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One way to assess President Biden’s first year in office is looking back at expectations. Given mine were pretty low for Joe – and considering the alternative – he did okay. He put four major accomplishments on the board, but the real test for him lies ahead in the next three years.
Let’s start with his accomplishments.
Number one: Biden signed off on the third COVID stimulus which not only provided much needed financial support but also revealed the true colors of the Republicans.
When it was Donald Trump doing the stimulus for COVID, Democrats participated and went with it. When it was Joe Biden doing a very similar but slightly smaller version of what Trump did, he had zero Republican support. And so Joe Biden’s first major accomplishment, which was the COVID stimulus, immediately told us the degree to which Republicans would try to obstruct and prevent him from doing anything even the things that they agreed with when it was Donald Trump doing them.
Number two: Biden deserves credit for the rapid distribution of the COVID vaccine.
You can argue that he also deserves blame for the fact that more people didn’t get vaccinated. Now, I know, I know, Republicans who refuse to wear masks and refuse to get vaccinated are criticizing Joe Biden for the fact that there’s a lot of COVID and that there isn’t more vaccination. I understand the insanity, but one could argue the buck stops with Joe Biden.
Number three: Biden led the U.S. out of Afghanistan. Yes, it was controversial, but at least he got it done which is more than you can say for his predecessor.
Donald Trump wanted to leave even earlier, and it would’ve been chaotic. Trump failed to do it, but his supporters wanted him to do it. Joe Biden did. And then they criticized Joe Biden. It was the right decision morally, and it would’ve been chaotic no matter what happened
Number four: Biden pushed through the infrastructure bill.
Democrat progressives hoped for other action from Biden like decriminalizing marijuana or forgiving student loan debt, but we didn’t really expect either of those things to happen. We expected a little and we got a little.
It’s a different story for the rest of his term.
Can Joe Biden do something in the next year to help Democrats in the fall and in the next three years to prevent Republicans from winning again in 2024? I am very concerned about that, as I’ve said before. If Trump is the nominee, and it’s Biden versus Trump, I don’t feel good about Biden. If Trump is the nominee, and Biden says, I’m not running, and it’s Kamala, I don’t feel good about Kamala. The only scenario for me that would feel good and exciting about 2024 would be a younger, more energetic democratic candidate. I don’t know if that person exists.
We set the bar low for year one, but Biden faces higher expectations in the years ahead.
