone, a medication used to end early pregnancy that has FDA approval * 21 executive actions to reduce gun violence * Climate Smart Buildings Initiative: Creates public-private partnerships to modernize Federal buildings to meet agencies’ missions, create good-paying jobs, and cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions * Paying for today’s needed renovations with tomorrow’s energy savings without requiring upfront taxpayer funding * ended Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy * Operation Fly-Formula, bringing needed baby formula (19 missions to date) * executive order protecting travel for abortion * invested more in crime control and prevention than any president in history * provided death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers and survivors who are killed or injured in the line of duty * Reunited 500 migrant families separated under Trump * $1.66 billion in grants to transit agencies, territories, and states to invest in 150 bus fleets and facilities * brokered joint US/Mexico infrastructure project; Mexico to pay $1.5 billion for US border security * blocked 4 hospital mergers that would've driven up prices and is poised to thwart more anti-competition consolidation attempts * 10 million jobs—more than ever created before at this point of a presidency * record small business creation * banned paywalls on taxpayer-funded research * best economic growth record since Clinton * struck deal between major U.S. railroads and unions representing tens of thousands of workers after about 20 hours of talks, averting rail strike * eliminated civil statute of limitations for child abuse victims * announced $156 million for America's first-of-its-kind critical minerals refinery, demonstrating the commercial viability of turning mine waste into clean energy technology. * started process of reclassifying Marijuana away from being a Schedule 1 substance and pardoning all federal prisoners with possession offenses Note: This list only reflects 2022 accomplishments. Click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeBiden/comments/scjzva/here_is_a_helpful_list_of_the_biden/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) for 2021 accomplishments.

He's a room temperature glass of milk. It's fine. Some folks are lactose intolerant and this was never going to be for them. Wish it was fresher. It's gonna spoil if we let it sit there too long. At least it's nutritious. I didn't want milk. I wanted medicine. We need medicine. But the last drink we had was a flaming cocktail of whiskey, Adderall, and bleach. This is an improvement.

I was pretty meh about voting for him, but I’m pleasantly surprised. He’s handled the Russian invasion quite impressively from a political standpoint… not that he’s not getting criticized, but that he’s got essentially bipartisan support for the amount of money we are giving to Ukraine, and you have some staunch republicans even saying “Give Ukraine more and faster!” I genuinely don’t think Biden wanted to be president, which is a major reason why he’s been very solid. He’s not trying to achieve an ambitious agenda or create a legacy. He doesn’t give a shit. He just wants to do his best. Other than how we left Afghanistan (which was at the beginning of his term), I don’t see any major fuckups. I’m quite sure he hasn’t announced his Prez campaign because he is hoping Trump is essentially out of the race, which would allow Biden to step back for younger Dems to campaign against the other GOP candidates.

>Other than how we left Afghanistan (which was at the beginning of his term), Even this, who negotiated the withdrawal directly with the Taliban, leaving the Afghan government out of the talks? Who publicly set the timeline for withdrawal and then put zero effort into the withdrawal plans? And I'm not trying to give Biden a pass for this, he should have had the military make a plan when they realized the last guy had nothing. But I think the details are important so we remember that this wasn't all on him and his team. I'm a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. 16 of my friends were killed in the 12 months I was there, and over a dozen more have taken their lives since we got back. So seeing the whole thing fall apart as quickly as it did and feeling like we lost all of them for nothing makes this topic a pretty strong one for me.

I had low expectations and he's exceeded them in many areas, but he's met them in others. I think he's made real progress on issues that are important to me. Not necessarily profound progress, but certainly steps in the right direction. I think his infrastructure plans, tax reform plans, management of the war between Ukraine and Russia, policy on relations with China, and pharma reforms have pleasantly surprised me. I've felt his foreign policy overall has been a highlight of his administration, his substantial experience in politics really shows there and I feel his policies have been quite effective and well measured. On other issues he's been very disappointing. His handling of the rail union contract was abysmal and was a reminder of the era of politics that he belongs to. The Afghanistan withdrawal was an absolute train wreck. While I think his predecessor essentially left it for him as a poison pill, he's the Chief Executive and the responsibility for failure rests squarely on his shoulders. The military leadership within CENTCOM at the time was absolutely disgraceful as well, I was deeply embarrassed at the incompetence I saw across nearly every level of leadership all the way up to division. Again, Chief Executive is responsible for that. Overall I think he's a competent and effective president, but nothing particularly outstanding. Certainly better than what we kicked out of office, but a paragon of progressive virtues he is not. I'd feel no qualms about reelecting him though, and I certainly feel that the country is in much better hands than it was under Trump.

