As was discussed earlier, Biden has announced a plan for debt relief regarding student loans. You can look at the white paper here, but what appeals to me is how targeted it is at those who will benefit most. I have long and complicated thoughts about student loan forgiveness that I have discussed before and ranted about today, but that is not what I am interested in discussing right now.
What I am, however, interested in discussing is the fact that Joe Biden is slowly becoming the most consequential President (in a positive way) in my lifetime. Obviously there have been more consequential Presidents (Reagan, for example, whose damage to this nation can be traced back from literally every negative statistic you see today whether it be labor, income equality, the markets and banking, the environment, evangelical radicalism, abortion, etc., and whose other contributions continue the war on drugs, ignoring the aids crisis, and on and on and on). Trump is obviously consequential in the short run, but the long term damage can not yet be assessed. And Shrub was quite damaging as well.
But if you look at the size, scope, and width of the major legislation signed by Biden in the past 19 months, it is truly astonishing.
1.) The American Rescue Act (March 2021)
2.) The Infrastructure and Investment Act (Nov 2021)
3.) The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (June 2022)
4.) The Chips and Science Act (Aug 2022)
5.) The Inflation Reduction Act (Aug 2022)
And that is just the big stuff, not the dozens of other bills and executive orders and things like the debt relief ban today. This is TWO terms worth of legislation. This is Johnsonian and Rooseveltian in scope.
And then there are the things you don’t see or even know about like the work on classification I mentioned yesterday or things like this:
If Biden and Dems can avoid a wipeout or even pick up seats in the Senate at midterms, it will be exceedingly hard to deny that he has been if not the best president of my lifetime, but one of (Obama will always be my favorite because I just love everything about him). And I say this as a guy who was vocally telling Biden not to run, so my track record of being fucking wrong about everything remains in place.
Nevada Four Directions Native Vote
Chetan Murthy
And you are not alone in that sentiment, ,nor your current one.
rikyrah
I wrote in the Student Loan post that it chokes me up..
the consistent and persistent dedication to 46 and His Administration..
to put into place Good Government that targets ‘ the least of these’.
EVEN IF, he hadn’t announced anything today, I was thrilled about the Student Loan Forgiveness so far.
The disabled.
The swindled, targeted and hustled by scamming for-profit colleges
Looking out for these folks would have been enough.
But, the Pell Grant ‘extra help’….going to those who had the very least when going to college. …
Yeah…that’s President Joe Biden. …and his Administration.
pat
So let me be the first to say, Run again, Joe!!! We need you for another four years and you can do it!
Baud
I initially thought that was a chart of labor strikes and was very confused.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
I ❤️ Joe Biden (and all of the hardworking Democrats who do the heavy lifting)
Another Scott
Yes, Biden is getting stuff done. Especially given the close margins in the House and Senate, it’s been amazing.
(Appropriate TR meme .gif)
I’m not sure I trust the last graph – “Declared” may be doing a lot of heavy lifting there – but good for Biden in getting us out of Afghanistan.
Cheers,
Scott.
wv blondie
Loved, loved, LOVED your Twitter rant, Mr. Cole! The only thing you didn’t mention, as near as I can tell, is that ole sneaky “moral hazard” argument the bullies and sadists trot out – without ever mentioning the “moral hazard” of predatory mortgages that brought on the Great Recession, yet somehow no one ever went to prison for it ..
(Oh, and I adore Uncle Joe! He’s not as charismatic as Obama, but boy! Does he have heart!)
dm
And he’s doing it in a world where “bipartisanship” runs all the way from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin.
pajaro
In my lifetime, the only one who possibly exceeds what Biden has done is LBJ, but LBJ had huge majorities of both houses. Biden, Shumer and Pelosi have done this in the face of unremitting opposition of the Repubs, an often hostile “liberal media” and absolutely no margin for error. It’s amazing. And, yes, oh by the way, Biden was maybe my 4th choice, for the nomination.
twbrandt (formerly tom)
The huge drop in air strikes seems like a very good thing.
