Who’s up for a game of: How Smart Is Joe Biden?
I’ll start.
Joe Biden is so smart that he knew the answer to this question: “How do you make sure you can have a successful presidency and position your party well for 2024 – even if there’s a good chance that you could lose the House and the Senate in the midterms?”
Just a few months ago I was wishing that tangible results from all the great legislation that was passed had gone into effect BEFORE the midterms, when it could have potentially influenced votes, instead of 2023. So it’s a good thing I wasn’t home when Joe Biden called for my advice, because he plays the long game.
Answer: Biden made sure that some of the most popular parts of his legislation would take effect in Jan 2023, right after the midterms.
Win or lose – even if you lose the House and the Senate – you are suddenly helping people in undeniable ways – helping them in tangible ways – with things that matter, like the cost of insulin. Right or wrong, accurate or not, the President gets the credit or the blame for what’s happening, so this was a very smart play.
Any takers for this game? How Smart is Joe Biden?
lowtechcyclist
Pretty damn smart. And his heart’s even bigger than that.
ETA: If you’d told me four years ago that, in just a few years, I’d be singing Joe Biden’s praises to the skies, I would asked you for a hit of whatever you were smoking. There have been times in my life when I’ve been very glad to have been wrong. And this is definitely one of them.
oldster
He’s a damned fine president, who has been extraordinarily effective in a difficult climate.
He will be remembered by history as a prime cause of Ukraine’s victory — not as important as Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, but very important indeed. And the full story, not told yet, of how Biden activated the American war machine to help Ukraine, will make him look even better.
He has restored sanity and decency to the White House and to American politics. He runs a good team and knows how to work with Congress.
He’s just good at this job, and I am very grateful that he is the one doing it.
narya
Joe Biden is so smart that he knew how to work with Nancy Smash and Chuck Schumer to get a whole bunch of stuff done while he had the chance–even when everyone else wrote off the infrastructure bill, they kept working at it and got it DONE.
Joe Biden is so smart that he selected Kamala Harris as his VP (the whole cabinet, really–Haaland and Buttigieg really stand out for me).
Joe Biden is so smart that he picked Garland as AG, giving us the best chance of prosecuting everyone who was involved in J6.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Pretty much alone among the top-tier 2020 primary candidates, he didn’t get confused about 2016, 2018, and twitter.
Another Scott
He knows that presidential popularity is tied to oil and gas prices, so he’s been working all the levers he has to make sure they come down. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, improving relations with Venezuela, pushing electrification of transport and heat pumps for homes, etc.
The biggest thing he knows is that politics is slow- much slower than Twitter screaming rampages. He is willing and able to do the work that will pay off long-term.
Smart dude.
Cheers,
Scott.
WereBear
That I continue to think was a move that immediately conjured “this time it’s personal” movie poster memes.
But I remembered he was not a firebrand type, but a person with experience with conspiracy and intricacies, and likely the best person for this job right now.
Chetan Murthy
@lowtechcyclist: Amen, brother/sister. A-men! Halleluljah! AMEN!
He was at the bottom of my list of Dem candidates. The *bottom*. I sneered at the things he said on the trail. And then ….. he turned out to be the President we needed, that Ukraine needed, that The West needed.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
I really do think President Biden will be classed among the greatest Presidents in our history, even greater than Obama, and this is coming from someone who *loves* President Obama.
Anotherlurker
He is so smart that he knows the ins and outs of how to get things done in the face of insane, irrational, traitorous opposition.
I am proud to be a Democrat.
greenergood
On this night, the one before the start of a new year, I am grateful that Joe Biden is the President of the US. Friends here in Scotland ask ”don’t you want someone younger, more on the ball?’ And they are surprised when I express to them how happy I am that President Biden is in the White House (because the UK press is also almost totally right-wing). So thanks Joe and Jill, Nancy Smash and Chuck, for restoring some sense of sanity and responsibility to government, and Joe’s kids and grandkids, and Willow and Champ, for restoring the sense that presidents are people with families and pets and just normal stuff, and not narcissistic nutcases.
Joy in FL
I say a heartfelt YES to everything in the above posts. I am so happily, relievedly surprised at how much better our prospects (national & global) are because of what President Biden and his team have done, are doing, will do.
Things don’t have to be perfect to be better, and many things are better. We’ll keep working to increase the quantity and quality of better.
Chetan Murthy
Maybe I’m imputing too much to him, but:
He’s so smart he understood that he needed to appoint women and people of color to as many positions as possible, b/c they’d do a better job and be more loyal to our country than if he stuck to appointing The Usual Suspects.
OK: maybe I’m wrong about this, but I have difficulty believing he did it just for representation. It’s more than that.
oldster
@Chetan Murthy:
It would be ironic indeed if history comes to judge Obama and Biden the way that it has come to judge Kennedy and Johnson — the inspirational, charismatic pretty boy, followed by the low-key centrist drudge, eyed suspiciously by progressives, who leaves a longer-lasting legacy of progressive change.
