The Biden Presidency

[broncofan]

It's not really clear what distinction you're trying to make here. A political party that pursues racist policies in order to appeal to the racism of its rank-and-file members is a racist party. That the GOP favors economic hierarchies doesn't obviate the fact that it also favors racial hierarchies.

I agree it's a racist party but I think filghy is talking about racism as marketing for policies that maintain economic hierarchies. For instance, a racist trope about Black welfare moms that is used to pass welfare reform is racism in furtherance of a policy that will keep poor people from ever rising above their stratum. It's often hard to separate the two because the language of demonization will also calcify existing racial hierarchies. And as you say they also favor racist policies and certainly oppose ameliorating any harm caused by racism.

[broncofan]

For instance, a racist trope about Black welfare moms that is used to pass welfare reform is racism in furtherance of a policy that will keep poor people from ever rising above their stratum.

And also from eating and having a roof above their heads (didn't want to give the impression that I think welfare reform laws only prevent economic mobility).

[Stavros]

In a nod to this thread's original topic, let's note that in the first year of Joe Biden's presidency, US GDP grew at 5.7%. The Q4 annualized rate was 6.9%, the strongest US economic performance since 1984.

This follows a 3.4% contraction during the final year of Trump's presidency, the worst decline since WWII

Yes, but was that decline caused by Trump's incompetence, or Covid, plus supply chain issues?

And is inflation a knock-on effect of years of government borrowing (and not just in the US) as well as people not spending in a lockdown going on shopping sprees after, flooding the market with money? Is it any wonder some analysts are predicting a crash either worse or similar to that of 2008? Trump may have added trillions to the public debt, here in the UK we have a Prime Minister who loves spending other people's money- personally, and as Prime Minister-and in spite of his reputation for fiscal prudence and market privilege, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak enabled, perhaps had to enable Govt borrowing to grow to bail out businesses, a generosity which we are told he wants to stop -and if he replaces Boris Johnson some time soon, the UK may be forced to endure another decade of Austerity, assuming the 'Conservatives' last that long in office.

The general point being that the Biden Presidency could be more successful than glass haf-empty people think, or Biden will be President when the capitalist system enters another crisis caused by staggering levels of as-yet unresolved debt, inflation and crises of production and supply.

The train is a comin' round the mountain....

[filghy2]

It's not really clear what distinction you're trying to make here. A political party that pursues racist policies in order to appeal to the racism of its rank-and-file members is a racist party. That the GOP favors economic hierarchies doesn't obviate the fact that it also favors racial hierarchies.

I never said it did. I was addressing your previous comment that the GOP's primary objective was to maintain white privilege. If you believe that racial/cultural objectives take precedence over economic objectives then what is your evidence?

To be clear, I'm talking about the objectives of the party leadership, not the rank and file. In know the evidence suggests Trump voters in 2016 were motivated more by racial concerns than by economic concerns, but that's a different issue.

[Nick Danger]

Christ you guys are lost without me, there's nothing worse than liberals arguing over the extent of their liberalness.

What I'm seeing in this thread is a bunch of people who OUGHT TO BE complaining about the current administration's absolute lack of an agenda, credibility, and integrity. I'm not pissed off about Biden, Biden is doing exactly what I expected him to do, he's an angry, senile, corrupt lackey. Obama said it best, "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up." I didn't work for Joe Biden, I didn't speak for Joe Biden, I didn't vote for Joe Biden. But you guys did. For reasons, right?

I guess I just don't identify with the kind of attitude that you're going to try to justify and defend a guy you hung all your hopes on. I'm loving it, this laughably catastrophic Presidency is going to lock in 2022, 2024, and probably '26 and '28 for the Republicans, no questions asked. But you guys should be appalled by this ugliness.

I'll tell you guys a couple things that are happening right now that you don't seem to be noticing. First, Biden's done. Every Democrat with a survival instinct is going to keep him well at arm's length at this point, he's making a mockery of the office. Second, Manchin and Synema are going to defect; instead of negotiating with them, the childish Democrats are treating them like dirt, and the Republicans have opened their arms. I guarantee you there are talks behind the scenes about what the Republicans will do for their home-state agendas when they take Congressional power back in 2024, or maybe those negotiations have already happened before the BBB and voting rights bills - the very negotiations Team Biden couldn't or didn't bother with. Third, Kamala Harris is never going to be President. First and foremost because she's so closely associated with Biden, secondly because she's proven unlikable and unmarketable.

Unlike what Tomburger thinks, none of this has anything to do with non-existent racism and everything to do with shitty people doing a shitty job because they don't care about what they said they care about. Again, you guys should be the ones who are pissed.

I've got a week or so of down-time before my Germany trip if anyone wants to bark at me. Better bark now because I'm thinking I might stay abroad until the holidays, get out of the country altogether for the worst of this shit.

[Stavros]

The general point being that the Biden Presidency could be more successful than glass haf-empty people think, or Biden will be President when the capitalist system enters another crisis caused by staggering levels of as-yet unresolved debt, inflation and crises of production and supply.
The train is a comin' round the mountain....