AM in NC
I am with you, John. Uncle Joe was not in my first handful of choices to be our nominee.
Boy was I wrong. He has been just fantastic, and has done it with so little drama or fuss. Just an incredible list of accomplishments. And let’s not forget ending the forever war with the most successful evacuation post-defeat in our history.
Miss Bianca
You know what I love about you, Cole, is that you’re a goddamn mensch who’s never afraid to give credit where due or admit when he’s been wrong.
And yes, Biden has been kicking ass, taking names, and doing it with a smile. Yeah, he wasn’t my first choice of candidate but I am Team Joe all the way now.
germy shoemangler
Marjorie Taylor Greene weighs in:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Things have to get bad before Americans are willing to change shit. It took W and all the horrors he brought to get Obama. It took trump to get us Biden. Maybe the combination of trump, the (increasingly overconfident/unhinged?) Ron DeSantis and Sammy Overreach Alito to get us Speaker Jeffries
(and am I reverse wish-casting in saying that after the 2020 elections there were rumors that McConnell would retire if the Rs didn’t take the Senate in ’22?
ETA: I too was slow to get on Team Biden
zhena gogolia
@pat: Amen.
germy shoemangler
pat
So how on earth can his approval ratings be so low? Oh, do you think lots of people don’t know what he has done?
I think a huge part of the problem is that it depends where you get your news. And frankly even the WaPo and NYT should be doing a better job. (yeah, I say that with a certain amount of Duh! what do you expect?)
zhena gogolia
The letters column of the NYT is constantly about whether Biden should run again, because they keep publishing either articles or op-eds about how he shouldn’t. My husband says, “They really want Trump back, don’t they?” They want their tax cuts.
HinTN
@germy shoemangler: The intro and the outro …
HinTN
@zhena gogolia: They want their fucking drama (aka clickbait). It’s always about the Benjamins.
ET Ask, how’s the hip? Four weeks out and I’m walking a mile every day.
HumboldtBlue
Biden certainly wasn’t at the top of my list (I first voted for him in 1983) and here he is, demonstrating what 50 years of experience in Congress can do when it’s wielded by a master, and Biden is a master.
Also, here’s another good news nugget from yesterday’s results:
The Florida judge who ruled that a 17 year old wasn’t mature enough to have an abortion, but was mature enough to have a baby, was ousted by voters yesterday.
WaterGirl
Great twitter rant, Cole! Great post, too!
Baud
To me, the big takeaways are (1) keep Dems in power and (2) give them more than two years to work on things. I’ve always felt that way, so it’s easy for me to say, but it seems like Biden and this Congress have made the argument irrefutable.
Omnes Omnibus
I just want say that I started in Harris’s camp but came over to Biden once she dropped out. I think my pro-Joe declaration here was in mid-January 2020. At no point, have I regretted either of my choices.
Frank Wilhoit
I am also on record — somewhere, unless it has been overtaken by bitrot — as recommending, fifteen or twenty years ago, that then-Senator Biden should step back from public life, because of his brain surgery. At that time, he displayed all of the textbook signs of right-brain syndrome, notably impulsiveness, to the frequent embarrassment of the Party and its leadership. He was usually described, back then, as a “gaffe machine”. But he has overcome that; and, unless you are a neurologist or (like myself) a caregiver to a person with a right-brain injury, you may not realize what a very large and rare accomplishment that is. It required fantastic effort and diligence over many years. I am gleefully happy today to have to say how wrong I was then.
Another Scott
@germy shoemangler: In elections decided by less than 1000 voters in lots of cases, declaring war on 43,000,000 adult, post-high-school-educated, federal student loan borrowers seems like a stupid strategy to me.
I would expect nothing less from the GQP.