But I think that would be not only ironic, but also a deep mis-judging of Obama. He was damned good at this job, too. And Biden learned from watching him for eight long and difficult years.
narya
@WereBear: That’s really what stands out about so many of his picks–deploying Pete’s nerdiness to address transportation issues–and, now, improve the system, w/ infrastructure bucks. Appointing a zillion judges. Appointing Haaland in an absolutely resonant move. It’s so different from TFG’s (and the RWNJ party’s) emphasis on personal back-scratching rather than competence. I keep thinking of his response, highlighted here–think about who you want to help, and what you won’t do.
Heidi Mom
@Chetan Murthy: Agreed. The aspect of Barack Obama that most impressed me, even more than his off-the-charts intelligence, was his incredible self-discipline. I didn’t see that in the famously gaffe-prone Joe Biden. But it’s there, at least to a degree that, combined with 40 years of experience in national politics, has enabled him to do a very impressive job as President.
rikyrah
Joe Biden isn’t new to this.
He is TRUE to this.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Chetan Murthy
@oldster:
I love President Obama. I will always remember that night in 2008, heading home from downtown SF where I was working at (not, alas *for*) Twitter keeping things running, and the jubilation in the streets. [so unlike 2020, when the celebration was much more grim determination that we’d finally fucking made it thru, thank god] And he was excellent: he changed the narrative, changed what we thought was possible.
I am to this day convinced that the reason so many Dems started demanding more, like with health care, with the social safety net full stop, with climate change, is that Obama showed us that it was *possible*. He dragged the Overton Window to the left, and when progressives and leftists rail against him for not achieving enough, they forget from where he started, the profound sense that our country was a center-right nation that pervaded the 90s and early noughties. And especially the big changes for racial and gender minorities that *nobody* expected.
And yet, and yet, and yet, as you say, Biden seems to be accomplishing far, far more, in the teeth of if anything even more ferocious opposition.
Percysowner
@oldster:
Obama was hamstrung by the fact that he could never, ever be “the angry black man” because that would have been used against him. He always had to be reasonable and accommodating. Plus, I think his basic goodness blinded him to exactly HOW toxic and obstructive the Republicans would be, leading to some compromises meant to bring the “moderate” Susan Collinses on board for legislation, then having them say “nope” after those compromises were made. He really thought the Repubs would put country over party, as they should have. Instead they proved who they were.
Plus Biden is, frankly, white, so there wasn’t the visceral pushback from the GOP.
Betsy
@Chetan Murthy:
@lowtechcyclist:
Me three. I groaned when Joe B entered the primary race. Not this retread!, I moaned.
Fast forward three years … Leslie Knope was so, so right.
I love being wrong like this.
bbleh
Smart yes, but I’ll defer judgment on how smart until after I see how badly he and Pelosi tangle up the incoming House leadership, whoever that turns out to be.
It may emerge that he’s not just smart but uproariously smart. I have lots of popcorn.
WereBear
@Chetan Murthy: A good team has different skills. I suspect it was a more than usual team effort in both administrations, and Biden couldn’t be doing what he’s doing without Obama doing what he did.
Especially since the JFK/LBJ lineup was more of a shotgun marriage :)
bbleh
@Chetan Murthy: Concur. And let’s not forget who did a lot of nudging him to “drag the Overton Window to the left.”
Matt McIrvin
Answer: Smart enough.
Chetan Murthy
@Betsy: O MI GOSH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=covgLZQY9oQ&t
aroud 1:45 is when it starts to go completely, and I mean laugh-out-loud COMPLETELY off the rails. I can’t stop chuckling, it’s so funny.
“You’re very handsome”
GUFFAW!
Thank you so much!
FastEdD
President Biden is smart enough to answer the little girl’s question,”What do I need to know to become President?” Know who you want to help. It makes me think of Harry S. Truman’s comment about people who want the job, by the time they get it they have no idea what to do with it. Joe knows who he wants to help, and all the levers to pull to get there.
narya
@FastEdD: Glad to see you here . . .sending virtual hugs if you want them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think historians, the good ones, will do what so many people don’t, and look at the broader contexts of their presidencies. It took all the collective traumas of the Bush years to create a situation in which Obama could, first of all be elected and do the things he did, and the trauma of the trump/Covid years to create a political atmosphere where Biden could do what he has done.
And I’ll harp on this till the day I die (just in case when I get this hobby horse out of the stable anyone rolls their eyes and thinks, Jesus, is he harping on that again? Yes, yes I am). Obama had, just in the Senate, ten times the obstructionists in his own party that Biden does.
Just occurred to me: When Hill Dems (and a few Rs) cut the ARRA down from $1 trillion to ~$800B, that was (and still often is) seen as weakness on Obama’s part, but when Joe Manchin pretty much chopped Build Back Better in half to get to the IRA, that’s seen as a triumph for Biden.
Baud
Joe Biden’s Secrets Service codename Maxwell Smart.
Matt McIrvin
@FastEdD: And the second half, that you have to know exactly what you would rather lose the election than do.
Alison Rose
Almost as smart as Dark Brandon :P
Ken
I do think that some of Joe’s brilliance is by contrast with his opponents, and predecessor. Not that there’s not plenty there in absolute terms, of course.
wvng
It’s a bit difficult to compare Obama and Biden, because the starting points in their presidencies for each of them were so different, if also both catastrophic. Obama had epic economic collapse and trying to restore national rep after W. Biden had COVID pandemic, a Trump admin that did everything it could to make it harder for Biden, and trying to restore national rep after TFG. Both had to deal with a nihilistic GOP, worse for Biden because Trump, but also terrible for Obama because race. It is useful to take a hard look at all that Obama accomplished during his time, and I can think of no more honest review of that (warts and all) than this piece: Obama’s Policy Legacy: The Nation He Built – POLITICO Magazine.
