Cont: The Biden Presidency (3)

[Aridas]

This thing will drag on. Back in the early two weeks, I thought Putin was going to get what he wants (Donbas etc.) and be done with it by now. But this is just going to slide into the North and South Korea thing, with also some fighting going on, for the remainder of Biden's term. And somehow, the Bush thing will not work here. Voters want "someone else," especially Trumpsters and independents. DeSantis?

A bit like COVID is still having and threatening to have more world-wide effects on inflation. China's decisions are all Biden's fault, right? Republicans intentionally working to exacerbate inflation are Biden's fault, right?

Of course, Republicans are the party with propagandists that heap praise on Trump for acting to drive gas prices up and scream at Biden for acting to try to keep gasoline prices down, while heavily pushing the pretense that rising gas prices are Biden's fault because, for example, Biden stopped pushing the Keystone Pipeline. Naturally, the Keystone Pipeline would have done absolutely nothing to help with gas prices, but Republican propagandists certainly don't think that their targets care about truth or reason, just reinforcing biases that they've instilled.

 

[Stacyhs]

This thing will drag on. Back in the early two weeks, I thought Putin was going to get what he wants (Donbas etc.) and be done with it by now. But this is just going to slide into the North and South Korea thing, with also some fighting going on, for the remainder of Biden's term. And somehow, the Bush thing will not work here. Voters want "someone else," especially Trumpsters and independents. DeSantis?

He's established himself as Trump's Minime exactly for that purpose.

 

[Stacyhs]

The differences between Trump and Biden are clearly demonstrated in today's Easter message from each:

“As we reflect today on Christ’s Resurrection, we are reminded that with faith, hope, and love — even death can be defeated,” the president tweeted. “From our family to yours, we wish you hope, health, joy, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. Happy Easter and may God bless and keep you.”

“Happy Easter to all including the Radical Left Maniacs who are trying everything to destroy our country,” reads a second message Trump’s PAC. “May they not succeed, but let them, nevertheless, be happy, healthy, wealthy and well!”

An Easter greeting from Trump to Leticia James:

May she remain healthy despite the fact that she will continue to drive business out of New York while at the same time keeping crime, death, and destruction in New York!” reads a message from Trump’s Save America political action committee, which also calls James a “racist.”

I don't think I have to label which was Trump's and which was Biden's message.

 

[Delvo]

Interview with Biden pollster & strategist John Anzalone:

A very weirdly formatted page at Politico where the first four paragraphs after the audio have nothing to do with the audio or the headline, and the actual article (or list of clip-quotes from the audio transcript, apparently) starts with the red words headlining the fifth paragraph

It's an odd mix.

He admits some facts that Democrats tend to deny, like that economic populism would be their best winning move, and that they don't just automatically electorally own the darkies, and that they're bringing their current disastrous poll situation on themselves by not doing any good or even really trying to or even talking about it or admitting that anything needs to be done at all...

But he also still clings to the bizarre notion that the President who brought us this situation (after just barely scraping through the election by about 40000 votes thanks to a virus that isn't on his side anymore) is the only person who can beat Trump, the most unpopular previous President ever. He even claims Biden's ahead of Trump in the polls now, which is the opposite of simple numerical reality. (Maybe the interview actually happened long enough ago that it was true by a couple of points at the time, but it isn't anymore, and even if it were, a couple of points isn't enough anyway; beating the Federal-scale Constitutional gerrymandering of Presidential elections calls for more like 5 points at least, and he hasn't had that in a long time.)

If he wants that bit about Biden beating (actually more like failing to lose to) Trump again to come true, he'll need to come up with a better campaign strategy next time than "We're not the Republicans", because, as he part-way admits himself, the public's response to that is increasingly "Yes you are".

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Not shocking, but Biden's poll numbers are quite poor, and in the gutter especially for young people

President Biden’s approval rating among younger generations of Americans has declined, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday.

The new poll found that Biden’s approval rating among millennials and Generation Z respondents had dropped nearly 20 points since the beginning of his presidency.

Thirty-nine percent of Generation Z respondents said they approve of the job Biden has done as president, a 21-point decline from 60 percent of respondents who approved of Biden’s handling of the job when he first took office.