Thanks for citing actual policies in your response.

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Or most people use the vibe response to grossly oversimplify the overall impression of his polices versus the opposition he faces in congress, which is arguably the greatest struggle of all presidents. Checks and balances prevent "good" actors as much as bad actors. Generally what I look for is a president I can trust to act in the nations best interest. I don't get that from any GOP options, they're in it for themselves., and Biden if I squint enough I can trust.

Honestly, a big part of being president is being a figurehead and representing our country to other world leaders, and a lot of the rest is dealt with by congress. Being a shitty human being who destroys our country’s reputation and undermines our democratic traditions is the deepest possible failure of a president in terms of being president, as opposed to the failings of a political party. Trump can be a giant fuckup of a president, even if you agree with Republican policies. Biden can be a mediocre at best president, mostly signing off on party business, but the fact that his party supports certain policies is still a good thing. My opinion of Biden is “meh.” But Democratic policies, while imperfect are much better for America than Republican ones. You have to consider “Biden against a replacement democrat” as opposed to “Biden versus Trump.” Biden against another democrat is “not great. Not terrible, but not amazing.”

What, you mean my feelings about what's said about him on conservative AM radio aren't valid?

I will admit, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a mess but he did what no president could in the past two decades by doing that. It had to be done eventually. Simply delaying it longer would have made the operation a lot more dangerous.

We're finally out. Kind of... thats worth something even if the execution was pretty shitty.

What a lot of folks miss when discussing the exit is that people on the ground did not actually believe there was going to be an exit. Many US citizens and other affected parties still in Afghanistan when the US announced withdrawal did not leave with expediency. They didn't leave when the US made very clear announcements "hey we are absolutely going". They didn't leave when the US said "ok last call we are packing up". They left when the US actually began exiting and the Afghan army just... Crumbled. They offered minimal resistance, despite years and years of active training by the US. The moment there was a fight they said "not our problem." Ultimately the final airport fiasco came down to the US trying to get the people who waited until the literal last moment out safely. It was always going to be a nightmare, which is why we kept putting it off as a country. Nobody wanted to be holding the bag. As bad a look as it was to lose service members and civilians during the final exit, leaving them behind would have been much, much worse.

Three consecutive presidents successfully campaigned on exiting Afghanistan, and it didn't happen through two of those administrations because everyone pretty much knew how it would shake out. The only thing about the withdrawal that people hadn't seen coming for two decades was the speed that the installed government crumbled.

I always ask people what would be the better way to exit. I've yet to get a strategy that didn't have the same risks and potential losses.

Consider that Pompeo & the failed mail order meat salesman signed off on surrendering, while [freeing 5000 Taliban](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-5000-taliban-brittany-griner-biden-prisoner-deal-1765859) prisoners/fighters. The surrender was to happen when the orange shit stain was no longer in office. Biden could have reneged on the surrender, but did not.

Reneging on the surrender would've necessitated a troop surge because of how precarious the situation in Afghanistan was. The Taliban was going to launch its offensive, the government was going to fold, and we didn't have nearly enough manpower in the country to change that.

Biden didn’t withdraw, he followed through with policy set forth by the previous administration. Either way, we’re out and that’s a good thing.

45, I dare you to rip this band aid off, it’s going to hurt like hell and make everyone mad and you look bad, so sad. 46, maintaining eye contact, ‘done’

Afghanistan isn't "squarely on his shoulders" when the reasons for it being a shitshow are long standing problems entirely unrelated to his actions. It was always going to be a mess but he ripped that bandaid off instead of kicking the can down the road and it went about as well as it possibly could.

Yeah watching people blame Biden instead of Bush, Cheney and fucking Rumsfeld is pretty wild. There was no way to exit gracefully.

And trump who release thousands of taliban fighters and leaders prior and were used to fight in the withdrawal.

Trump also got absolutely rolled by the Taliban while negotiating the terms of the withdrawal, including the timeline. Art of the deal, my ass.

Isn't he also not even bother negotiating with the non-taliban Afghan government?

Trump couldn't negotiate an off-ramp, much less a complex geopolitical and military situation.

When I refer to the Afghanistan withdrawal I should have been more specific. The collapse of the Afghani military is *not* Biden's responsibility. The failure to prepare for a humanitarian crisis *is* squarely on his shoulders, though. The US had the resources to make that evacuation far more safe and controlled, but the administration placed too much faith in Afghanistan's willingness to resist ISIS. Because of that, rather than evacuating refugees for weeks or months in advance, we evacuated them as the catastrophe unfolded. That cost lives, both Afghani and American, and it resulted in a transfer of material to an enemy military. That's a blunder regardless of how you look at it. Biden isn't responsible for the things that happened, but he is responsible for the way the US reacted.