We are so lucky to have had them both.
FelonyGovt
Biden is way smarter than most give him credit for, which is itself a significant asset. Having people underestimate you is very valuable sometimes.
wvng
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: yep. Everything Obama accomplished had to be crafted to pass muster with a block of conservative Dems.
JoyceH
I think Biden deserves the credit for the midterms turning out as good as they did. Remember pre-election, when all the pundits were saying that the Dems had to run on ‘kitchen table issues’? That polls said the Issues that voters identified as most important to them were inflation and gas prices? How they sneered when Biden gave that speech a few days before the election on the threat to democracy? And then the exit polls showing that what the voters really voted on was, yes, threat to democracy, and the threat to women’s rights. We won because Biden is Just. That. Smart.
columbusqueen
Really damn smart, so-called gaffes notwithstanding. While I was worried about his age at first in 2020, he has proven to be everything I hoped for and more when I first supported him in 1987 for President. I’ve waited a long time, & only wish my mother (who also backed him in ’87) had lived to see Joe make it to the Oval Office.
realbtl
I saw Joe Biden speak at my small local town of Kalispell MT during Obama’s 1st run. In the high school gym- perfect. Listening to him I sensed that he GOT it; what was needed in this country at this time. I’m very happy to be right on this.
FastEdD
@narya: Thank you. I am made of stern stuff. I was a public school teacher for 34 years. Virtual hugs back to all.
Yes, the second part too. You have to know what you won’t do, otherwise you have no morals of your own.
oldster
@Chetan Murthy, @Betsy:
Thanks for the link — that had me guffawing, too.
(always nice to see Peggy Lipton’s daughter, too).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: Is that true?
Biden is so smart he’s comfortable ignoring the people calling him dumb
Chetan Murthy
@oldster: Oh wow, I didn’t know that Rashida Jones came from entertainment royalty! Ahem, I mean to say, from a royal marriage of entertainment royals.
narya
@FastEdD: NYE was my sister’s birthday (funny family story there). For many years after her death (39 years ago . . .), I had a G&T on her birthday; it was her favorite drink, and I liked celebrating and remembering her that way. These days, I modulate my alcohol intake such that starting off w/ a mixed drink isn’t always the way to go, but I am still celebrating her in my head today.
Cmorenc
Among the memes Faux Spews never forgoes an opportunity to frequently drive into their audience is “How senile is Joe Biden? He is sooo senile that (insert mendaciously distorted to whole-cloth fictitious clip, photo, or account). Somehow, all the true accounts of Trump behaving like a spoiled toddler or ranting lost-his shit geezer moments never made onto their pages.
trollhattan
@Chetan Murthy: Wonderful sequences, never saw them collected before. One good Joe video deserves another: Joe with Selena Meyer. Special guest appearance by Michelle O.
Chetan Murthy
@Cmorenc: And then he makes yet another quip that makes Faux Spews look like jackasses! I love it!
“Why won’t you tell us your negotiating strategy vis-a-vis Putin?”
“C’mon, man!”
Alison Rose
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Haha, no :P His codename is Celtic.
way2blue
We are so lucky to have a seasoned astute Biden as president. I also think all the polls that suggest his popularity is weak are gamed. Don’t see how a fundamentally unpopular president could shepard historic legislation through Congress or not tank Democrats running for elective office. But here we are…
CaseyL
Joe is scary-smart. What’s even more impressive is how he has continued to learn, even now. He knows where the levers are and how to use them; he knows how to respond (or not) to MSM/SocialMedia; and – against all the stereotypes about his “gaffes” – he knows when and how to keep his mouth shut.
That late-breaking deal with Manchin to revive BBB, even as the GOP was high-fiving itself for killing the whole thing… thinking about that still takes my breath away.
Honestly, we are incredibly fortunate. And I will have no problems at all filling out the bubble to re-elect him in 2024.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@wvng: and even not so conservative ones. Biden has already appointed more judges than trump or Obama (I believe trump had more appointments to higher benches thanks in part to strategic retirements a la Kennedy?). One reason for this is that, under Obama, “Cardinals” like Pat Leahy, Carl Levin and Dianne Feinstein (who is a half a conservadem, at least) insisted on maintaining the so-called Blue Slip, the rule/tradition that home-state Senators could essentially veto a judicial appointment in their home state. McConnell, of course, effectively killed it.
Kathleen
@Percysowner: I agree with you 100% and it’s telling that very few (if any?) in “white centered” mainstream media grokked this about Obama’s position.
Chetan Murthy
@CaseyL:
What’s the one thing we used to rail (when we were young) against the olds for being? That the old were so out of touch, didn’t understand anything about what we needed, what we wanted, how we saw the world!
And one thing I gotta give Joe: he hasn’t made that mistake: he’s continued to learn from the young, which is about the hardest thing for a person to do.
Betsy
@Chetan Murthy: Guffaw, indeed!!