Forty-one percent of millennial respondents said they approve of Biden’s job as president, a 19-point decline from 60 percent of respondents who approved of his job as president through the months of January and June 2021, his first months in the White House.

https://www.woodtv.com/news/national/biden-approval-ratings-decline-most-among-younger-generations-gallup/

A bad time to be a do-nothing president.

 

[IsThisTheLife]

A bad time to be a do-nothing president.

Not even wrong.

List of executive actions signed by Joe Biden

ETA >> not that he does anything more than literally sign where someone points.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

I voted for Biden, mainly because the alternative was too horrible to imagine. But he was far from my first choice among the Democratic candidates. Still, initially I began to see how he was maybe a decent choice.

Now, I’m not so sure. I think we’ll look back at our Ukraine response as way too little way too late. So many initiatives are going unfulfilled - student loan forgiveness, marijuana legislation reform, action against voter suppression, and so on. A party held hostage by the likes of Manchin and Sinema. A growing mess on the southern border. The list goes on.

If he’s the candidate in 2024 I will reluctantly vote for him - the Republican Party is dead to me, and I don’t see a third party candidate being viable. But my disappointment grows daily.

 

[Aridas]

I voted for Biden, mainly because the alternative was too horrible to imagine. But he was far from my first choice among the Democratic candidates. Still, initially I began to see how he was maybe a decent choice.

Now, I’m not so sure. I think we’ll look back at our Ukraine response as way too little way too late. So many initiatives are going unfulfilled - student loan forgiveness, marijuana legislation reform, action against voter suppression, and so on. A party held hostage by the likes of Manchin and Sinema. A growing mess on the southern border. The list goes on.

If he’s the candidate in 2024 I will reluctantly vote for him - the Republican Party is dead to me, and I don’t see a third party candidate being viable. But my disappointment grows daily.

FWIW, most of the things that you listed are very much not in Biden's hands in the first place. Rather, McConnell and the Republicans very much should be bearing such. Student loan forgiveness, you have some grounds to work with, though. Action against voter suppression is mostly in the Republicans and Manchin/Sinema court, but you could easily argue that Garland was not an ideal pick, though that's picking at the edge of the bigger picture.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

FWIW, most of the things that you listed are very much not in Biden's hands in the first place. Rather, McConnell and the Republicans very much should be bearing such. Student loan forgiveness, you have some grounds to work with, though. Action against voter suppression is mostly in the Republicans and Manchin/Sinema court, but you could easily argue that Garland was not an ideal pick, though that's picking at the edge of the bigger picture.

Yeah, but things that are in his hands he's still passing on.

Student loans and decriminalization of marijuana are two issues where Biden could take executive action if he wanted to, yet nothing has happened.

 

[Aridas]

Yeah, but things that are in his hands he's still passing on.

Student loans and decriminalization of marijuana are two issues where Biden could take executive action if he wanted to, yet nothing has happened.

There are also other things that are in his hands along similar lines, of course, too, much as it's worth pointing out that Biden has been doing something about student loans fairly regularly, even if it's not the very big single move being advocated. I said what I said not to absolve Biden so much as to put things into perspective, though. Seemingly as a general rule, most of the American public overemphasizes the role of President and then largely ignores Congress, states, and the judges. When, for example, Biden is being criticized for not fixing marijuana legislation, that's simply not something that he can do himself and it would be very unlikely to get through the Senate under current conditions, no matter how he used his bully pulpit.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

There are also other things that are in his hands along similar lines, of course, too. I said what I said not to absolve Biden so much as to put things into perspective, though. Seemingly as a general rule, most of the American public overemphasizes the role of President and then largely ignores Congress, states, and the judges. When, for example, Biden is being criticized for not fixing marijuana legislation, that's simply not something that he can do himself and it would be very unlikely to get through the Senate under current conditions, no matter how he used his bully pulpit.

I would argue that there would be political value in making Republicans publicly vote against a broadly popular initiative like legalizing pot, but it's incredibly likely that many Democrats (including Biden) are themselves ideologically opposed to this and are out of step with the public.

I agree it's a tough spot to be in as a party without total control the government. One thing they can do is show the American people what they would do if it weren't for the dastardly opposition standing in the way. This isn't easy for the Democrats as there are many "moderates" in the party (and not just Manchin and Sinema) with deep conservative streaks that don't make such distinctions easy.