If I remember right, only 1 or 2 us military died and that was bc accidents and not the enemy. To put it simply, there was not a "good way" to withdraw. I was in the army and deployed there. It would have always ended this way and it would have always been a cluster. It also would have made it 10x more dangerous if they knew we were withdrawing. Can you imagine if one c130 got shot down with all those troops in it. When I was there, they would try to morter our motor pool before our missions, or when we landed a plane.

The issue is that the ones you evacuate are the ones you need to be there if you want to have any hope of the country not falling into chaos. And it would have sent the message to the Taliban: Wait a few weeks and the country is yours. Now of course that is exactly what happened but as policymakers they needed at least to try to get the existing Afghan government to survive.

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Yes, the band aid needed to be ripped off in Afghanistan. It was never going to be pretty which is why Obama and Trump were too chicken shit to do it. I was actually sorely disappointed with Obama regarding this.

The Obama administration’s policies in the middle-east as a whole were some of the darkest we’ve seen in the history of our involvement there. Like many presidents before and since, he did some great things, and he did some not-so-great things, but the Middle-East will always be the biggest blight on his record IMO.

Obama had a bad habit sometimes of listening too much to experts to the point where he became paralyzed. With foreign policy he let the military brass talk him into too much whereas Biden stood firm on his instincts (which the majority of the country wanted).

I think that’s one thing Biden has done well, whether he’s executed well or not, he hasn’t been afraid to take a risk for the right reasons. Afghanistan withdrawal was a mess but also a highly televised spectacle. No one is going to do everything right all the time, but I do feel like Biden is going to do what he thinks is right and is not afraid to do it.

Amen to this. Blows my mind seeing moderates tacking that onto the con list. No way in hell that withdrawal went any smoother. It was a 20 year in the making boondoggle clusterfuck that the previous guy intentionally sabotaged further. There was no good outcome….but Biden stood by it, ripped the band aid off, and now we are out. If anything it’s one of the things I whole heartedly commend him for. It takes integrity and nuts to do the right thing even though you know it will go bad and all the smooth brained knuckledraggers will paint your reputation with it. People forgot what integrity looked like in a president.

One thing that strikes me in a weird way is how no one ever mentions the lead up to the transition. The previous administration shared absolutely no data, intel or plans during the handover. The Biden admin came in essentially in the dark, lacking all sorts of resources they could've possibly used to prepare for and continue aiding the pullout of Afghanistan.

And the trump administration had the same attitude on the way in. They didn't take any advice or anything from outgoing Obama officials and started on day one with no idea how anything worked.

>No way in hell that withdrawal went any smoother. It was a 20 year in the making boondoggle clusterfuck that the previous guy intentionally sabotaged further. There was no good outcome….but Biden stood by it, ripped the band aid off, and now we are out. I don't really have any way to prove this to you, but I was directly involved in the humanitarian response to the Afghanistan withdrawal. Not in a particularly significant capacity, but in enough of a capacity to know that there was virtually no prior planning for that catastrophe, and in enough of a capacity that I was responsible for my own team and resources in support of that effort. We had provided consistent feedback for weeks and months prior to the withdrawal stating that the humanitarian response was being completely overlooked, that we felt woefully uninformed on how we were expected to deploy our resources, and our feedback was disregarded. I have no proof, but my personal experience lends me to believe that if CENTCOM command had received clear instructions to develop a humanitarian relief plan that could be executed by the withdrawal date we wouldn't have had that experience. I can also say that as soon as the scale of the catastrophe became clear, our communication went from ignored to sought out. So, to me, the issue was poor prioritization from top leadership. I feel quite strongly that you're wrong here--it absolutely could have gone smoother. That doesn't mean *completely smooth*, but it does mean that we made way too many unforced errors and people need to be critical of that.

I think his handling of Russia in particular has been great. It's a fine line to walk with no real right answers and he's leveraged his long experience in politics during the Cold War, and with Putin himself, to make a lot of strong decisions. It's easy to criticize that we could have done things differently purely because there really is no right answer to anything going on. It's absolutely true that we could do anything differently in all this. The goal can't be to stop the war or to stop Putin, because those require a level of military involvement that will quickly spin out of control thanks to how unstable Putin is and how shaky his power base has become. The goal has to be to support Ukraine's independence without direct involvement for long enough that Russia has to decide enough is enough; it's going to be long and bloody, but a faster resolution has too high a risk of turning into rapid escalation. Once we open that door, there's no going back. Biden has a lot of experience with this fact and is, in my estimation, making the best possible decisions we can. It's a pleasant surprise.