Cheers,
Scott.
dmsilev
@Omnes Omnibus: Same here. I voted for her in the CA primary (by mail, a couple of weeks prior), but it was pretty clear by then that Biden was on track to be the nominee, which was perfectly acceptable to me as an option, And it’s so far turned out pretty well.
Ohio Mom
Yes, I was also wrong about Biden, I had rotating crushes on almost all of the Democratic hopefuls except Joe. For one thing, I couldn’t see how he could possibly win. I thought he was too old and boring, and didn’t have the charisma needed to inspire voters. (I myself don’t need charisma, I’ll vote for any Democrat.)
Then again, I didn’t think Obama could win — America elect a Black man? — and I thought Hillary was a shoo-in against that clown Trump.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
When Biden was rising to the top of the pack in the primaries, I thought “well, maybe the non-threatening old white guy is what we’re going to need to win”. I was in the K-Hive and bitterly disappointed that we were going to have to play that game again.
Wow, has he been so much more than “the non-threatening old white guy”. If Joe thinks he’s healthy enough in ’24, I’m not going to try to stop him.
dmsilev
Speaking of cleaning up messes left by the GOP, the Post just now:
Lot of work to be done there; I don’t envy her her task.
Scout211
This has been about 2 weeks of good news. Even the bad news is only about Trump, so that’s good news. It’s just feels like a reason to breathe. Good job Democrats!
Oh, and the site is working well today.
And the Barr Memo has been released. (.pdf version link)
Someone who is willing to take a deep dive into the memo and would like to share anything juicy with the class, please do.
Old School
@HumboldtBlue:
Has this happened more than once? Clicking through, this was a case from last January. There was a case last week involving a 16-year-old.
JWR
@germy shoemangler:
Not too bright, that one. Also, too, why? Yeah, I know, it’s because her mouth is constantly open, and something, anything must out.
sab
i am usually politically active, but I let life intervene. My dad in the nursing home memory unit turns 98 this week. He and I love each other but dont much like each other. I am his only local kid so he is stuck with me. The kid he adores spends half her year in China. That is why he adores her.
Every family has its own problems. My husband has serious health issues. Whole different health world. Life is always commplicated, and the people around you don’t always care if you live. But sometimes they do care.
cain
@JWR: She’s paid to bray like a donkey and makes as much sense. Yet I feel connected to a donkey.
Seefleur
@germy shoemangler: I’m hoping that this will be another nail in the GOP coffin, similar to how they mis-read Dobbs. My 4 college grad kids who are all saddled with loans and working in non-profit fields will greatly benefit – and yes, they all got Pell grants. And have been paying off their loans for years, while also contributing *way* more to society than shlubs like Tom Cotton…(he’s already saying that this is just a bribe on the Dems part to get votes)
<Lurker will now go back to lurking>
Bill Arnold
@Omnes Omnibus:
Likewise. (The people who spread the “Kamila is a Cop” propaganda angered me.)
I am hoping she starts to get more good exposure; the US press has been deliberately ignoring her, to the point where it looks like shunning.
catclub
@twbrandt (formerly tom):
I just looked again at the vertical scale. wow.
Another Scott
I was late on the Biden bandwagon, too. I’m so very glad I was wrong about this being his time.
re Your excellent Twitter rant:
My father (b. 1935) was working as a pin-setter in a bowling alley when he was 8. Every boy should be working in a noisy, smoke-filled, confined space with dangerous equipment when they’re 8. (Girls should be in the textile mills when they’re not home cooking and cleaning and darning socks.) It’s what the Founders intended.
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
There will always be nay-sayers against progress and they will seemingly always get at least half the coverage in the MSM. We have to work around them, get the job done, and keep pressing on.
Forward!!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
Oh, I don’t know. You’ve got friends, a good relationship with your parents and sibs, and lots of rescue pets. And a willow. This all puts you on the good side of the ledger, way on the good side!
