The Biden Presidency

amolbhatia50k said:
So like the Trump thread, this one seems to be about criticising Biden? Cool.
Click to expand...
Well yes, we'd naturally hold him to a higher standard than the abomination that was Trump.

Mind you we'd probably hold Pol Pot and Skeletor to a higher standard too.
 
Adisa said:
Yes, but now that he has won, he won't escape scrutiny and rightly so.
Click to expand...

Kaos said:
Well yes, we'd naturally hold him to a higher standard than the abomination that was Trump.

Mind you we'd probably hold Pol Pot and Skeletor to a higher standard too.
Click to expand...

And that's the right thing to do. But based on this thread he seems to have no/barely any redeeming qualities. I thought there'd be more positivity and optimism about him presidency. Although I'm a distant viewer and you all know much more about this.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
And that's the right thing to do. But based on this thread he seems to have no/barely any redeeming qualities. I thought there'd be more positivity and optimism about him presidency. Although I'm a distant viewer and you all know much more about this.
Click to expand...
The thing is Biden is not a progressive. This is a man that said he would veto universal healthcare if Congress passed it. Majority of people here would consider themselves progressive. Biden's presidency will be middle of the road and admittedly, that won't satisfy the people here.
 
Adisa said:
The thing is Biden is not a progressive. This is a man that said he would veto universal healthcare if Congress passed it. Majority of people here would consider themselves progressive. Biden's presidency will be middle of the road and admittedly, that won't satisfy the people here.
Click to expand...

Ultimately, he can’t be judged on whether or not he’s a progressive since he didn’t run for President as one. He should be judged on whether he is doing most of what he said he would as a candidate.
 
Raoul said:
Ultimately, he can’t be judged on whether or not he’s a progressive since he didn’t run for President as one. He should be judged on whether he is doing most of what he said he would as a candidate.
Click to expand...

I can't agree with that at all. It should go without saying that people are within their rights to judge him based on their own opinions. They can't claim to be surprised he's not where they are, as everything happens within its own context, but that doesn't mean they don't get to criticize. That's pretty much the point of an opinion.

If we were to do the same with Trump, then there's a hell of a lot we've judged him on that we shouldn't have, as he governed by and large as a (slightly madder) Republican.
 
nimic said:
I can't agree with that at all. It should go without saying that people are within their rights to judge him based on their own opinions. They can't claim to be surprised he's not where they are, as everything happens within its own context, but that doesn't mean they don't get to criticize. That's pretty much the point of an opinion.

If we were to do the same with Trump, then there's a hell of a lot we've judged him on that we shouldn't have, as he governed by and large as a (slightly madder) Republican.
Click to expand...

At the end of the day, unless he exhibits bizarre behavior as Trump did, there's no point in judging him on anything other than what he said he would do. He didn't run on medicare for all or making NATO states pay their "fair share", so there's really nothing to hold him accountable for anything other than the specific list off policies he advertised during the campaign and how many of them he can get congress to buy into. If there's a black swan event such as another pandemic or a war during his time in office then that's a different story.
 
Antony Blinken is the pick for SoS, per the NYT. Guessed wrong on that one.

He and some others will be announced tomorrow.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
Antony Blinken is the pick for SoS, per the NYT. Guessed wrong on that one.

He and some others will be announced tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Me too, I thought Susan Rice was a shoe-in for the job. I'm starting to wonder if she was ever in serious consideration for the VP selection...
 
MTF said:
Me too, I thought Susan Rice was a shoe-in for the job. I'm starting to wonder if she was ever in serious consideration for the VP selection...
Click to expand...

Blinken is a former Biden aide, so not surprising he selected him. Also, he may have been concerned that nominating Rice would've been a tough sell for Senate confirmation given that Rs may still be in the majority.
 
Raoul said:
Blinken is a former Biden aide, so not surprising he selected him. Also, he may have been concerned that nominating Rice would've been a tough sell for Senate confirmation given that Rs may still be in the majority.
Click to expand...
Shame for Lindsey, he'd been dusting off his old Benghazi material.
 
Ubik said:
Shame for Lindsey, he'd been dusting off his old Benghazi material.
Click to expand...

Precisely. The Benghazi issue would've surely up come up and given the likes of Ron Johnson, Graham, Rubio, and Cruz a chance to turn it into the latest Benghazi redux drama, which Biden would want to steer clear of.
 
Raoul said:
Precisely. The Benghazi issue would've surely up come up and given the likes of Ron Johnson, Graham, Rubio, and Cruz to turn it into the latest Benghazi redux, which Biden would want to steer clear of.
Click to expand...
Ugh... you're probably right there. Frustrating because despite it being a tragic event, politically its such a fabricated scandal.
 
I’m thinking ‘uncontroversial’ will be near the top of the list of desired credentials for the picks.
 