Thanks for that. Oh, goodness :)
Alison Rose
Okay, WG tagged this as an open thread, so I’m gonna share this lovely NYE post from Zelenskyy, since one of the very smart things about our Joe is that he knew backing Ukraine was the right thing to do.
Also, if I may be shallow for a moment…jeez, what a gorgeous couple they are.
cain
@Chetan Murthy: Same here – thank goodness the universe didn’t listen to either of us! By now, Elizabeth Warren would have probably been punked several times already or we would have Trump for a second disasterous second term that would have spelled the end of our democracy.
kalakal
@Alison Rose: Thank you for sharing that. And yes, they are a gorgeous couple
Kent
Exactly. Biden most famously did this to Obama on gay marriage. Unless that whole episode was scripted which was possible too.
Chetan Murthy
@cain:
I am convinced that this is the case. And this is the strongest reason (even over and above that Biden’s been an excellent President, an excellent (literal) Leader Of The Free World) that he’s my candidate for 2024. I am simply unconvinced that anybody else can prevail over the forces of evil.
cain
@Chetan Murthy: And just look at the progress for indigenous rights?! I’m delighted to see that indigenous people and their rights are being seen and being listened to.
Looking at the media, and the kind of shows that are out there – and the kind of stories that are being told. Obama accomplished something in moving ourselves away from going rightwards. Reagan (fuck him) did something for our generation lurching them rightwards – it’s time to swing back and swing back hard.
oldster
@Chetan Murthy:
Like mother, like daughter. Some of us have been admiring those cheekbones throughout two generations and about 60 years.
I understand there’s been a recent flurry of discussions about “nepo babies,” i.e. the celebrity children of celebrity parents. But Rashida would have been a star even without connections.
(Compare and contrast Tori Spelling, daughter of Aaron Spelling the mega-producer.)
cain
@bbleh: Black women?
trollhattan
@Alison Rose: Lovely message.
Vlad did his best to ruin Ukraine’s new year–12 of 20+ missiles shot down but several all-civilian targets were hit, with numerous injuries. Here’s what a couple dozen cruise missiles look like, passing overhead towards distant targets.
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1609157436576866304?cxt=HHwWgIC9rbaK8NQsAAAA
Chetan Murthy
@trollhattan: Astrakhan! Fucking cowards! Shoot missiles from 1000mi away, eh? Fucking cowards!
Nicole
I am never tired of saying how wrong I was about Biden. One of the things I didn’t like about him as a candidate was that he’d failed at running for the Presidency twice before and I didn’t see why a third time would be the charm. But boy, was it ever. Not just in terms of him winning, but I think he’s a much, much better President than he would have been had he won in 1988 or 2008. He is absolutely someone who never stops learning and growing. Like, I don’t think he gives two sh*ts about approval ratings, and I think he might have in 1988, so he is helping shepherd things through that are best for all Americans, regardless of how the media spins it. So, lucky for him that third time was the charm, and lucky for us, too.
kalakal
Biden has a good heart, he actually likes people, after all his years in government that’s remarkable in itself. His brilliance is in his understanding of governmental time scales & inertia, how long it takes to see results from an action.
His achievement in pulling together NATO & Europe in response to Putrid’s re-invasion of Ukraine is truly remarkable, even more so given the toxic legacy of TFG. If that was all he’s achieved so far that would be outstanding, but he has done so much more
Kent
Honestly, smart isn’t everything. Wise is frankly more important in a president. And Biden has to be the most wise president we have had since LGB if not FDR. [correction] since FDR as LGB got us entangled in Vietnam, something Biden in his current persona would not have done.
Carter was immensely smart but he accomplished less and brought on the age of Reagan in part because he wasn’t wise about politics.
Biden is wise enough to put immensely smart people in charge of important parts of the government and let them quietly do their jobs. And he is also wise enough to trust his own judgment.
OzarkHillbilly
@narya: That is good. I celebrate my sister too, in the garden tho.
The Moar You Know
I told everyone here Biden was the guy from the day he announced. Not just because he was the only one who could beat Trump, but a guy who has been in the Senate that long knows how to get shit done in a way most politicians never would
Sorry, just gotta rub it in every now and then.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Probably his strongest and least recognized (by the general public) accomplishment. Obama got the Nobel just for not being Bush.
Chetan Murthy
@Kent: Indeed! Remember when everybody was eating up clips of Jen Psaki? She was great, but we don’t actually remember her too much now, b/c Karine Jean-Pierre is great, *too*!
I mean, full props to Ms. Psaki, and I would totally watch whatever show she ends up hosting (or at least, start to watch), but she seemed like such an outlier, and then her successor showed that, no, she’s not *that* much of an outlier, she’s just really competent, and so others can be!
MattF
Very smart. And this is why the right-wing ‘Biden is senile’ meme was so infuriating- patently in conflict with reality, but that didn’t matter. I’m glad it’s (mostly) gone away, but I haven’t forgotten or forgiven the various shitheel RW opinionators who tried it.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I never actually figured out why Obama got the Nobel. In my mind, that was the cringiest part of his presidency.
Chetan Murthy
@The Moar You Know:
Mmmmm … that feels good! Can you push a little harder there right under my right scapula? Ow..ow..ow….aaaaaah…right there!
bbleh
@Kent: … and let them quietly do their jobs.
