Just Say It, Democrats: Biden Has Been a Great President
By: Stuart Stevens (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Stuart Stevens
How the Democrats Need to Run
A plea to my Democratic friends: It's time to start calling Joe Biden a great president. Not a good one. Not a better choice than Donald Trump. Joe Biden is a historically great president. Say it with passion backed by the conviction that it's true.
Because it is.
Yes, the desire to see the 2024 election as a choice between a normal, stable president versus an erratic thug under indictment in multiple states is seductive. But don't base a campaign on that contrast. Don't go into 2024 with the game plan to win because Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy. That's true, he is, but that's only making the case that Donald Trump shouldn't be president. It's not the reason Joe Biden should be reelected.
Joe Biden should remain president because of his historic level of achievement here at home while standing on the side of freedom versus tyranny in the largest land war in Europe since World War II, a role no American president has played since the Roosevelt-Truman era. Be bold. Walk into this campaign with swagger and confidence and pride.
It's become a 2024 trope that Donald Trump is the only Republican whom President Biden could beat, and that Biden is the only Democrat whom Trump could defeat. Like a lot of things in politics, it's true if you accept it. But that acceptance is voluntary. Reject that framing for the industrial political complex bullshit that it is, brought to you by the same class of experts who knew without question that Bill Clinton was dead in June 1992, when he was running third to Ross Perot and George Bush, with 24 percent of the vote.
Stop the nonsense that only a weak opponent gives Joe Biden a chance to win. It's more than wrong—it's dangerous, completely misjudging Donald Trump's strength. Trump is dominating a contest for a presidential nomination like no candidate in modern history because he's the weakest candidate?
No. Donald Trump is going to win the Republican nomination easily, be endorsed by all his opponents not named Christie or Hutchinson, and emerge from the primaries better positioned to face an incumbent president than any candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1980. If you don't want to wake up with Trump as your president a year from now, stop fantasying that Trump might not be the Republican nominee. End the whining about a Trump-Biden choice that only helps Trump and get about the business of uniting behind a great president.
There's not much I admire about the modern Republican Party, but I find myself wishing Democrats could learn from their eagerness to unite behind a candidate and echo a consistent message. If a Republican president had a record remotely equaling the Biden record, the only debate among Republicans would be if he should be called one of the greatest presidents or simply the greatest. Now considering they are doing that for Donald Trump, it is a low bar, but can we acknowledge that complaining about Joe Biden as if he were some fantasy football pick that was hurting the odds of winning the office pool is increasing the likelihood that the worst and most dangerous president in U.S. history will win again in November?
As someone who worked in Republican campaigns for almost 30 years, I say without hesitation that the Democratic Party is the only pro-democracy party in America. But guys, why do so many of you have this need to act like ungrateful children of wealthy parents—impossible to please and always demanding more? Name a president who accomplished as much in his first term.
The stock market is hitting record highs. Unemployment is at a record low, with 14 million new jobs. Talk to small-business owners, and the biggest problem they are facing is finding workers. A child born in the first Republican "infrastructure week" would have been entering grade school by the time President Biden passed the largest public spending initiative in American history. As a Republican media consultant, I made hundreds of ads about the high cost of prescription drugs. But it took President Biden to give Medicare the power to directly negotiate with Big Pharma to lower prices and cap the cost of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries at $35. For all the bitching about gas prices, the United States is now producing more oil than any country in history. Yes, more than Russia or Saudi Arabia, and that's one of the reasons gas prices are now lower in inflation-adjusted prices than in 1974. Yeah, I know, fossil fuels suck, and the world should run on solar power. But the Biden administration also launched a $7 billion solar power investment project.
What is most amazing is that Biden got this done in a world in which the majority of Republicans believe he is not a legal president. Ponder that for a minute. You are a White House staffer working to help pass Biden initiatives, and you are dealing with members of Congress and senators who don't just disagree with your boss—they think he's an illegitimate president.
Wake up and show some gratitude. You wanted student loan forgiveness. You got it, for three million borrowers. You wanted a president who would finally pass gun safety legislation. You got the most comprehensive bill in nearly 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which passed with the support of 15 Republican senators and 14 Republican House members, opening the door to some hope that laws on gun violence might finally start to reflect the wishes of the majority of the country. Maybe you're a Democrat who actually cares about the federal deficit, unlike the Republicans who fake concern. Since Biden took office, the deficit has decreased by $1.7 trillion.
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.
All years are not created equal. There is every reason to believe that 2024 will be a year like 1944, a hinge in history. A dark shadow has fallen over America and Europe. President Joe Biden is fulfilling the role of the greatest American presidents, rallying support in America and abroad for the fundamental values that make America more than a place on the map with a flag. Without President Biden, a monstrous evil would be violently spreading in Europe. At a time when one of the two major parties in the world's only superpower has embraced autocracy, Joe Biden has stood firm, unflinchingly calling out those who may be Americans by accident of birth but not belief.