Raoul said:
At the end of the day, unless he exhibits bizarre behavior as Trump did, there's no point in judging him on anything other than what he said he would do. He didn't run on medicare for all or making NATO states pay their "fair share", so there's really nothing to hold him accountable for anything other than the specific list off policies he advertised during the campaign and how many of them he can get congress to buy into. If there's a black swan event such as another pandemic or a war during his time in office then that's a different story.
Click to expand...

At the end of the day, you either believe a President can only be judged based on campaign promises or not. If you arbitrarily choose to make an exception for Trump, you can't, with any logical consistency, criticize anyone for criticizing Biden based on more than whatever vague campaign promises he made. Also, we have no idea what he promised the corporate conglomerate donors so without that information, we can absolutely criticize what we see.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
At the end of the day, you either believe a President can only be judged based on campaign promises or not. If you arbitrarily choose to make an exception for Trump, you can't, with any logical consistency, criticize anyone for criticizing Biden based on more than whatever vague campaign promises he made. Also, we have no idea what he promised the corporate conglomerate donors so without that information, we can absolutely criticize what we see.
Click to expand...

Trump is a rare exception because he violated every norm the government and institutions are accustomed to, which was undergirded by a lot of corruption and criminal behavior. This is certainly not how most Presidents are graded, especially before they even start their Presidencies. Ultimately, if Biden implements most of his agenda, he will be viewed as fairly successful when compared with most recent Presidents.
 
Raoul said:
Ultimately, he can’t be judged on whether or not he’s a progressive since he didn’t run for President as one. He should be judged on whether he is doing most of what he said he would as a candidate.
Click to expand...
Biden won't acheive 5% of what he's promised c'mon.
 
Raoul said:
Trump is a rare exception because he violated every norm the government and institutions are accustomed to, which was undergirded by a lot of corruption and criminal behavior. This is certainly not how most Presidents are graded, especially before they even start their Presidencies. Ultimately, if Biden implements most of his agenda, he will be viewed as fairly successful when compared with most recent Presidents.
Click to expand...

What agenda? What he said in public or what he's said in private? Also, that might be how you personally judge him but it won't be how historians in 20 years judge him.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
What agenda? What he said in public or what he's said in private? Also, that might be how you personally judge him but it won't be how historians in 20 years judge him.
Click to expand...

His advertised policy agenda during the campaign, which is probably still listed on his website.
 
Raoul said:
His advertised policy agenda during the campaign, which is probably still listed on his website.
Click to expand...

Can you summarize which aspects you will judge Biden on?

Also, no one judges George Bush based solely on campaign promises so it's a bit ridiculous to suggest that's the only way people can judge Biden.
 
Biden as climate "czar". Why? This position was the easiest gimme for Biden admin to use as a bone to throw to progressives. They will have a separate climate person in WH who would actually deal with domestic policies around climate change, the Kerry post just seems a decorative one to have countless climate summits with other nations. Just hand it to a progressive and let them babble on about green new deal on world stage. US needs to invent a political position akin to State Governors in India so that all these old men who crave relevancy even when their political career is over can be given something.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
Can you summarize which aspects you will judge Biden on?

Also, no one judges George Bush based solely on campaign promises so it's a bit ridiculous to suggest that's the only people can judge Biden.
Click to expand...

The set of policies he ran on and whether he can in any way work with congress to implement them (at least the ones that don't require an EO signature).

- A proper national level COVID strategy

- Healthcare - Specifically the Public Option bit.

- Eliminating college tuition for families making less than 125k a year (the 125k figure should probably be doubled at a minimum, but anything is better than what we have now).

- Restoring Foreign Policy relationships with other allied nations to pre-Trump levels & get the US back into the JCPOA, Paris Climate Agreement and WHO.

- Taxes - Reverse the Trump tax cuts (if the Dems win the back the Senate), raise the top rate back to 39% and raise the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28%.

- Infrastructure - This shouldn't be too hard with Trump gone since the jobs it creates is viewed as a win for both parties.

That's just a few - If he can make progress on these in his first two years then he will be viewed as a qualified success.
 
Raoul said:
Isn't that what he ran on ?
Click to expand...

Not exactly, but this is part of what he ran on.
He won the primary by promising to beat Trump, and he won the general by not being Trump. He has already delivered on his biggest promise to both his primary and his general election voters by winning the election. So whoever he appoints now is a fulfilment of the mandate he has received.

People like this misread the primary:



As did the people (like Bernie, Warren, AOC, and many here) saying he could be "pushed left".
 
berbatrick said:
Not exactly, but this is part of what he ran on.
He won the primary by promising to beat Trump, and he won the general by not being Trump. He has already delivered on his biggest promise to both his primary and his general election voters by winning the election. So whoever he appoints now is a fulfilment of the mandate he has received.

People like this misread the primary:



As did the people (like Bernie, Warren, AOC, and many here) saying he could be "pushed left".
Click to expand...


Yes, but he beat Sanders and the rest of the field by running on a set of specific policies - not just because he wasn't Trump. Its those policies that will be used as a guide as to whether he is successfully implementing what he ran on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.