this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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politics

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[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 141 points 9 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.social 112 points 9 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 99 points 9 months ago (49 children)

And yet the quality of life for Americans is still declining, while the wealth gap keeps growing.

[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 42 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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

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[–] MrTomS@lemmy.world 47 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Given the congress he has to work with, one could argue he's been a better President than Obama was.

[–] aubertlone@lemmy.world 33 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

He's been a better president than Obama was.

It's not particularly close in my opinion.

I'm hella biased, but the SAVE plan and not accruing interest on student loans as long as you make payments is a huge win.

There's no reason they couldn't have done this under Obama....

Edit: just wanted to mention that this restructuring for student loans had absolutely nothing to do with Congress

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[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 102 points 9 months ago (11 children)

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.

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[–] Saurok@lemm.ee 89 points 9 months ago (17 children)

Not so subtle reminder that YOU are not immune to propaganda.

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[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 83 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Compared to another 4 years of Trump? Absolutely.

But I don’t have to be ecstatic to choose between a prehistoric career politician, and an embarrassing, felonious dinosaur

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[–] abracaDavid@lemmy.world 78 points 9 months ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 74 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

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.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 72 points 9 months ago (27 children)

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".

[–] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 111 points 9 months ago (21 children)

The President cannot unilaterally do any of those things.

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 101 points 9 months ago (5 children)

And the things he could do unilaterally (student loan forgiveness), he absolutely tried to do , but was cockblocked.

[–] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 73 points 9 months ago (10 children)

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.

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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Drug schedules are set by the FDA. The FDA is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Health and Human Services is part of the executive branch of the US government. The executive branch is headed by Biden. Short of just waving his hand and magicking the drug classification away, there is still a lot he could do to make it legal.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 63 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

I could go on citing the achievements of a president who actually cares about governing. All of these actions and numbers are important, but none matter as much as what Joe Biden has done to restore stability and decency to the presidency. One of the greatest gifts of a democratic civil society is the freedom not to think about government, to wake up and not worry about the mood of a leader. Joe Biden has made governing boring and predictable, both fundamental rights of the people in a healthy democracy.

As a Canadian this was one of the greatest benefits of the Biden Presidency. I can rest assured Biden won't be contradicting the weather service, licking Putin's boot or whatever stupid thing that's going to end up on Canadian news five times a week.

This article is an archetypical "come on America!" fanfare to drum up patriotism and exceptionalism, it feels over the top to me as a non-american. However, I suppose we'll have to try everything for Democrats to stop whimpering about Trump and sleep-walking towards his dictatorship.

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[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 62 points 9 months ago (11 children)

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?

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 35 points 9 months ago (6 children)

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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[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 55 points 9 months ago (6 children)

"Actually you poors are having an amazing time and everything is great, you're just too stupid to realize it."

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 52 points 9 months ago (4 children)

For liberals, maybe. For leftists, fuck no.

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[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 49 points 9 months ago (1 children)

He's been a boring mediocre president, but it'll take that any day over a Republican.

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[–] TeenieBopper@lemmy.world 46 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (15 children)

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.

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[–] Alteon@lemmy.world 45 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Except for supporting the genocide of Gazan children, sure.

Don't get me wrong, if my only options are a vindictive Orange wannabe dictator, and Biden, I'm still voting for Biden...but fuck, his support for Israel's genocidal crusade is really fucking bad.

[–] xhieron@lemmy.world 37 points 9 months ago (8 children)

His support of Israel is consistent with American foreign policy writ large since 1947. That people want to place the ongoing genocide at his feet betrays the success of GOP and foreign propaganda, to wit: The absence of American support for Israel would not stop the genocide, and the position of the Biden administration in Israel and Gaza is the same as any other presidency, historical, hypothetical, or imaginary. That is, any US president would have the exact same policy, including Donald Trump, any other president in the last seventy-five years, and anyone who ever had a realistic chance at the Oval.

That's because a US-Israel alliance, even in the presence of reprehensible acts by Netanyahu's government and the IDF, is still better for the US, and arguably global stability, than any alternative. The best we can hope for, from any president, are calls for restraint and ceasefire, both of which Biden have made. Abandoning Israel as a US ally would be a disaster for the entire region, and more importantly it would make no difference whatsoever to the Palestinian people.