And I’m sure you’ve noticed how quiet they’ve been. Like, they recognize the importance of letting Biden get the credit rather than muddling the message or competing for the spotlight, not to mention not constantly knifing each other in the back.
Amazing what happens when you have a competent administration instead of a clown show …
narya
@OzarkHillbilly: There’s an episode of the Anderson Cooper podcast about grief that talks about how when someone dies, the things THEY know about YOU die as well; it really resonated with me, because she and I were only 17 months apart in age. I’m really feeling it this year, possibly because all of my aunts and uncles are gone now, too; my parents are the only members of their generation left, on either side of the family.
oldster
@Kent:
I think it amounted to a global sigh of relief — oh, thank god that the Americans elected not-Bush and not-Cheney. After eight years of mindless belligerence and bellicose bullying, the world wanted to see some sanity back in the US. The Peace Prize was almost a leave-us-in-peace prize.
Chetan Murthy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And paradoxically (ok, not really) he’s completely rejuvenated the military-industrial-complex: all our allies want our weapons, and all those nonaligned or even Russky/China-leaning countries are edging towards us, wanting our weapons, too. Completely changed the geopolitical balance worldwide.
I mean, I don’t like that our MIC has such a stranglehold on power, but still, they’re a big part of American power, and he’s really rejuvenated that a moment when it was all looking like going downhill in a handcart.
tobie
3 cheers for Janet Yellen for getting the global corporate minimum tax rate done! We’ve talked about it for decades but she managed to get allies on board. I consider this to be almost as big an accomplishment as Biden getting NATO to support Ukraine. Blinken’s also proven remarkably adept as Sec of State.
Chetan Murthy
@oldster:
Oh, nicely put! And what’s happening now, is that Biden’s getting the “No! Don’t go! Please don’t leave us! Please! Please don’t leave us!” prize.
oldster
@Chetan Murthy:
“I mean, I don’t like that our MIC has such a stranglehold on power…”
But it’s better than when Sukhoi, Mikoyan, and Kalashnikov have a stranglehold on power, right?
Throughout my life I have hoped that the world was moving towards peace, and at times I thought it was. But the imperial ambitions of insane autocrats with nukes keep dragging us back.
OzarkHillbilly
@narya: As a friend once said to me, “The pain never goes away, you just think of it less often.”
kalakal
@oldster: That’s exactly how we saw it in the UK. Even more it was the contrast, we despised Bush as an oafish thug, Obama we loved as an outstanding human being. When we heard Americans attacking him our thoughts were “If you don’t want him, we’ll have him. Please”. He’d have walked an election in the UK
p.a.
I’m totally surprised and pleased at how much Joe & Team Dem have accomplished. If Beau hadn’t gotten ill and died in ’15 Joe would have run in ’16. A real ‘what-if’ of American history.
oldster
@Chetan Murthy:
“…Don’t go! Please don’t leave us! …”
The US is once again the indispensable nation. Perhaps minor credit on this front should be given to Scholz and Macron, who have been as useless as teats on a boar. But even if they had stepped up as they should have, and avoided pointless accommodation (Monsieur le President, ta gueule!), they would not have been able to provide aid and materiel on the scale that the US can.
Betty
In concluding her book The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman says “Intelligent government would require that persons in high office should formulate and execute policy according to their best judgment, the best knowledge available and a judicious estimate of the lesser evil.” Biden seems to be meeting that high standard.
cain
BTW I just want to do a shout out to Ron Wyden – he’s been doing some great work – including working to hold hedge funds accountable for grabbing properties and causing rents and housing to go up in costs. I think it was here I read that hedge funds own 68% of the Phoenix market.
But apparently, we have even more because Wyden has revealed that Homeland Security (double quotes on “homeland”) was trying to entrap protestors in Portland on behalf of TFG. Basically, creating a domestic terrorist threat so that it can put people in jail.
https://www.yahoo.com/video/homeland-security-admits-tried-manufacture-114500599.html
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/I&A%20and%20OGC%20Portland%20Reports.pdf
This underscores what a massive threat Trump was and continues to be. We need to clean house desperately. Sadly we can’t do anymore investigations, but the DOJ will need to be going after those who lead this shit in Homeland Security quickly.
PeteS
Joe is a Big Biden Deal.
Back when Obama picked him, my partner jumped up and down with glee and happiness. She was right. As usual.
William D
smart enough to learn from 8 years as Obama’s vp and thus build on past successes and learn from past mistakes
Omnes Omnibus
I was on Team Biden fairly early. One of the things I liked about him from the beginning of this campaign (and I remember many here finding it off putting) was his relentless optimism about our country. The “We’re better than thats” that grated on some of you sounded to me like I think he meant them, “We can and should be better than that.” I also think that, despite his age, he has retained a connection with the sense of joy and fun that a child has. This is a rare quality, and one that I try to maintain. It keeps you young. We need that from our leaders. We get that from Biden. Also, both Biden and Obama are comfortable in their own skins. I think that this may be something that came later in life to Biden, and, because he lacked it earlier, his prior presidential runs never caught on.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.
trollhattan
“Enemy of the people”–Trump now openly using a phrase embraced by dictators over the centuries.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1609163693723451396?cxt=HHwWiIC83dH28tQsAAAA
Think four more years of this guy would have sunk America as a viable nation.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
To be fair, most of us aren’t better than that.
narya
WG, thank you for this thread! it has been a nice, uplifting way to while away the afternoon! I hope the new year is good to you, and brings you (and every one of you jackals) joy to accompany the inevitable sorrows.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.”
trollhattan
@Baud: That’s why we also have Dark Brandon, to keep us in line as required.