The party can't even do token anti-corruption stances, like banning Congress critters from profiteering through stock trading on non-public information, because too many within the Democratic party are publicly opposed to such no-brainer policies (including leadership)

 

[Delvo]

List of executive actions signed by Joe Biden

My signature, initials, and electronic ID stamp appear on dozens of items per day at my job. But I'm not really improving anything, just keeping things flowing as they were before. In fact, my job is specifically to keep everything the same all the time, never change anything.

 

[Aridas]

I agree it's a tough spot to be in as a party without total control the government.

Just to poke at this - a party absolutely should not need to be in total control of the government in a functional democracy. Requiring total control means that it's being or has been fundamentally broken. Similarly, only Manchin/Sinema being notable dissenters is, historically, already really good in terms of party unity on various issues. It's certainly frustrating, yes, but it's one of those things where it really wouldn't matter if the Republican Establishment weren't being an effective Stage 3-4 cancer to the US.

 

[BobTheCoward]

Just to poke at this - a party absolutely should not need to be in total control of the government in a functional democracy.

Are you sure? I think advocates of parliamentary sovereignty make a good case.

 

[Aridas]

Are you sure? I think advocates of parliamentary sovereignty make a good case.

That's a different topic.

 

[BobTheCoward]

That's a different topic.

How so? They would argue that a party absolutely does need control of the government to be a functional democracy?

 

[Aridas]

How so? They would argue that a party absolutely does need control of the government to be a functional democracy?

It's a completely irrelevant tangent to the conversation that was being had, one that I have no intention of pursuing.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Just to poke at this - a party absolutely should not need to be in total control of the government in a functional democracy. Requiring total control means that it's being or has been fundamentally broken. Similarly, only Manchin/Sinema being notable dissenters is, historically, already really good in terms of party unity on various issues. It's certainly frustrating, yes, but it's one of those things where it really wouldn't matter if the Republican Establishment weren't being an effective Stage 3-4 cancer to the US.

It wouldn't matter, and it shouldn't matter, but it does matter, so what? We don't have a functional democracy. You understand the problem, so do we, where do we go from here?

I don't mean to single you out personally, I'm just frustrated that the answer to "democracy seems fundamentally broken" is merely "well it's those gosh darned Republicans to blame," as if that hasn't been entirely obvious to everyone for the last two decades. If the solution is to vote our way out, then the two people blocking the vote really are truly absolutely at fault even if the same level of obstinate derping could be ignored in other situations.

 

[Aridas]

It wouldn't matter, and it shouldn't matter, but it does matter, so what? We don't have a functional democracy. You understand the problem, so do we, where do we go from here?

I don't mean to single you out personally, I'm just frustrated that the answer to "democracy seems fundamentally broken" is merely "well it's those gosh darned Republicans to blame," as if that hasn't been entirely obvious to everyone for the last two decades. If the solution is to vote our way out, then the two people blocking the vote really are truly absolutely at fault even if the same level of obstinate derping could be ignored in other situations.

The fifty-two people blocking it, rather. Removing agency from Republicans effectively gives them a free pass, which does nothing to help and much to hurt. That has been just one of the many contributing factors to how things have been allowed to get as bad as they are. Your frustration is very understandable, of course, but "well it's those gosh darned Republicans to blame" was not entirely obvious even to far too many intelligent people for the last two decades and still isn't obvious to significant portions of the US population even today. That you've known and I've known something that seems really obvious for a long time is something that can easily bias us in our perception of reality by making us think that it's obvious to others when it's not.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

The fifty-two people blocking it, rather. Removing agency from Republicans effectively gives them a free pass, which does nothing to help and much to hurt. That has been just one of the many contributing factors to how things have been allowed to get as bad as they are. Your frustration is very understandable, of course, but "well it's those gosh darned Republicans to blame" was not entirely obvious even to far too many intelligent people for the last two decades and still isn't obvious to significant portions of the US population even today. That you've known and I've known something that seems really obvious for a long time is something that can easily bias us in our perception of reality by making us think that it's obvious to others when it's not.

Those people who don't know aren't going to need an answer for why Republicans aren't supporting Democrat policies. They will ask why Democrats aren't supporting Democrat policies, and "go ask the Republicans" is not an answer to that. To repeat: point fingers all you want, but where do we actually go from here?

[ETA] Ooh I bet it's "get out the vote." Because that's been working so well.