JCJ
@pajaro:
In case it has not yet been said: On behalf of our esteemed Raven – Fuck LBJ
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
I think from now on I’m just going to call him President Dayenu.
HumboldtBlue
@dmsilev:
No doubt, USSS, BOP and Border Patrol all need serious reform and housecleaning.
ExpatDanBKK
Bill Arnold
@dmsilev:
I hope she (Cheatle) is thorough about removal or sidelining of Trump cultists and their allies. Same should be done to all of DHS.
WereBear
When it came out that Clyburn wanted Joe, and mustered all that support, I went with it because so many civil rights activists were on board. When he chose Kamala as VP, I was thrilled. It turns out they were right 😁🎉
SiubhanDuinne
@germy shoemangler:
Go home, Marge. You’re drunk.
Okay, you’re drunk and stupid.
Fine, whatever. Drunk, stupid, and obnoxious.
HumboldtBlue
@Old School:
I realized after I linked this was a story from earlier in the year. I have no idea of the second case, unless, the 16-year0old had a birthday and is now 17.
@ExpatDanBKK:
You’re a decent man, the Democrats tend to attract the decent people. Like you.
Princess
I, too, am always wrong. I guess that’s why I feel so at home here.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ohio Mom: Oddly enough, my nephew who turned 19 two weeks before the election was a Biden supporter from the beginning.
ExpatDanBKK
@SiubhanDuinne:
So, same as any other day? LOL
HumboldtBlue
@WereBear:
South Carolina was the eye-opener for me and reminded me that Joe and Clyburn had forgotten more about politics than I’ll ever know and it was Joe all the way. That meant the base, black women, were with Joe.
Suzanne
@ExpatDanBKK: My father, who severed his parental rights when I was a year old to avoid paying a single dollar in child support, and who committed to paying for my graduate school and then backed out once I got accepted….posted today on Facebook about how it is SO WRONG that hardworking Americans who didn’t go to college are now paying the debts of those that did.
I should note that my father has a MFA.
I should also note that I never even got a $5 bill in a birthday card.
I’m really, really not in the mood to hear about responsibility.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: I know. Luckily, a lot of NY Times readers are smarter than that. When MoDo is proposing it …
Fuck ’em.
And go Joe! Give ’em hell!
(The WaPost “editorial board” piece up today slamming Biden’s plan. No clue what doofus wrote that one. Jeff Bezos has def started to meddle in the paper.)
ian
@Another Scott:
It is exactly what they intended for a certain segment of the population. One of many reasons I get baffled by the hero worship of those old dead white dudes.
New Deal democrat
@pat: “So how on earth can his approval ratings be so low?”
Obviously Presidential approval is not monocausal, but much of the time it correlates with gas prices. Here’s an article with graphs covering the long term:
https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/gas-prices-and-presidential-approval/
And here’s one limited to Biden:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/joe-biden-approval-inflation-gas-prices.html
That article is from the end of last year. Biden’s all-time low was in June, when gas prices were at their all-time high. So root for prices to keep falling through October!
zhena gogolia
@HinTN: Unfortunately, I’m nine weeks out and still on a cane. I didn’t get enough guidance and strained the muscles early on. It’s getting better, but very, very slowly.
Elizabelle
I love President Joe. And MVP Kamala. And Nancy Smash. And President Zelenskyy.
We are so lucky to have them.
SiubhanDuinne
@Princess:
One of us,
One of us!
Gooble gobble,
One of us.
UncleEbeneezer
zhena gogolia
@HinTN: I mean, I am walking a mile every day, but with a cane.
SiubhanDuinne
@ExpatDanBKK:
Not at all. What do you take me for?
Just same as any other day ending in “y.”
Another Scott
@Scout211: Thanks for the pointer.
If, like me, you hate – hate – hate the default interface of DocumentCloud, you can get to the original PDF and view it in your viewer of choice here (9 page .pdf).
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Scott.
