Amid a chaotic four years of Donald Trump, newly faced with a once in a generation crisis in the form of a pandemic, voters sought out a steady hand to stabilize a country in the midst of several crises. The thinking among Democrats, who faced options such as populist progressive Bernie Sanders, rising midwestern star Pete Buttigieg, and a whole host of other leaders, was that by nominating someone bland, competent, and inoffensive, who could bring out the voters that supported Obama but dissipated in 2016, they could beat Trump. In their search, they found Joe Biden- the former VP to the popular Barack Obama, and a career politician’s career politician, who had served nearly 50 years in Government. They were right- but only for a little while. While Trump lost, he would be back four years later, and far more powerful then before. Somewhere along the line, after Biden’s large victory and impressive win in Georgia (including its 2 senate seats), something went dramatically wrong.
The riots at the Capitol on January 6th proved an ominous warning: these are no longer normal times. Despite this, there was some legitimate optimism, after election week ended, that the worst was behind us. Afterall, the incoming administration would of course be inheriting a devastated economy being ravaged by a pandemic- it literally could only get better from here. Biden assembled a fairly establishment cabinet with few stars, save for Pete Buttigieg, Janet Yellen, and Deb Haaland, who served as Secretaries of Transportation, Treasury, and Interior respectively. In fact, it featured arguably one of the worst cabinet picks in modern history: Merrick Garland as Attorney General. It was clearly a consolation prize meant to consol him after having a Supreme Court seat snatched from under him, and he would drag his feet on virtually every investigation he conducted- including the ones into January 6th.
While Biden himself looked to FDR and LBJ as inspiration for how to navigate the recovery, he was neither FDR nor LBJ. In fact, he wasn’t even Harry Truman. His biggest accomplishment, and his first, was the American Rescue Plan, that put $1,400 checks in every American’s hand. However, his signature “Build Back Better” plan (modeled after the New Deal and the War on Poverty) would fail- effectively killing his entire agenda he ran on. Aspects of the plan were repurposed into the Inflation Reduction Act, which saw the largest infrastructure investment in recent memory, as well as the CHIPS Act, which sought to improve the tech industry by ramping up production of semiconductors.
With the domestic agenda dead in the water, foreign policy would come to dominate the former President’s time in office. The unpopularity of the administration can be traced to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. The concept of withdrawal was popular; however, the Taliban was able to siege rebel forces far faster and far stronger then thought, and the country was quickly overrun, even resulting in the loss of American soldiers. From there, Biden’s approval would begin a downward trajectory that would seemingly end. Russia would invade Ukraine, significantly worsening inflation white throwing the world closer to a major war then we have been since 9/11.
As a President who receives and deserves much criticism, Biden’s handling of the Ukraine war was incredible. By selling and providing Ukraine with old but still modern weapons along with financial aid, Ukraine was able to turn what should have been a dramatic lose into a war of attrition that is not only still going on but has effectively bankrupted Russia. However, Id wager that most people reading this didn’t know that we gave Ukraine fairly little money, and that most of our aid was in the form of old weapons. This reaches into the biggest failure of the Biden Administration: they simply couldn’t communicate.
Few voters knew about the expansion of NATO Biden oversaw, nor about the parts of his domestic agenda that succeeded. Nearly every positive thing the Administration did got them virtually 0 credit, while any negative press would stick. Especially after the departure of Jen Psaki as Press Secretary, the Administration virtually gave up trying to control the narrative. The departure of Chief of Staff Ron Klain and his replacement with businessman Jeffery Zients poured gasoline on the fire. Klain, an unlikely ally of progressives, was effective at mediating disputes and pushing for more progressive legislation from the Whitehouse. Klain knew how to get things done; however, he left after Democrats drastically outperformed expectations during the Midterms. Zients would go on to demonstrate truly abysmal political instincts, that would isolate the President further, ultimately contributing to Biden’s denial of how dire his reelection bid was, and Kamala Harris’ impressive but failed 107-day election bid.
Ultimately, the Biden Administration was not the period of healing that many hoped it would be. Instead, it saw tensions get worse and nearly boil over. Biden is a good man who had successes throughout his presidency, but he will always be remembered as the one who gave us Trump 2.0. Now, we can only hope that history will judge him as a failed President, rather then one whose failures contributed to the downfall of this country.