President Biden understands that an optimistic embrace of the future has defined America. That hope and confidence in a better tomorrow is the promise that embodies the best of America. This is greatness. This is a president keeping true to the legacy of the Greatest Generation who rose to defend the gift of democracy that Republicans now squander.
Yes, Joe Biden is a great American president. Be proud of this president, Democrats. Be proud that you live at a time when America needs you to rise to her defense. None of us can choose history, but history chooses us.
When America once again needed a quiet American hero, Joe Biden has met the moment. Now it is up to the rest of us not to falter. Certainty and conviction will bring victory, while doubt and hesitation invite defeat.
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I think the important aspect of an article such as this is not whether Biden has been a great president, but that intelligent patriotic people can make the argument that he has been. In other words, the "Trump is the lesser of two evils" claim is completely subjective. Some people think Biden has a done a good job, and some people don't. That is an individual conclusion, not a national consensus. To say we cannot tolerate having Biden back in 2025 is a matter of opinion.
I agree but the both siderism in me could also say I think that intelligent patriotic people can make the argument that Trump was a good or even great president. In other words, the "Biden is the lesser of two evils or Trump is not fit to serve" claims are completely subjective. Some people think Biden or Trump has done a good job, and some people don't. That is an individual conclusion, not a national consensus. To say we cannot tolerate having Trump in 2025 is a matter of opinion.
I do find it interesting that the Dems seem to be more interested in taking the Trump approach as opposed to Joe is doing a good job. Maybe the fact many Americans are having trouble buying into that.
Trump tried to overthrow the US government. Whether or not he was a good president prior to that is a matter of opinion, whether he is fit for office after that should not really be subjective.
“I think that intelligent patriotic people can make the argument that Trump was a good or even great president.”
And therein lies the rub.
History will be the ultimate judge of his ascendancy and his self serving attempts to change the course of how our system works.
Hyperbole.
But it is.
Or history may not judge this moment in time as you suggest at all.
Only in TDS driven minds. Trump is not being charged with sedition. No matter how you try to spin it. Calling a riot (after the entire Summer of Love not so peaceful protests) sedition is the height of hypocrisy.
He was far better than Brandon the Human Fuck Up Machine. By any and all measures.
Again only to the TDS driven that have lost all rationality in their "Get Trump at all costs" hatred- that has led them to violate both our laws and Constitution.
Obviously you know nothing about the evidence against Trump.
It will come out over the next months.
“Or history may not judge this moment in time as you suggest at all.”
Of course.
It will be judged on how the electorate, and ultimately our society understands and thus defends what has come before us and made us an ideal to be emulated…or if apathy will eventually prevail and make the promise just another failed experiment.
You mean something new that has not already been hashed and rehashed ad nausium?
You have never demonstrated that you know the slightest thing about the evidence against Trump.
Yes or no, is Trump being charged with sedition?
How does that answer my question?
I don't think he was a great prez. He doesn't even come up the level of half-assed
"It will come out over the next months."
You have been saying that for close to two years now JR. How long do you expect people to wait?
You know what they say Ed.
Even a broke-dick clock is correct twice a day.
Yep.
Glad you got to read that. Don’t expect it to be there much longer.
Yes. 10:50 twice a day
That's projection and delusion speaking there TG, good or even great?
Get the fuck out of here - that's not to you of course.
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The world awaits your appearance in that regard.
Assuming anyone has been reading your hundreds of articles and thousands of comments and you believe there is only one side to it what else could there possibly be to know
No need. You ‘re doing just fine in that regard.
Its not that you dont know everything about it, its that you dont know anything about it.
Oh. In that case you are just wrong but don't want to admit it because not everyone comes to the same conclusion as you do.
Write a couple paragraphs about what the J6 committee specifically found.
Everything except what they were supposed to? Unless you consider GET TRUMP to be how it would be avoided in the future.
Orange man bad
Who needs paragraphs? How about what they didn’t investigate? How about the security failures that allowed Jan 6th to happen?
Didn’t hear anything about that did you?
Why, so you can deny and defect because it did not match your particular narrow minded political worldview? It's a waste of effort. Your mind is closed tighter than a steel bear trap in the Yukon!
I did mean trmp
And you. Please do enlighten us and tell us what the evidence might be.
I guess that is why Trump has a 5 point lead in the election poll.
I guess that's why he has a 57% disapproval rating.
That depends on the poll
I saw a reliable one that shows the former 'president' slipping bigly, and President Biden has about at least a 7-point lead over the turd scumbag former 'president'
Which one was that?
Please provide the link.
You’ll get nothing and like it young man.
I got my info from RealClearPolitics.
so?
So we are wondering where you got your reliable poll from
So where did you find your poll. The lack of a link or even just naming the poll makes your declaration 1.2.1 suspicious.
Actually, it is a national consensus:
56% disapproval for Biden
Know this, you are not voting for "Biden" you are voting for Harris!
Voting for either one is a disaster in the making.
I almost have to admire some democratic grifters ability to just completely ignore reality.
It's like the Carolina Panthers describing themselves as having the most successful 2024 football season.