Almost Retired
I don’t have any Fox News Uncles in my LA bubble, but I do have Bernie-bro-adjacent sons, with whom I usually avoid talking politics. It’s California, so they can’t really hurt anyone much with their votes.
After months of texts from them about the senile old man I support, BOTH of them today separately and begrudgingly admitted some respect for Biden’s accomplishments this month, even though they aren’t directly affected by loan forgiveness. Are Biden’s poor youth numbers going to change? If the Almost Retired spawn are any sort of bellwhether, then maybe so.
lowtechcyclist
I’m another member of the ‘late to jump on the Biden bandwagon, and ecstatic to be wrong about him’ crowd.
@SiubhanDuinne:
is no way to go through life.
Jackie
Just watched Crist being interviewed by Nicolle Wallace. He said exactly what I said last night after he won: People in Florida are fed up with the mean, wants to be a dictator, DeSantis. Crist hopes to be the Joe Biden of Florida, giving Floridians an experienced former governor who cares about his constituents – unlike the mini-Trump authoritative dictator.
HumboldtBlue
@Jackie:
I watched that as well, and he was spot-on about DeSantis who is just a nasty, mean man.
BC in Illinois
@SiubhanDuinne:
Leslie
I was a fan of Elizabeth Warren. All those good ideas, backed up by specific, detailed plans about how to pay for / accomplish everything? I loved it. Then she told the truth about kicking everyone off their private insurance and into Medicare For All, and her numbers tanked and never recovered.
And then, early in 2020, a few weeks before South Carolina, I saw a post about a study that a couple of professors had done. It amounted to a very large survey — I don’t remember the sample size, but it was truly impressive, huge compared to most such things — and they had also taken great care with how they framed their questions. The results were eye-opening.
I don’t remember all the details now; I wish I did. But they polled head-to-heads of all the Democratic candidates against TFG, and the only candidate who did well was Biden. Period. I was shocked, but the data and how well they had been gathered were extremely convincing. So when he won SC, I was already on board.
ETA: But he’s been amazing.
Scout211
@UncleEbeneezer: I posted the link to the full memo above at #31 and Another Scott posted a different link at #63, easier to read.
IANAL, but after skimming the document pages, my layperson’s version is that not one thing that Trump did rose to the criminal version of obstruction and there are no precedents for this kind of charge, so therefore, no charge. Oh and because Trump considered that the Mueller investigation was interfering in Trump’s governmental duties, it’s okay that he blocked the investigation. But it wasn’t obstruction, no siree.
A more learned person could likely have a more accurate reading of the full memo, but any way you interpret it, the conclusion was that Trump was above the law.
Ohio Mom
@Almost Retired: I am rarely personally affected by anything I support. Don’t have student loans, was never near a burn pit, won’t be looking for a job at a new chip factory, etc.
But this time around, I will be helped (modestly) by the $2,000 cap on Medicare drug costs. It feels weird, even a little wrong, frankly. I’ll get used to it.
SiubhanDuinne
For those of us who pay attention to Schrödinger’s Cat’s frequent comments on growing authoritarianism in India, you may find value in this guest Op-Ed from the NYT (gift article, so no worries about a paywall).
S_C, I’m not sure whether you’re seeing this thread or not, but if you are I’d love you to weigh in.
ChuckInAustin
Haven’t read the details, but is it $10k forgiveness if income is < $125k and nothing for borrowers above that line? I don’t like that. At least make it a declining benefit up to $200k income.
These are the ‘college educated suburban’ voters that seem so critical for Democrats in November. Someone maying $130-140 in Austin is probably someone about 5-10 years post graduation. They may have no problem with rent and food, but they aren’t buying a house here anytime soon.
$5k-7.5k would go a long way to letting that group know that they are seen. Democrats do this too often, give a benefit like making student loan payments tax deductible unless you make more than $80k. (ran into this a few years ago.) No benefit for those who are doing well, but not nearly rich.