Pittsburgh Mike
I’m very pleased by what he’s accomplished. My only complaint is that none of the bills ever permanently removed the requirement that a family make less than 400% of FPL to get ACA exchange subsidies, and I’m not 100% sure he could have done that through reconciliation (though I think he could have).
Chetan Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: And. You. Were. Right.
Kelly
I wonder if the USSS pronounce it Keltic or Seltic?
oldster
@narya:
Chiming in with thanks to Water Girl!
Good institutions make us better together than we would be apart. The United States of America is a good institution. So is Balloon Juice.
Alison Rose
@oldster: The People’s Republic of Balloon Juice
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: Now that’s a film I’d happily watch again
James E Powell
Back when the Biden administration began, I said that with Biden, Pelosi, & Schumer, we had the best troika of Democratic leadership since the 60s in terms of having people who knew how the federal government really works and how to get shit done. I was ‘buked & scorned, but I believe they have demonstrated that I was correct. For once.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Co-sign and didn’t get bogged down in M4A minutiae. It was my first vote in a Presidential primary and I was glad that it was for Biden even though 2 NE senators were also in the running.
David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch
Bernie woulda won
oldster
@Alison Rose:
One nation, under dog.
eclare
Prior to Super Tuesday I said I would cast my primary vote for whoever South Carolina chose. Black people, especially women, knew who would be a great president. So glad I followed their lead.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Fixed.
David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch
kalakal
@Baud: Splitter!
MagdaInBlack
@Omnes Omnibus: That “sense of joy” that he has retained is one of my favorite things about him.
Alison Rose
@oldster: With gardens and mustard for all
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: @James E Powell: I was late to get on the Biden train, and I’m a longtime Schumer skeptic, but I agree that Schumer is the undersung member of the that triad, with a uniquely challenging job, herding all those cats see themselves as lions. Pelsoi I’ve pretty much never lost faith in (I was made in ’06 when she said impeachment was off the table even though I knew it was, but now I think she was right to say it out loud, we were in too deep for anything else)
I think Jeffries is off to a good start as Dem leader, and like Obama and Biden, maybe even more so, he is blessed in that his enemies have a talent for making themselves ridiculous (and recognizing that the ridiculous can be very dangerous).
And speaking of The Man Who Would Be Speaker, Charlie Pierce offers a brief history lesson of the last time a Speaker’s race went to multiple ballots, in 1923.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Good summary.
When everyone was laughing at him for saying, “Turn off the record player,” I went to look at the clip. My husband and I watched it, and we said, “He’s so cool!” I loved that moment, and he kept surprising me with how damn likable he is. I’m thrilled about his choosing Harris as VP as well. And I love Jill and Doug.
realbtl
@MagdaInBlack: Yup, such a refreshing change. And I say that as an old.
zhena gogolia
@PeteS: My husband was very happy about that too, and said it showed Obama had good judgment.
Al Gore did not show such good judgment, let’s put it that way.
BruceFromOhio
Smarter than me. Like, way smarter.
zhena gogolia
@Chetan Murthy: I think you’re absolutely right.
RepubAnon
@Matt McIrvin: Joe Biden’s superpower is that the Republicans (other than Newt [“Mr Slimy”] Gingrich) still don’t take him seriously. Joe Biden’s smart enough to see what the Republicans plan to whine about, what lies they plan on telling – and to let them tire themselves out creating Faux News sound clips.
FastEdD
@narya: I’ll raise a glass tonight for your sis. And no, I’m not much of a drinker. And I am not driving, just watching the rain.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
that was a helluva moment. Gingrich is so crazy and slimy it’s easy to forget (god knows I had) that he’s not stupid.
brantl
Joe Biden is smart enough to realize thst virtue is never made to stand alone.
trollhattan
@RepubAnon: I’ll guess wall-to-wall Hunterghazi House hearings will not have the impact Republicans presume.
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: I got the magazine today!!! Thank you!! :D
Bex
@Alison Rose: Loved the picture in the comments of Putin “hanging” on a Christmas tree. Didn’t need any translation for that!
Geminid
@Chetan Murthy: South Korea is selling a lot of military weapons now. Poland recently received the first of almost 1000 K2 tanks it ordered from South Korea.* Some of several hundred K9 howitzers arrived also. The Koreans are able to manufacture good weapons quickly and in volume.
The U.S. still has a lead in the most capable warplanes. No one has anything like the B-2 bomber. We don’t sell them but we.may sell some of the follow on B-21 stealth bomber to select allies.
And the F-35 fighter is very much in demand, despite its failure to be an economical platform. Finland recently chose the F-35 over its two top competitors and have ordered around 50 for something like $6 billion. And the Israelis are buying F-35s as fast as we can give them the money!
* Like Israel, another U.S. ally, South Korea is wary of harming bilateral relations with Russia and so will not supply weapons to Ukraine. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that 155mm howitzer shells the U.S. is purchasing from them will make their way to Ukraine
South Korea is also selling Poland several dozen fighter jets, according to the Washington Post article that detailed the tank and howitzer purchases.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: Oh, wonderful!