Your comment proves my point.
Your comment proves his.
The projection! It burns!
Looks like Traitor Joe's message to the media to report more favorably on him and his Administration is paying off.
I figured this was a satire article based on the headline.
He's done better than I thought he would given the mess he had to clean up.
Mess?
Like hundreds of thousand of immigrants streaming across the border, temporary inflation at high levels for 3 years, highest deficit in a non-pandemic year in history, what mess????
What mess is that and what did he do to clean it up?
Covid for starters. Trump lost three million jobs and blew up the deficit with tax breaks for the rich.
.........just for starters.
So Joe had vaccines his entire presidency and still killed more people than trump from Covid, that is a strange definition of a good job unless you hate your fellow Americans.
They weren't just for the rich FFS
The Kool Aid drinkers know what the Democratic Party tells them!
How did Trump lose 3 million jobs when it was dem governors that were limiting who could go out and/or work?
Are you aware the vaccine came to be at record pace in Donald's watch yet there were still more deaths during the Bidens years?
If that is the best you can do your argument is in trouble.
The statistics say otherwise, sorry.
So NOW you're saying that presidential administrations have nothing to do with job creation? Wow, that's a first.
Trump literally had ZERO to do with the creation of a vaccine.
You don't even have an argument, just biased rhetoric.
Glad you're not a statistician Frosty - 'cause you, and everyone else, knows you can "adjust" the statics to fit your "poll".
Think 'bout that when you look at your next poll - seriously.
I've said this before but trmp's tax cuts didn't even buy me a carton of smokes
Actually my comment had nothing to do with job creation. It had to do with job loss by not letting people work or go out to venues
Funny that even many many hard core liberals give him credit for helping pave the way to get the vaccine approved and manufactured in record time.
Says the person whose argument is nothing more than DNC talking points and totally ignoring reality.
Really?
What kind of smokes do you buy because unless you made less than 20k as a couple, 10k as a single, you likely got at least a 2-3% deduction in tax rate. That buys a lot of smokes.
Not to mention a standard deduction nearly double what it was so those must be some mighty pricey smokes. And/or you need to find a new tax preparer.
Living where I do, my adult daughter goes to the local duty free store by the port of entry, pays about $13.00 for carton, walks it across the border into Mexico and walks right back across. Off brands but a smoke is a smoke to a smoker. Depending on the lines, total elapsed time about 20 minutes to an hour. No muss no fuss. You are allowed to cross two cartons a month duty free.
No Px nearby? Shit when I was in they were almost free there. Of course that was like a thousand years ago.
Same with me. I retired in 93. Closest one, being the Army Electronic Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca, is 60 miles away. I go up there every other month or so for commissary runs and pick some up. They are still steep even on base.
Yeah here in Michigan they are like 8-9 bucks a pack. Crazy. Glad I never took that habit up. We’ve got a Coast Guard Exchange near me. Not the best but good for the basics. That means cheaper booze.
Who said they were? FFS
I can't believe people give that scumbag credit for the vaccine - it had to be done. He deserves ZERO credit for it.
Denying the undeniable
I meant to say, of course they were FFS.
Those tax breaks were for his donors, and we, including you jj, didn't get dick out of the deal.
See 4.2.1 FFS
Walk it back now.
Hey, that’s pretty close to a carton of smokes a week.
Not bad.
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Gaslighting is now a major part of any major Democrat election platform.
This article should be labeled as satire.
Well it is a pretty far left source. Not quite in the arrowhead at MBFC
So, you want your “Democratic friends” to lie - to themselves and others - to win the election. If people genuinely believed Biden was a great president, they would be saying it without this kind of prompting.
Actually, even this is a bit of a delusional reach. Biden is only normal and stable when contrasted with the extreme chaos that is Donald Trump. It’s still in his favor, to be sure. But compared to other presidents we have had - truly good presidents - he is a weak president. I know that doesn’t make this campaign very fun - because it’s hard to be enthusiastic about a weak candidate - but the truth is the truth.
This is the results of people voting for "So and So isn;t as bad as THAT guy" "thinking" and voting.
They view Biden as the lesser evil. I don’t agree with that but I understand it. I’ll likely vote for Trump for the same reason.
And Trump is “chaos” largely due to the “resist” movement. Never forget that.
No, Trump is chaotic because as a person who is supposed to be our leader, he actually takes pride in calling people names like a 5th grade bully. He's chaotic because he imagines he is smarter than literally everyone else on the planet. He is chaotic because he has no respect for the law and justice. He is chaotic because he thinks it's cool to get his way by lying and cheating - because accountability is for other people. He is likely the most incompetent and dishonest person to ever hold the office.
Yes and all that is on a news loop 24/7. Meanwhile Joe, our sitting President, can’t finish a sentence. Hear about that the same amount do you?
I’m not defending Trumps actions. Only pointing out the reality he has had to live with since he had the temerity to beat the chosen one.
It’s impossible to not see it.
Even the Democrats, or anyone else for that matter, can tell a lie that big.