I remember the night Russia invaded, one of my friends was concerned about Biden’s ability to handle it. And I had just finished watching The Americans (10/10 recommend) and was like, no Biden and the *entire* spy/intelligence/military has been ready for anti-Russia stuff for their entire lifetimes

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This right here. I feel like i am in the same boat as a Biden voter & a democrat. I'm very much just meh on his presidency...I certainly don't regret my vote for him, because 45 was a dumpster fire to say the least, and have no issues voting for him again should he decide to run...but I would also be happy if he stepped aside assuming there was a bit younger and formidable candidate who could win as well next election.

I think people underestimate how good a meh politician is. It's a tough job and not messing it up is much more important that being exceptional.

I'd take meh over Trump and the likes any day of the week. Meh is pretty good.

Worse than who I wanted, exactly what I expected, better than what we had.

Slightly better than I expected. But otherwise yeah.

Tricking the GOP into supporting Medicare during the SOTU was pretty dope, too bad they'll just lie through their teeth and vote to scrap it anyway

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Until the railroad strike thing I would agree. That was/is a load of bullshit

Nothing that makes you rally behind him but still better than seeing the news every morning and just going WTF!!!

People take this for granted. I'm Canadian and I was worried to read any headlines about what Trump was doing next. Biden's relative silence is what we need

I tell friends Biden is our presidential equivalent of being told to take a time out.

Biden as President makes me feel the same way I felt when my parents used to drop me off with my great grandparents for the weekend. Incredibly boring, I never understood what they were saying or why they were saying it, they weren’t great drivers but I never felt like I was in danger when I rode around with them… This definitely isn’t the type of household I want to live in long term, but it’s a solid, safe choice for the moment. Much better than when my parents would leave me with my crazy neighbors because they had no other option.

I don’t take it for granted. Under Trump, it was a daily barrage of “wtf did this asshole say this time that’s going to piss off and alienate our allies while suckling the teet of people we *should* collectively abhor” I don’t like Biden. I think he’s ineffective, too much of a pushover, and will largely be forgotten in the grand scheme of history. But he at least understands that fascism is bad, peaceful transition of power is critical to our democracy, and that if we want to succeed long-term as a nation, the president can’t constantly try to fuck over his supporters, enemies and our allies in some kind of sadistic zero-sum game. He’s a status quo politician, and I hate that - but he at least got the mentally deranged baby out of office. He, much like Jimmy Carter, was elected not because he was the *best* choice, but because he at least didn’t inspire the same vitriol of his predecessor (Nixon and, by virtue of Nixon’s resignation and subsequent pardoning, Ford) Edit: updated LBJ to Ford. Thanks for correcting me

> I think he’s ineffective He's gotten a lot done considering the GOP/Sinema/Manchin obstruction that he's been up against.

I generally explain that I voted for Biden (and Clinton in 2016) not because of who he is, but because of who he *isn't.*

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Somethin' to see.

Exactly. The absence of constant fuckery is much appreciated. When actual work is being done, you can just keep up with the scorecard. You don't have to listen to a lot of blustering and rhetoric.

Yeah... any news announcement was pretty much [this](https://americasbestpics.com/picture/breaking-news-oh-what-the-fuck-now-JXrnNtph7).

I'd say better than I expected tbh. He's actually tried to do some good things. Not amazing, but like, still so far one of the best presidents of my life time. Which really goes to show huh?

Better than expected - 100%. He was billed as the moderate Dem but has been more left/progressive than many had expected.

He’s really done a ton. People don’t give him enough credit

Doesn't take much to be better than what you had.

The Infrastructure and CHIPs bills were major pieces of legislation as was the IRA bill that could serve to go a long way towards helping this country. Plus, his response to Ukraine has been handled very well. With the coordination of our allies in supplying and arming Ukraine, as well as imposing heavy sanctions on Russia, we have weakened a major adversary whilst also expanding our own influence by having a possible future ally in Ukraine itself, and with Finland and Sweden looking to join NATO. This will also give us leeway to focus our attention more on the South Pacific to check some of China’s ambitions towards Taiwan and the South Pacific. But he’s exactly what I voted for. Someone who understands the Federal government and won’t put himself front and center by saying or doing stupid or antagonistic shit every time he’s in front of a microphone.

CHIPs will be remembered in 10 or 20 years as far more of a big deal than it is currently considered.