SiubhanDuinne
@BC in Illinois:
Hah. You nailed what I was going for!
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue:
He gave me hope. If all Democrats, majority of Independents, and moderate Republicans who support personal freedoms and are worried about what DeSantis is doing to their kids schools – Crist can win this.
SiubhanDuinne
@lowtechcyclist:
Snorfle.
WaterGirl
@Seefleur: I recognize your nym so you’re definitely not a total lurker. :-)
Omnes Omnibus
@ChuckInAustin: Nothing will satisfy everyone. This does a pretty good job of making enough people happy without really pissing off a lot of people. And who knows, they can always revisit the issue down the road.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
And then there are the things you take for granted and only miss until it’s gone: NO Drama – NO Scandal
HumboldtBlue
@Jackie:
Agreed, and I am nearly convinced that DeSantis and other GOP candidates are showing their entire asses and displaying just how unlikable they are, are betting that voter suppression and ballot denials and tampering are going to ensure they win.
You can’t look at DeSantis and think, “well there goes a guy who knows how to lead and who will be excellent at crafting and directing public policy in this state,” unless you’re ready to go full fascist.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Also too, the amount of judges he has appointed, including the first African American woman on SCOTUS
SiubhanDuinne
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
I was just thinking how much I love the no-drama aspect of Joe’s presidency.
Compare and contrast.
SiubhanDuinne
@HumboldtBlue:
This is absolutely true, but in fairness DeSantis can display how unlikable he is by showing just his face.
ExpatDanBKK
@Suzanne: @Suzanne: Not sure if you are pasting upon me your father’s stuff (your Mom wasn’t an angel). I’m not him. I’m not sure WTF that was, but it was not great, I get it. I owned everything that I did for my family. My wife left me with 8-9yo daughters. But I feel you. OK?
WaterGirl
@ChuckInAustin: I am pretty sure that if a single person makes over $125k, there is no $10k or $20k forgiveness for them. The cutoff is $250k for families.
But other changes help them.
Corrected.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
On January 20, 2021, over 4,000 people died from covid.
Yesterday only 178 died from covid.
If this had happened under a rpublican the media would be canonizing ’em
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I especially enjoy the absence of any theft of national secrets.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
Your list and mine are similar.
But I find myself retired at 73, living off of SS. Now I worked until a year ago to boost my income to something more than sleep on a park bench and to add a bit to my SS income and bank account, which is all I have. My employer before last had a rule where if you were fired for any reason other than theft you got a thousand dollars for each full year you’d worked there. That would have been $10,000 for me. The reason I’m posting this is that I had given my 2 week notice a week prior and was talking to the CEO (a bit smart mouthed if I’m honest) and he threatened me with that he was going to fire me. I begged him to, I may have offered to take him and his wife out to dinner as well. He was unaware of the rule of firing and I was stupid enough to tell him. Damn my honesty. The boost % in SS for this year was pretty damn nice, it’s supposed to be more next year. But this is my life now, not a lot of golf (none in fact) and no island hopping for this lad.
And as to John’s post, I voted for Harris in the primary, and was fine with Joe for president, even as I had no idea he’d be the president he’s turned out to be. After the disaster to humanity that is SFB, Joe is a far, far better president than most of us ever imagined.
WaterGirl
@ExpatDanBKK: Sometimes another person’s comment makes me think of something and I reply to it because that’s what engendered the thought.
Suzanne can correct me if I’m wrong, but I did not read Suzanne’s comment as really having anything to do with you except perhaps that her biological father appeared to be the opposite of you.
RSA
Aaron Blake has an optimistic election analysis in the Post, in a post-Dobbs nation. Excerpt:
Baud
It’s been over an hour and Biden still hasn’t done anything new.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
There have been no one-on-one unrecorded meetings with Putin either, so there’s that.
Another Scott
@ChuckInAustin:
WH.gov summary.
The cutoff is $250k for Joint tax return filers.