Jeffro
I still can’t tell what the GOP decided on: Joe Biden, complete moron; or Joe Biden, sinister soshulist mastermind.
And the fact that I can’t tell…is Biden’s superpower. =)
narya
@FastEdD: I was thinking that I want tonight’s first beverage to be a toast to all of the folks my friend and I have lost in the past couple of years. One friend of his, in particular, was apparently a jackal as well–he died in his sleep earlier this year; I never knew whether he commented. And I want the second toast to be to all of the Good People we know, in meatspace as well as netspace: the folks who make music and food; the folks who reach out; the folks who try to be kind (and probably fail sometimes, being human and all); and, of course, to all the jackals and their canine, feline, and other companions.
JML
How smart is Joe Biden? Smart enough to know that you can make government work and do good things with it if you stay focused on it.
Joe Biden has always believed in government and cared about making it work for the people. Funny, now that he’s in charge, he’s proving it. Some of this goes back to what people keep mentioning over and over again: Joe Biden actually likes people. He’s not afraid to show it, and his personal warmth and empathy matter. People make jokes about Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain” moment (and it was Slick Willie, so there’s always a tinge of fakery to anything he did), but that was an important thing that turned a lot of voters in favor of Clinton back in the day, because they started to feel like Bill Clinton cared about their problems. Biden does that naturally, and means it.
Mike in Pasadena
@Another Scott: I second that “smart dude.” Much smarter than I thought when I voted for him. And patient. As my Scotswoman grandma from the old country used to say to me, “Paitence laddie!” (That wasn’t a typo. That’s how she said it with almost a long “i”.
zhena gogolia
This is a great thread.
Baud
@Geminid:
Every weapon comes with a free K-pop album. Who can compete with that?
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I am a little surprised that the Republicans have not revved up their attack machine against Hakeem Jeffries. They seemed to have been taken by surprise even it seemed likely for a while that he would take over Speaker Pelosi’s leadership position in the new Congress.
They need to catch up because Jeffries is a formidable communicator, and is well suited to the attacking role of opposition leader. The Democratic leadership team of Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar is a tough one.
trollhattan
@JML: Joe has given me permission to unleash an anti-Reagan quip on Trump fans: “The seven most frightening words in the English language are Finally, a businessman in the White House.“
trollhattan
@Baud: Also: delivered in person by boy band.
oldster
@zhena gogolia:
The mood in this room is extraordinarily optimistic. It’s very interesting — most of us have known years of political set-backs and anxiety, years of wondering whether things will ever get better. I swear I did not have a good night’s sleep for at least three years after election night 2016.
So, we know what bad times look like. But for some reason, we are ending the year feeling like things are on the right track. I wonder how much of the rest of the country feels that way, too. I hope it’s a widely shared feeling.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: talking politics! Imagine that
though strangely harmonious
Did Corner Stone ever GBCW, or just fade away
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: I think in the House, at least, there’s a real question if that gang can shoot straight. They’re so deep in the Hunter’s Laptop rabbit hole I really do think there’s a chance they’ll make the Gingrich-Hyde show of the nineties look like something of out Sorkin
Mike in Pasadena
Joe Biden is so smart that he dragged Obama to the realization that same sex marriage would not end all life on earth. Thank you, Joe Biden.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know. JSF also doesn’t come around.
zhena gogolia
@oldster: In 2016-20, I woke up at 3 AM every single night.
Tom Q.
@p.a.: I actually think Biden running in 2016 would have been bad for the party. Much of Hillary’s support was rock-solid, and her loyalists would have seen a second straight guy-saves-the-party-from-her candidacy as personal rebuke. Things got ugly enough with the Sanders run; Biden might have beaten her, but the process would have left scars, and divided the party enough to push Trump to victory the same way it happened in reality.
Sometimes, lucky candidates pick the right time. Reagan would very possibly have lost to Carter had he won the very close 1976 primary race with Ford; running against Carter’s staggered incumbency in 1980 made it much easier on him.
2020 turned out to be the perfect time for Biden. About whom I echo all the nice things written about him above.
oldster
@zhena gogolia:
I’m amazed that your symptoms were so similar to mine. Stark awake at 3a, night after night, unable to go back to sleep, filled with dread, anxiety, grief over how much was lost, how much would be lost. The only experience to match it in my life was the death of a nephew, my closest sibling’s first child.
Joe’s first two years have been a time of healing. Getting back on the right track. Discovering that not all is lost. The world is worse because of what happened in 2016 — much worse. It will take years to undo the damage, and I may not live to see it. But it feels possible to hope again.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia:
JSF pops up on occasion. CS just disappeared.
Starfish
@Tom Q.: Hillary should not have run.
No one wanted to see the presidency tossed between the Bush and Clinton families. That was not an inspiring story that people wanted to hear. Republicans had spent decades running against her.
It had nothing to do with her ability to do the job but the mood of the moment and the many years of sexist garbage.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: This House Republican caucus has a lot of problems, and a lot of what might be called centrifugal energy. This reflects the condition of their party in general.