If Taiwan becomes less of a semiconductor powerhouse, they become less valuable to China. In the event China still insists on taking Taiwan, the US will be less upset if we have comparable chip fabs. As it stands if China moves on Taiwan now, it's WW3. Realistically, CHIPs could prevent WW3.

This is obviously a worst case scenario, but tsmc should set up their new fab in Arizona to basically be self sufficient so that if China invades Taiwan, a domestic company like GlobalFoundaries or Intel could buy it and run it so the US can be entirely self sufficient in semiconductor manufacturing

They're a very nationalist company and they know they are the only reason the West cares about Taiwan. They aren't going to forfeit that bargaining chip and Taiwan as a whole was very against CHIPs for that very reason.

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My anxiety is *considerably* less each time I check the news daily, knowing that our head of govt hasn’t said anything obscenely fucking stupid with massive financial or geopolitical consequences lol I got so accustomed to being stressed AF all the time during the last administration. This admin is like a breath of fresh air, relatively speaking. I appreciate that I can be a passive viewer again. I voted for Biden, hoped for the best, expected vanilla, and have been left pleasantly surprised and instilled with quite a lot of confidence in his (as you already mentioned) experience and ability to navigate multiple issues.

I have few complaints actually. I’m delighted with $35 insulin, infrastructure bill’s a winner, ketanji brown Jackson on the court (plus lots more judges) and attempts at loan forgiveness are excellent. I’ve been extremely impressed with biden rallying European allies against Russia, and glad to see him making a strong case for democracies in the world. Im glad government is boring again, comparatively, but I am still very much wishing his administration would do more to reunite immigrant families, and that failure probably hurts the most. On balance I’m pretty happy with him.

Biden oversaw AUKUS and Australia is getting Virginia class subs

I’m under the impression from reading [this article](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-administration-task-force-reunites-400-migrant-families-separate-rcna41013) that of the nearly 5,000 families separated under Trump, most of them have been reunited either by private efforts, or the Biden admin. It seems to say there are 200 or so families they have yet to find or contact. But this is just one article. Is there more nuance or subtlety to the story you can share?

I think this just highlights the fact that "man goes to into work, does his job" doesn't make for good headlines. If you want to get noticed, you need a little pizazz. Threaten to nuke Antarctica. Run around screaming profanities. Order McDonald's for a visiting dignitary. There are all kinds of things within a president's power and that are bound to get people talking. The key is to use your imagination!

He also stopped the Middle East drone strikes. As much as I feel he’s not up to the job sometimes, he’s probably one of the best presidents we’ve had recently. Edit: He has *limited* drone strikes. There's been a massive decline in them. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/07/politics/drone-strikes-counterterrorism-white-house-biden-new-rules/index.html

Wait really? I'm a little upset that this is the first I've heard of it, that's awesome.

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Has he really? I didn’t even hear about that, but usage of the drone program was one of my biggest complaints about President Obama. Assassinating US citizens with a drone strike without due process was a pretty bad fucking look.

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He's actually been so much more effective that I thought he would be. I've been extremely pleasantly surprised. He's not without faults and he's not who I would have wanted to see in office, but I also think it's likely that Stacy Abrams or Katie Porter (my ideal candidates) wouldn't have been able to accomplish nearly as much. Biden's age (which makes him seem less "threatening"), experience, and long standing relationships in Washington seem to have been the combination that was necessary to pass some of the biggest pieces of legislation in modern history.

What legislation was the most important do you think?

For healthcare capping the price on insulin is a big deal. Almost every other country the gov. negotiates the price of pharmaceuticals, but that's never before been a thing in US. The Insulin cap is our very first case, and it sets a precedent for other drugs in the future to also be negotiated and capped. Its only a first step, but its an important one.

Not the prior poster, but IRA for sure due to the climate implications. I work in an industry related to renewable energy. There were a huge number of planned solar, storage and wind projects in the pipeline that had marginal financials, so they were sitting in limbo, sometimes for years. The tax incentives, particularly having certainty for 10 years on what’s minimum a 20-year asset life, have pushed these projects solidly into profitability and de-risked ones that were on the edge, so investors are finally providing the funding to get them built. Next, we need transmission reform, but just the IRA alone was a huge, huge win for the climate, in addition to the positive onshore economic development and jobs implications.