Above $250k is in the top 5%. Directing the relief to the bottom 95% is fair.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
patrick II
@Seefleur:
I appreciate how people like Cotton contend student loan forgiveness is just a bribe to get votes, but somehow a tax cut for the rich isn’t
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: That you know of.
Dan B
@WaterGirl: I had the same take. Suzanne was just relating her story. It was not an editorial comment. Taking care of an 8yo and a 9yo all the way through advanced professional degrees is morally admirable.
Calouste
@RSA: Makes me wonder how many voters who are R-leaning on the “generic ballot” think their “R” is a generic Mitt Romney type, but when they look at their actual ballot, they notice an MTG-clone and they are starting to have second thoughts.
Ksmiami
@SiubhanDuinne: My normie SO said he can’t imagine 4 years with dour angry Republicans in charge when there’s so much to build on.
DeSantis is negative, sullen and his skin color is a strange pallor of grey. No thanks
Tom Q
@Omnes Omnibus: With you on both counts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
interesting…
My italics
Gvg
@JCJ: I like Raven and understand the Vietnam anger, but…the Civil Rights laws were really important, and every once in a while I have to say I think the good out weighed the bad especially as the years go by. He was complicated, and not an easy hero. Being able to think he was both good and bad is part of being grown up.
Ksmiami
@Ohio Mom: I’m never directly helped by all of the support programs, but I want to live in a society that supports and creates opportunities for all and not some feudal nightmare so the only party worth supporting is the Democratic one. The other guys are hazardous to our health
Scout211
Just to add to Biden’s slow and steady greatness: Another piece of good news today: Link
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
Biden is great. And we need all the positive vibes we can get right now. But am I the only one bothered by the the difference between everyone treated Obama (and this includes those on the Democratic side of the aisle) and how they’re treating Biden now?
Like, obviously Biden’s got our Fair and Balanced media betters rooting for him to fail at every turn at the very least and actively trying to sabotage him at worst, but it’s hard not to remember the attitude toward Obama that felt….even more impatient and hostile from even just the internet set.
Am I the only one who feels this way?
For the record, this is not a call for everyone to stop celebrating the victories and touting them to people who are still thinking about voting. For the love of everything, don’t stop doing that. It’s just something that’s been bothering me a bit, lately.
Jackie
@Scout211: Wonderful news!!!! Thank you, President Biden!♥️
Gvg
Low and middle income max payments 5% of discretionary income
There we’re some other details that work out as consequential too.
For awhile working for a government or non profit gets you easy loan forgiveness, after awhile it reverts to a more normal application process which DeVos had screwed up and was denying everyone, plus it had been made a lot harder before her. This used to be a big plus for teachers and other s like social work, hopefully will again.
Just making the system work again and paperwork process in a reasonable time frame will help, tho that isn’t part of his plan….things were sabotaged and not working before.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: My comment at WaPo was that I assumed the fact that a large percentage of Black people benefitted from this was the root cause of Wapo’s opposition, then noted how predictable they were.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gas, groceries and Covid hangover.
and just for perspective:
Reagan was two years off an electoral college landslide
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: I love “President Dayenu”.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: I’m sorry to hear you are in pain but glad you are feeling improvement. Take good care of yourself.
Another Scott
More good news ahead – CalculatedRiskBlog.com – Expect housing inflation to slow substantially in coming months:
Supply going up means pricing pressure will fall.
Cheers,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@patrick II:
Well, it isn’t. After all, the rich don’t have many votes.
It’s a bribe to get campaign contributions, either directly or to a super-PAC, or to some other outfit that the Bogus Scotus allows to accept unlimited money to throw into the political process with no oversight.
HumboldtBlue
@ExpatDanBKK:
I think you may be overlooking empathy and commiseration in Suzanne’s comment.
oatler
The “GOP” answers to these accomplishments have been to belittle them to the point of literal lunacy.
