Evaluations of a Presidency in the long run often linger on a few bullet points of judgment, as many of us don't have the time to delve into 700-page examinations of all the crises and sucesses/failures one encounters in those 4-8 years.
My guess is Biden will be judged on the following 5 issues...and spoiler alert, none of them have anyt…
Evaluations of a Presidency in the long run often linger on a few bullet points of judgment, as many of us don't have the time to delve into 700-page examinations of all the crises and sucesses/failures one encounters in those 4-8 years.
My guess is Biden will be judged on the following 5 issues...and spoiler alert, none of them have anything to do with BBB and Chips. These will be so forgotten in 50 yrs that they won't even elicit footnotes.
I'll link 1 and 2 together, as while they're different, they're inextricably linked...
#1 and #2: Biden's late departure from the Race and his Inability to ensure Trump would not return. Historically, we will criticize #1 as a product of hubris on the part of Biden. I have the contrarian view that Biden's cognitive limitations obscured his own insight into his electoral vulnerability (think abt your elderly parent who insists that their driving is adequate) and put more blame here on his advisors who didn't twist his arm, but historians will likely highlight hubris. Secondly, the preeminent crisis of Biden's Presidency will be whether or not he wounded - or better, killed - Trumpism. This will be most naturally evaluated on whether or not his first 4 yrs concluded with Napoleon returning from Elba...sorry, Trump returning from Mar a Lago. Obviously, mission failed.
#3: Ukraine: Fair or not, in 50 yrs, we will look at Russia's eventual success in Ukraine (ie getting away with an upcoming deal that will be ridiculously favorable to Russia), as a black mark on Trump, but also one impugning Biden's inability to finish things off before 2025. While it may be ridiculous, I anticipiate there will be historical shaming of Biden for not doing enough in 2022-24 to equip Ukraine with the materiel might to force a Russian withdrawal prior to Trump's return.
#4: Inability to read the Tea leaves on the Economy: Harris's defeat will be pinned on a failure of Biden's admin to understand that most barometers of the economy they cited to tout their success (stock market, low unemployment), failed to illuminate that people simply worried too much about what fraction of their budget was going to rent and groceries. Historians will castigate Biden for telling the American people the economy was great when they were feeling constant budget constraint. This is reductionist, I know, but that's how it'll go.
#5: Afghanistan: This one is weird, as I feel it had no importance w/ respect to Trump's victory at all. I honestly suspect there are truly less than 10,000 Americans who voted for Trump, but would've voted for Harris had the conculsion to Afghanistan gone differently. Nevertheless, historians love when approval ratings tell a narrative. And Biden's resultant dip following the pull-out, and more importantly, his inability to ever tread water again, will be a long-cited inflection point in his Presidency, when the historians get invovled.
All good points... I will just add this thought: I honestly don't think ANY Dem president could have killed 'Trumpism'. Not ANYONE! Not in today's media climate. Example: my elderly father watches about an hour of Fox News per day. He voted for Trump but thinks he is a terrible person. And yet, what did he say when I brought up Liz Cheney? "I don't like her." He couldn't even explain why. He's been brainwashed by Fox News. The constant and growing flood of mis- and disinformation is keeping Trumpism alive.
Evaluations of a Presidency in the long run often linger on a few bullet points of judgment, as many of us don't have the time to delve into 700-page examinations of all the crises and sucesses/failures one encounters in those 4-8 years.
My guess is Biden will be judged on the following 5 issues...and spoiler alert, none of them have anything to do with BBB and Chips. These will be so forgotten in 50 yrs that they won't even elicit footnotes.
I'll link 1 and 2 together, as while they're different, they're inextricably linked...
#1 and #2: Biden's late departure from the Race and his Inability to ensure Trump would not return. Historically, we will criticize #1 as a product of hubris on the part of Biden. I have the contrarian view that Biden's cognitive limitations obscured his own insight into his electoral vulnerability (think abt your elderly parent who insists that their driving is adequate) and put more blame here on his advisors who didn't twist his arm, but historians will likely highlight hubris. Secondly, the preeminent crisis of Biden's Presidency will be whether or not he wounded - or better, killed - Trumpism. This will be most naturally evaluated on whether or not his first 4 yrs concluded with Napoleon returning from Elba...sorry, Trump returning from Mar a Lago. Obviously, mission failed.
#3: Ukraine: Fair or not, in 50 yrs, we will look at Russia's eventual success in Ukraine (ie getting away with an upcoming deal that will be ridiculously favorable to Russia), as a black mark on Trump, but also one impugning Biden's inability to finish things off before 2025. While it may be ridiculous, I anticipiate there will be historical shaming of Biden for not doing enough in 2022-24 to equip Ukraine with the materiel might to force a Russian withdrawal prior to Trump's return.
#4: Inability to read the Tea leaves on the Economy: Harris's defeat will be pinned on a failure of Biden's admin to understand that most barometers of the economy they cited to tout their success (stock market, low unemployment), failed to illuminate that people simply worried too much about what fraction of their budget was going to rent and groceries. Historians will castigate Biden for telling the American people the economy was great when they were feeling constant budget constraint. This is reductionist, I know, but that's how it'll go.
#5: Afghanistan: This one is weird, as I feel it had no importance w/ respect to Trump's victory at all. I honestly suspect there are truly less than 10,000 Americans who voted for Trump, but would've voted for Harris had the conculsion to Afghanistan gone differently. Nevertheless, historians love when approval ratings tell a narrative. And Biden's resultant dip following the pull-out, and more importantly, his inability to ever tread water again, will be a long-cited inflection point in his Presidency, when the historians get invovled.
All good points... I will just add this thought: I honestly don't think ANY Dem president could have killed 'Trumpism'. Not ANYONE! Not in today's media climate. Example: my elderly father watches about an hour of Fox News per day. He voted for Trump but thinks he is a terrible person. And yet, what did he say when I brought up Liz Cheney? "I don't like her." He couldn't even explain why. He's been brainwashed by Fox News. The constant and growing flood of mis- and disinformation is keeping Trumpism alive.