I don't think the policy is morally good. But it's rational. Criticizing Joe Biden for the genocide is like criticizing a commuter for their vehicle's emissions. Yeah, things would be better if they were different, but Israel-Palestine isn't a problem Joe Biden can solve in the real world.

[–] blazera@kbin.social 36 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The absence of American support for Israel would not stop the genocide

I'd say cutting out hundreds of millions of dollars in weapon exports would do a hell of a lot to slow it down

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[–] blazera@kbin.social 45 points 9 months ago (20 children)

the United States is now producing more oil than any country in history.

lmao

[–] Fern@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Horay! Plus a little war profiteering; supporting a bit of genocide never hurt right? Not like his is the first administration to do it.

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[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 points 9 months ago (1 children)

As a Republican media consultant, I made hundreds of ads about the high cost of prescription drugs.

Stuart Stevens, one of the people who brought us to the brink of fascism desperately wants us prevent the dystopian future he helped to create. Unfortunately, Stevens has no idea who the people on the left that he's been demonizing over the years actually are. As a result, he assumes we might be authentic Republicans who call ourselves Democrats.

Maybe you’re a Democrat who actually cares about the federal deficit, unlike the Republicans who fake concern.

Maybe if Republicans had spent the last 55 years listening to what people on the left wanted instead of engaging in bad faith with the political process, he would actually be able to write this article with some certainty.

Regardless, Vote Blue! We can make fun of this person all we want if we aren't killed in death camp in the following years.

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[–] LotrOrc@lemmy.world 39 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah he's better than trump for sure

A blind and crippled hedgehog would be better than trump

He's nowhere close to great. Hes run back much of his campaign promises and he's funding a genocide. The best thing he could do is say he's not running and throw his support behind someone actually progressive and actually not half senile

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[–] Kalkaline@leminal.space 37 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Biden has done his job, I think Bernie would have been better, but at least it isn't Trump.

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[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 37 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I don't think he's been a great president. I think he's a million times better than Trump, though. That applies to the last election, and some-crazy-how to the upcoming election, too...

I want to go back to my timeline, where Sinbad starred in a movie about being a genie. Things made sense back then...

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[–] hark@lemmy.world 37 points 9 months ago (17 children)

If we gaslight ourselves hard enough, maybe we'll be happy.

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[–] Digital_Prophet@kbin.social 36 points 9 months ago (6 children)

At best he's been inoffensive. He's a "great" president only in comparison to the last guy.

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 21 points 9 months ago (18 children)

He's been better than Obama so far. He's got way more worthwhile legislation passed (with fewer Democrats in congress), he pulled out of Afghanistan, which both Obama and Donnie knew we should do, and his economic recovery was faster than Obamas.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (10 children)

he pulled out of Afghanistan,

no. trump pulled out of Afghanistan, which is why it was a fucking shit show.

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[–] BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social 36 points 9 months ago (11 children)

Still the best president we've had since Obama

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The bar wasn't set very high... I mean, practically anyone normal would've been better than Trump.

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[–] art@lemmy.world 34 points 9 months ago

When you're used to getting nothing but Ds and Fs, a C+ seems great.

[–] Kyatto@leminal.space 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

congrats, better than a wannabe fascist dictator is now being great

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[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 30 points 9 months ago (8 children)

He supports one country clearly defending itself. Yay!

But then he turns around and supports a genocide.

You know that saying about building a thousand bridges and one goat?

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[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This is why we have trump. Biden hasn't been a great president, he has had a great presidency. The man who is president is a small part of the equation. By attributing it all to him instead of all the people in the administration, in congress, and to just to where the world was at the time, we reinforce a culture where people praise guys like trump, and musk, and other billionaires. All of them were mostly lucky. They had some special skills to take advantage of thier luck that others don't, but without the luck, they would be nobody. Stop praising people for the work of many and good luck.

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[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 26 points 9 months ago (3 children)

People wouldn't say that if he wasn't up against Trump.

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[–] dil@lemmy.world 26 points 9 months ago

Make Brandon Dark Again

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