Cmorenc
@pajaro:
True, LBJ had largr congressional majorities, but keep in mind that especially in the Senate, the D margin above being in the minority was comprised of arch-segregationist southern senators who were also key committee chairmen – the sort who migrated to the GOP over the next 20 to 30 years. And lots of southern house dems were conservadems
Elizabelle
@Kathleen: Good point, Kathleen.
That was a terrible editorial, and WaPost is getting scalded for it.
stacib
@Ohio Mom: We were opposites. I knew Obama at least had a chance after he got 25% of the white, male vote in South Carolina. Two months after trump** came down that escalator, I was telling my friends we should stop laughing because that idiot had a real chance of winning. For HRC, I always thought it would take a perfect alignment of the stars for her to ever get elected. The Republicans were super successful in making people from both parties hold her to ridiculous standards, and made her carry weight that really wasn’t hers. Joe was always my first choice – I wanted him to run in 2016, but understood why he wouldn’t. I love Pete Buttigieg, but I don’t think he’ll ever get elected. He would have been my second choice if SC had not saved Biden. Sadly, I’m not confident in a Kamala candidacy in 2024 either.
The Moar You Know
I knew Biden had the capacity to be great. I am glad he is doing exactly that.
gwangung
@stacib: Yes, there’s far too much sexism and homophobia in even the so-called liberal Democratic Party for me to be that optimistic about them.
And we had an almost perfect candidate in Obama to win THAT time, so…
Barbara
@HumboldtBlue: Well, I am relieved that he will be gone, but even more relieved to learn that the original decision was overturned by the Florida appellate court.
WaterGirl
@Gvg: I corrected my comment. Thank you.
stacib
@gwangung: To be fair, most Black people didn’t support Obama until the white folks signaled it was okay. We wanted to, but I think we were too scared to hope. Obama’s State Senate office was about a block from my house, so we got the first signs when he decided to run for the Senate, and most of what I heard was “who is this dude with the weird name”, and just think, we had him right here from the start.
Barbara
@stacib: My husband turned to me after his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention and told me that he would be president one day.
HumboldtBlue
@Barbara:
I remember six of us standing around the small TV in the newsroom as he spoke in 2004. He got us all out of our seats, you just sensed he was going big.
What an entrance.
Elsewhere:
gwangung
@stacib: Oh, yeah, but I happen to think Obama was ridiculously over qualified in a lot of areas for being President and the country has been blessed to have him for two terms.
Ohio Mom
@stacib: If my mother was still alive, she would ask, “Okay, what are interest rates and the stock market about to do?” Those would be the only predictions she thought useful.
But seriously, I am very impressed! You are good at this.
raven
@pajaro: fuck lbj
catclub
well said. one is reminded of the late worker in the bible who got a full days salary. that was no skin off the early workers nose.
Enzymer
@pajaro: Ditto!
Kenneth Fair
Biden was not my choice for the Democratic nominee, but I have to admit that he’s accomplished far more than I ever dreamed he would, with razor-thin legislative margins.
For that matter, I’m simply gobsmacked that anyone thinks the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a failure. The US evacuated over 100K people from a war zone without a single casualty. That’s an astounding success, and nigh unheard of. Retreating under fire is one of the most difficult tasks for any military force, and thus creating the diplomatic space for that retreat to be conducted in an orderly and casualty-free fashion was a phenomenal piece of work. Not to mention the administration’s thus-far near-perfect handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
AxelFoley
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain:
I’ve noticed it, too. I’m glad Uncle Joe is getting the support he needs and deserves from the Democratic Party, but I’m still pissed at many Democrats for abandoning Obama, especially in the midterms of 2010 and 2014.
Baud
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain:
@AxelFoley:
Same here. The only reason I’m at Balloon Juice is because how toxic the Daily Kos community was toward Obama during the first two years.
Liberal Dems have had a lot of education over the last 12 years. I think we’re in a better place now.