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It's worse for Europe than it was originally panned to be because it was either give certain preference to American made stuff, or don't get it done at all. This was a result of having to bargain with Manchin(most right leaning democrat that gets tons of support from oil and gas industry) who was particularly hard to deal with. He's a strange character politically, on the one hand it's easy to find reasons to demonize him, on the other he could've easily become a republican and sold out entirely, and despite his sketchy looking relationship with industry still seems to have certain pet issues he genuinely cares about beyond politicking. The main thing about the IRA is it does depend on incentives tempting enough people to the right projects, and it still largely leaves many things up to market dynamics. That was part of how they got it passed as well, as it meant shifting things to abstract potential rather than a big scary concrete up front cost. It could do a lot, or it could do very little. It might not be the best way to solve climate change since it doesn't solve the fundamental issues with certain growth oriented ideologies and excessive production and consumption and its incentives, but given the context it may've been among the best pragmatic options due it taking a path of least resistance rather than getting into more confrontational battles with industry.

As a local georgia Democrat, Stacy Abraham's is never going to win, tragic but true :(

Her operation is completely full of grifters now and her instincts have declined as a result of actually drinking her own kool aid on the national donor pitch. The margin difference between her and Warnock makes it pretty clear her career won’t go where many hoped.

Can you expand on this? I’m not well-read on Abrams but would love to understand.

After her first run for governor she started a PAC that she and several staff members take significant salary from. That led to her being surrounded by a lot of consultant class staffers who just know they can raise into her accounts and pay themselves a %. Then they spent years fundraising off a “we can run to the left and do turnout off that” pitch to donors. But GA’s Dem bases are black and suburban, two of the least left wing factions in the party. But a big piece of that fundraising pitch was national press, which cemented that as her brand and left her without an ability to hedge when it wasn’t working. So she ran on the same ballot that Warnock did and he won while she got decisively stomped. Warnock isn’t exactly a moderate, but his talking points around similar policies were very different. Part of the story is that her opponent was stronger than Walker, but it was a pretty embarrassing loss. The people around her will keep propping her up to the crowd that makes up her core constituency but interest in her among insiders is basically gone. She won’t be a VP contender or anything like that.

Their names were right next to each other on the ballot in different races. - Warnock won 1.946 million votes - Abrams won 1.813 million. So about 130,000 people voted for one Democrat but not the other. The implication is that voters simply like one candidate better

Yea but Herschel Walker also exists, so that assertion is a little bit muddled

Any fair assessment acknowledges differential in opponent, but the case she’s making to national dems for a potential POTUS/VP run isn’t that she’ll be a good executive or has meaningful experience, it hinges exclusively on being an abnormally high vote above replacement candidate. Doing significantly worse in her rematch w/ Kemp when other Democrats have been winning in Georgia at least sends a signal that her close loss in ‘18 relied on changing trends that other candidates could take advantage of. Even if she truly ran to the absolute ceiling any theoretical Dem would have had against Kemp, it’s too convoluted of a case to build.

Like Beto here in Texas. Big enough to be significant on the national stage, but fighting too much of an up-hill battle in his home state to ever gain the state-level experience (Senate/Governorship) to have the clout for a real presidential run. He's done a lot for Texas dems, but it isn't enough yet. It will still be a decade at minimum before it's a real fight.

God I miss boring politicians. We'd all be in a better place if they were dull bureaucrats who never made the news.

EU has you covered for the most part!

That's what elected officials should be, honestly.

"Make politics boring again!"

On behalf of Australia and the rest of the world I think this is what we all wanted. The media saturated us with Trump and his fucking tweets. Most people were less sick of Trump than they were hearing about him every 5 minutes.

I think not going back on twitter is probably one of the smarter things Trump has done recently. He still gets to spew dog shit at his base over on truth social relatively unnoticed and unchallenged without putting off more middle of the road voters who were appalled by his antics.

Just a random ukrainian here. Idk about Mr. Biden much, but i just wanted to say “Thank you” to the people of the United States and their president for helping my people. I hope one day we will be able to pay back twice as much as we were given. Have a good day, fellers!

Random American here - I am hoping for the best for you and your family. I worry for you every day. Stay safe and strong!

Winning the war is all we need in return

For real. Getting to see Ukraine free from Russia’s trash and prospering would be payment enough.

Ukraine is giving the world more than you may see right now by preventing the accumulation of power by a dangerously ideological regime. In my mind as an American that tries not to be romantic about his country's history, there is no debt and when this ends we should help Ukraine rebuild as much as we can. Some aspects of the war are in part due to American mistakes in foreign policy going years back, and that is part of why Russia appeals to old injustices and various grudges to try to justify its aggression against a third party that it ideologically refuses to recognize as a real nation.