And as I’ve said here already, starting their tenure as the Majority with the scandalous Santos making headlines is akin to a bunch of pirates taking their new pirate ship on its shakedown cruice with a dead albatross nailed to the mast.
Geminid
@zhena gogolia: The late night Balloon Juice threads during those years were packed. There was a noticeable decrease in comments late at night after November, 2020.
Baud
@Starfish:
I did. At least through Hillary. I also don’t condemn women for their families.
zhena gogolia
@oldster: Yeah.
Omnes Omnibus
@Starfish: Bullshit.
JML
@Starfish: there’s no question that the question of the presidency bouncing back and forth between the Clinton and Bush families was an issue, but to discount the insane levels of sexism that Hillary Clinton has been subjected to and the massive double standards that were applied to her during that campaign is ludicrous.
And there certainly were plenty of people who were invested in the inspiring story of potentially the first woman president, the first female major party candidate, and everything Hillary brought to the table in her personal story of public service.
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: Jimin and RM are gonna show up at my door? Now that’s a New Year’s miracle.
Leslie
Hillary was a very well-liked candidate who won the popular vote. It took an extraordinary set of circumstances for her to lose. She would have been a very effective president, for many of the same reasons as Biden.
As for Joe, I was late to appreciate him, but I’m very thankful for his smarts, wisdom, empathy, and experience.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sort of like George Harrison.
Chetan Murthy
@Baud: And more relevant, we don’t condemn women successful in their own right (made Top 100 Lawyers in America when her husband was a governor) for the fact that their husbands were successful politicians.
[A certain part of] America hated Hillary b/c she blazed the trail for American women to be more than mothers and housewives. And they never forgave her for “I could have stayed home and baked cookies, but I chose to go out and earn a living”.
Amir Khalid
@Jeffro:
It can be either, depending on what they need to say in a particular situation.
oldster
@Leslie:
Thank you for this comment. I completely agree, and I also admire your ability to say it far more calmly than I could have.
Jeffro
@Amir Khalid: Agreed! But the fact that they keep bouncing between the two just makes them look like the stupid ones.
lowtechcyclist
@David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch:
I have no idea why any Democrat would want to have someone else run in 2024. He’s the man.
Ksmiami
Raises hand… Joe is so smart, he’s left the rightwing media ecosystem sputtering and spinning in so much nonsense, that normal people are fed up and sick of GOP crap.. yes they have a bare majority in the house, but it’s gonna be such a shitshow that (knock on wood) 2024 will see the end of the Republican Party.
Aussie Sheila
Very late to the thread. Slept in 😉
I’ve said it before, but happy to say it again. He simply is the best President of my political memory lifetime. Better than LBJ, because no US started and sustained war. Underestimated, (including by me at first), his administration is quiet and competent, he is personally affable and knows how to get stuff done.
Providing he willing and able, not only must he run again in 2024, I believe he will trounce who ever the repubs put up against him.
To be fair I believe he is helped by being an ‘old white guy’, that is hard for the repubs to get a hate fix on, but being an old white guy certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t get a lot about contemporary US.
oldster
@Aussie Sheila:
“Better than LBJ, because no US started and sustained war.”
Thanks for reminding me, Sheila, that one of Joe’s biggest accomplishments was ending the war in Afghanistan.
It was the right thing to do. He did it. He took some political knocks for it at the time. But it was the right thing to do, politically, and it was the right thing to do for America’s honor and principles.
evodevo
@trollhattan: Yeah…I must of seen this 10 times, and I STILL love it…
Jay C
@Aussie Sheila:
Agree 110%.
I’ll chime in here to say I was another one who was lukewarm about Joe Biden in 2020 (though I would have voted for ANYBODY against the national disgrace that was Donald Trump), but I have been quite pleasantly surprised at the fine job he has been doing in office. If only because he is a *serious* President with a *serious* understanding of government: the complete antithesis of his unfit predecessor.
Oh, and a decent human being, too: just as a bonus….
Jackie
@zhena gogolia: This IS a great thread!
My Dad died while TFG was in office – he SOOO wanted to outlive him so he could piss on his grave – but alas Dad’s heart finally tuckered out at age 99.6. He was always a Biden fan and wherever he is, he’s celebrating Biden and MVP Harris beating TFG.
Biden’s grin and crinkly eyes are so like Dad’s and makes my heart happy every time he smiles.
Ramona
@Kent: My recollection is that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for work he did (as a US Senator?) on nuclear arms reduction.
artem1s
Joe is so smart he not only chose Harris as his VP, he announced ahead of his nomination that he was going to pick a woman of color. I can’t imagine any other candidate having the courage to do this knowing the push back from the MSM and The Various Serious people who would declare his candidacy dead on arrival. He understands the importance of having a diverse and inclusive administration that will become role models for so many who have been cut out of leadership roles in public office. And he didn’t go out and pick a yes man or milksop. He has shown the Party the importance of finding ways to work with former rivals and not waste their talents. And he took advantage of the GOP mistake of putting a self-absorbed celebrity in the WH who sowed nothing but discord by doing the polar opposite with his administration. He’s chosen a disciplined staff and cabinet who are intent on doing their jobs and not shivving each other in the back for attention or money. We have also had the rare privilege of seeing both Biden and Pelosi at the top of their game and complementing each other instead of undermining each other.