Looks like the train has been and gone. When he announced his intention to run again in 2024, the groans could be heard across the wide Atlantic.

But, as the link below suggests, the Biden Presidency has both recognized the nature of the problems that have developed over the last 40 years, and decided there are means to change them. Instead of the Racist/Fascist slogan 'America First' (see British Academy link below for its ugly history), Biden's version has America negotiating a different structure to US Global Trade relations which have succeeded not so much in 'repatriating' jobs as Trump barked, but promoting investment in industry that to some extent is shaped by the Supply Chain fractures associated with Covid and China, but which goes beyond them to create a more responsible relationship, thus

"-the U.S. is looking not to create conflict but to “manage competition responsibly” and “work together on global challenges like climate, like macroeconomic stability, health security, and food security.” “But,” he said, “China has to be willing to play its part.”"

So rather than the Trump version in which countries like China lose out as America repatriated jobs, the Biden version has domestic investment linked to external competition, so neither 'America First' nor 'America Alone'. thus

-"Large-scale investment in semiconductor and clean energy production has jumped 20-fold since 2019, with private money following government seed money to mean about $3.5 trillion in public and private investment will flow into the economy in the next decade. Building domestic capacity will bring supply chains home and create jobs."
April 27, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com)

Doesn't mean problems of Debt and the juvenile tantrums of Congressional Republicans will make the transition smooth, but it does give Biden a record on which to stand in 2024, along with his robust position on Abortion -a vote-winner for Democrats, a vote loser for Republicans- and his defence of voting and Trans Rights.

A review of the term 'America First'
10-Minute Talks: America first and American fascism | The British Academy

[Luke Warm]

Lol, that Nick Danger post aged very poorly, I would say. It was off-target at the time, but sounds even more tone deaf now.

However, he was right about Synema, for whatever that is worth. Her career is basically over though… burned her bridges with Democrats, and Republicans don’t need her as a candidate when they’ll have “real” Republicans they can vote for.

[filghy2]

That's probably why Nick hasn't been back in over a year. The failure of the inevitable Republican triumph would be too embarassing, even for him. He made equally bold predictions in the past about Trump's inevitably triumphant presidency, but as least he had the pandemic as some kind of excuse.

[Fitzcarraldo]

It's baffling how little credit Biden has gotten for his accomplishments. First and foremost, he saved us from a second Trump term and full fascism. I realize he was far from a dream candidate for anyone, but he saved us from a second Trump term and full fascism. Second, he got an infrastructure bill passed! That is one of the most significant domestic political achievements in decades. He may not be exciting, but he's getting shit done, he's rebuilt our alliances (at least while he's in office), and he's taken steps to help the lower and middle classes and women. It's pathetic how these days people won't support someone in office who isn't constantly causing drama. I'm thrilled not to be cringing every day at the actions of the president.

[Stavros]

It's baffling how little credit Biden has gotten for his accomplishments. First and foremost, he saved us from a second Trump term and full fascism. I realize he was far from a dream candidate for anyone, but he saved us from a second Trump term and full fascism. Second, he got an infrastructure bill passed! That is one of the most significant domestic political achievements in decades. He may not be exciting, but he's getting shit done, he's rebuilt our alliances (at least while he's in office), and he's taken steps to help the lower and middle classes and women. It's pathetic how these days people won't support someone in office who isn't constantly causing drama. I'm thrilled not to be cringing every day at the actions of the president.

"He may not be exciting, but he's getting shit done" -over here Rishi Sunak constantly talks about 'delivering for the British people' which seems to mean those who earn in excess of several million a year. Delivery on the other hand is what people notice, and I think from what I have read that there is a significant core of American voters who have been energized by the Abortion restrictions that the Republicans are pushing, and this is now becoming a vote loser for the GOP. I don't know if he can harvest votes with his positions on Trans Rights, or Student Loan Debt, and I think the media can't handle a President who isn't constantly 'in your face' so he comes across as tepid at best, for some 'geriatric' which in both cases is unfair. But will he be judged on his record or, as some pundits put it, 'on the optics'?

My limited knowledge suggests Biden is a consummate politician, that he understands how the system works, and knows how to work it. When the Junior Donald Trump in 2020 alleged that Biden had done nothing in nearly 40 years in Congress, it was because he, like his dad doesn't know how the system works, and has probably never heard of the Congressional Record.. Biden piloted the Violence Against Women Act in the 1990s and recently held a poorly reported celebration of its anniversary and Re-Authorization. It was a bi-partisan Bill so Biden finds himself having to deal with a venomous hostility he did not know when he started out, so I am not sure his skills at the moment can breach some of the more contentious issues, such as the Debt Ceiling, but his tenure so far has been anything but a flop, the paralysis Mr Danger predicted has not happened.

None of Biden's practical skills makes headlines, it isn't intended to, so I assume when the time comes a lot of the so-called debate will be about the things that don't matter -after all, Jimmy Carter's record in 1980 wasn't that bad given the torrid time the US had in the 1970s, but he still lost to Reagan, admittedly a more charismatic speaker.

For those interested-
Remarks by President Biden Celebrating the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act - The White House