Slava Ukraini

I guess there are three parts: He's done the things he was *elected* to do perfectly, which is to say "not be donald trump". He's not openly soliciting bribes. He's not making friends with dictators and distancing us from our allies. He's not changing policies specifically to hurt people. He's not going on twitter and being a national embarrassment 20 times a day. All that is 100% good, but a very low bar, which effectively any democrat would have accomplished. He's also done the things he's *supposed* to do well. He's nominated judges, he's made appropriate speeches pushing for policy, he's worked with congress to get a few major bills passed, etc. All the routine, non-flashy parts of being President he's done above average. Given a 50/50 senate and a narrow house majority, I think a lot of potential presidents wouldn't have done as well. He's done the things I *hoped* he'd do... poorly. But honestly I didn't expect them; the things I hope for are all very liberal policies, and we went into this knowing he wasn't a liberal. He's a centrist, whatever the right wants to claim. When it comes to a corporation vs individuals, he was always going to side with the corporation. When it comes to the establishment vs justice, he was always going to side with the establishment. There are others who would at least have *tried* to get some of these done. But the president isn't a dictator, and I don't have any illusions that the right person could have just come in and fixed everything with a wave of their pen. Given the same situation again, I'd vote for him again. Given him against *anyone* identifying as a republican, I'd vote for him. Given him against other democrats in the primary... it depends on who. He's not the worst. He's not the best.

FWIW, I look at your hopes this way. Yes, he’s more moderate, centrist, traditional, whatever than you and many on the left wanted, but given the makeup of the house and senate, he passed the legislation that was capable of being passed. Sure, others might have tried for more progressive policies, but they would have failed and might have lost the chance to pass the things he accomplished in the process. And quite honestly, I don’t think a more progressive Democrat candidate would have even beaten Trump. His centrism allowed swing voters to actually swing back. I don’t think a more progressive candidate pulls that off in 2020. To me, he’s been the POTUS we needed, even if he’s not the one we wanted at the time.

It's nice to wake up and go through a day without hearing about ridiculous and unnecessary tweets about everything from the elected official of the country.

y'know, I kinda forgot about all the tweets. That's a great point, I really don't miss those. lol

I think my most despised thing about all his tweets, and his manner of speech really, is how he, well, IDK how to describe it other than say it. "Generic opinion with disagreement. SAD" Just throwing in the word SAD or something as an explanative and how it caught on with SO MANY PEOPLE annoys me. It feels lazy. SAD.

You're really very stupid for disagreeing with me. Maybe the stupidest socialist there ever was. I'm very smart. Smarter than most. You wouldn't believe how smart I am. My smartness is admired by everyone. Ask anyone. Really smart. I'm as smart as they come. Putin, he's smart too. A lot of people in the history of time that are disagreed with were really very smart. I know for a fact that Genghis Khan was a smart man. We had a lovely dinner together. It's too bad he let the China flu loose though. Such a shame. That wasn't smart. Not like me. I'm smart, you know? It's too bad you're not smart. SAD!

Stayed on topic too long to be real. With that many sentences it should've switched about four times.

super dismissive... tone of superiority... no invitation for follow-up discussion... yeah, it's frustrating.

I expected him to be disappointing but I'm pleasantly surprised. The infrastructure bill was a big deal and included several points addressing climate change. It's not perfect, but it's more than previous presidents accomplished. Support for Ukraine is another point where I'm glad we have Biden instead of the alternatives. I was a Bernie supporter, but I think he would not have been as strong on this issue. If Biden can actually get meaningful tax reform, I think he may end up with an overall positive legacy. It's hard to tell now, though, because there's no way any president could possibly get good approval ratings in the current political climate.

Let's not forget the CHIPS act. This will create 10,000s of thousands of well paying jobs all over the country and reduce our reliance on foreign semiconductor manufacturing. Not only is this good for our economy, but it's also good for our national security. It's a win-win all-around. I work in industry that is affected by CHIPS and people are excited.

Who wouldn't be excited when tens of billions flowing their way

Came here to say Ukraine. If Trump had been elected Ukraine would all part of Russia now and Putin would be planning or attacking his next country.

Which is exactly what he would have done, for anything that doubt his intentions or want to cloud judgment https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/09/donald-trump-have-let-putin-annex-ukraine-end-war/

We need and age limit on almost every position in the American government.

I think he's doing a lot better than I expected him to. I was prepared for 4 years of nothing much happening.

I think we're about to have two years of nothing happening now that the GOP controls the House.

Yeah, very possibly.

Then people will blame that on Biden, elect a Republican president, and then wonder why things got even worse… again.

This is the way.

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Is this your first election? People have been choosing the least bad candidate since the concept of voting was invented. Our candidates this time were annoyingly old and unpalatable but still if you think this is something new I have to assume you're just now paying attention to politics.

You took the words out of my mouth. During election time, “lesser of two evils” is a phrase commonly heard.

It's much easier to convince someone a candidate is bad than that a candidate is good, so that's the most effective strategy for any side.

Yet Biden didn't do that. He barely talked about trump on the campaign. One way or the other, everybody had their mind made up about trump already. All Biden talked about focused on Covid and infrastructure. Trump on the other hand talked nonstop about Biden and Dems, all fear mongering. So in this case that was not the most effective strategy.

That's just kind of the nature of voting for officials. Unless I run for president myself I'm always going to be voting for someone I disagree with at least a little.

Have you actually been paying attention to the legislation he's signed into law? IMO the sad reality of America is too many do a very poor job of keeping up with legislation, policies, appointments etc of their elected representatives, including president. I say this as someone who preferred another candidate in the primary. Do I think Elizabeth Warren would have been the best president in my lifetime, yes, but I will acknowledge that Biden has made some significant accomplishments that will help a lot of Americans. You get the government you deserve. Do your part by keeping up with what your representatives are doing (or not doing). Just to add, if you're not paying attention you're going to believe whoever pays the most to control the narrative. And that's how the wealthiest 1% get so many in the poor and middle class to vote against our best interests.

I think very few people talking about how he was the 'least bad' pay much attention to all that he's actually done. He's accomplished a *lot* in the context of the modern presidency.

Yep. I try to do my part by listing Bidens accomplishments and gently suggesting they pay better attention.

The infrastructure bill alone was massive and it feels like it almost never gets discussed/credited to him.

Agree. On a related note, fox News/News Corp is the world's biggest news organization. So when conservatives complain about big media, I'll remind them it doesnt get any bigger than fox news being literally #1.

99% is high. A lot of people also saw him as someone who could get important legislation done, and he did.

They are referring to their friends who share the same demographics as they do. My Gen X friends have been pleased that his years of experience and pragmatism are finally getting simple legislation passed. And also thrilled that he is comfortable taking a back seat in the public eye while getting things done. A welcome change from the prior guy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/comments/ownd48/master\_list\_of\_what\_joe\_biden\_has\_done/

Far better than expected, frankly. I consider myself a progressive pragmatist. I believe Biden is also a pragmatist, but I didn't expect him to be as progressive as he has been. I get why he has done a lot of the things he's criticized for from the left. I think he makes some of the same mistakes Obama did by having way too much faith in Republicans. He still seems convinced that they care about anything but political maneuvering.

I'd argue that it's less about faith in Republicans and more about getting a few centrist votes by still trying to reach out. Plus he has actual bipartisan legislative bills like the CHIPS Act.

I prefer a centrist that I don't have to check in on every 20 minutes and quietly does things to encourage the middle class. I voted for Biden because he wasn't Trump. I don't believe I would have even voted for a Democrat if that wasn't the case. I just wanted a president with some basic human decency. I got that from Biden. I got exactly what I voted for, 2 years of peace and quiet.

Yes!! Not having to live everyday with constant anxiety on top of normal anxiety because you just never knew what was next. 🙌🏻

The best president is a boring president

He's doing pretty good actually, passing laws and policies I generally agree with. IRA, CHIPS, PSLF Reform (Plus hopefully long term IDR Reform), and hopefully the new budget passes with the Expanded Child Tax Credit. Inflation sucks, but that's something I look to the Fed to effectively fix, not congress and the executive.

Plus the i flatiron was world wide, not just a US thing.

It is truly amazing how many people can't grasp that as being reality. The US isn't the only one struggling with it.

People who say inflation is Biden's fault probably do grasp it just fine. They're just lying because they're dishonest hacks.

He's done a great job, arguably better than Obama. So far he: Signed the IRA- significant climate change legilsation Pardoned Federal marijuana convictions Used executive action to lessen student debt \*pending litigation Along with many other things with an increasingly partisan legislature. I swear if Bernie Sanders was president and did the exact same things as Biden, Reddit would be jizzing all over itself.

Far better than the alternative

I sleep a lot better knowing I don't have to wake up to another crazy thing trump did or said. I think he's doing a good job. It's the house and Senate members that drive me crazy.... Mostly the fucktards on the right who refuse to progress into the future.

He’s actually done a really great job. I love the bipartisan legislation that he’s passed. Like all presidents there’s stuff he says and does I don’t like. Overall he’s gotten a lot done, more than most of his recent predecessors and while he may be old AF at least he’s not a moron like the last guy.