Biden's Revolution Is Doing What Obama and Clinton Did Not

[babylonsister]

Last edited Mon Feb 22, 2021, 10:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Paywall unfortunately.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bidens-revolution-is-doing-what-obama-and-clinton-did-not?ref=home


Biden’s Revolution Is Doing What Obama and Clinton Did Not
‘MAKE ME DO IT’
One month in, the 46th president is respecting the left even when it wants to go further than he will, and he’s dismissing bad-faith conservative complaints about his agenda.
Michael Tomasky
Special Correspondent
Updated Feb. 22, 2021 7:12AM ET / Published Feb. 22, 2021 4:05AM ET


We’re one month and change into the Biden presidency, and let’s just say it. He’s been staggeringly good. He has way surpassed my expectations. And it’s small wonder he has a 63 percent approval rating. Most people like what they see.

What’s he done, in big-picture terms? Three things. First and foremost, he and his team are not letting themselves be bullied by the economic supply-siders and neoliberals who’ve spent the last few decades transferring $50 trillion in wealth from the middle class to the rich.

Second, the Biden team understands that the standard Beltway definition of bipartisanship is useless with today’s Republican Party. The Biden people get that congressional Republicans don’t even really represent most rank-and-file Republicans anymore—hence these polls showing significant support even among Republicans for most aspects of the COVID relief bill. This administration shows every sign of not letting itself get suckered into the false promise of trying to win Republican votes that aren’t likely to materialize.

Third, they don’t have contempt for Democrats to their left, which is a great thing to see. History tells us pretty clearly in my view that progress is made in this country when activists on the left go out and agitate and change public opinion and liberals codify that change by writing laws. The Biden people clearly agree with this view.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bidens-revolution-is-doing-what-obama-and-clinton-did-not?ref=home

[gab13by13]

1. I agree,

The Democratic voters, left, center , right, are all behind Joe. We have to work on a couple of blips in the Senate, but maybe that will be fixed also.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Biden has stature, longevity, good will

that translate into political capital. Obama did not have these assets when taking office, and in Republican minds he still lacks them.

Plus Joe is running an administration for patriots - visibly, and often but softly stated. He knows what he's doing.

[calimary]

36. And experience. Experience COUNTS!!!

He’s had plenty of opportunities to see what the CONS are up to, and how slippery and sneaky they operate.

[Guilded Lilly]

3. He's what we need. K & R

[DFW]

4. It appears that he hasn't forgotten any of the lessons he has picked up along the way.

Since 1980, being a Republican president has meant reconciling what you hope to get away with, with what you are able to get away with.

Since 1976, being a Democratic president has meant reconciling what you hope to accomplish with what you have a chance of accomplishing, given the obstacles thrown in your face on the way there.

Reagan, Bush, Sr. and Cheney all understood the situation and played by the above guidelines. Carter, Clinton and Obama also understood the situation, and did the same thing.

Trump said "mission accomplished" after his numerous failures, and acted as if putting three bricks in a row meant he had built a house.

Biden was sworn in, and said, " I know where we stand. I've been there. I know what the obstacles will be. Let's start getting around them. Now."

[calimary]

37. GOOD. This is a VERY good thing.

He didn’t just roll off the turnip truck, day before yesterday. And he knows VERY well how the bad guys roll.

Such a good thing!

[Hortensis]

5. Biden has extreme emergencies. That makes all the difference.

Without the enormous disaster of the Great Depression hurting large portions of the middle class, leading voters to give Democrats control of the WH and both houses of congress for 12 years (!), the New Deal would and could never have happened.

But it's very positive that the years of insidious lies that Biden and other Dems are really just corrupt corporatists, no better than the Republicans, are being blasted. That in itself is vitally important to further empowerment of progressive government. By "the people" with their eyes open and once again seeing clearly.

[electric_blue68]

45. I've argued for decades that they're -not- the same!

Thanks alot Nader, among others.

(I was a real fan of his until this, and his very disturbing, dismissive remarks about "gonad politics".)

[Hortensis]

48. Yes. Extremely harmful lies that need zero tolerance.

Leaders who deceive those who believe in him or her shouldn't be trusted to run a garage sale.

[betsuni]

59. +1

[JI7]

6. Biden is a white man so he gets less pushback . But these comparisons don't make sense

when they don't consider so many other factors. With time the country gets less white meaning less conservative . That makes a huge difference.

Also winning both of the Georgia Senate seats made a huge difference .

WE are also dealing with a national/international pandemic which was mostly ignored and made worse by Trump.

And he came in after Trump .

I wish people would stop ignoring the racism Obama faced and the misogyny HIllary faced . ANd still do .

Just look at how many of the worst attacks are directed at KAmala Harris more than Biden.

[Sugarcoated]

28. Isn't the article referring to Bill Clinton?

[electric_blue68]

46. Yes on the racism against against Obama. 🤬

[betsuni]

55. +1

[Solomon]

61. +1000

Very happy with what Biden is doing, but he is standing on Obama's shoulders.

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Biden knows he will be judged on what he delivers for the American people the next 18 months

The relief bill will be what he's remembered for in the mid terms. So he's made it a bold one with things that 75% of the country wants in it. You get as much done as possible. He knows that the Stimulus will be opposed by the GOP no matter what's in it or not in it. So he made it big enough to get us to the end of the pandemic.

The gamble right now is the $15 minimum wage, he didn't have to insist on its inclusion, but he did because if not now, then when?

It's a gamble, the rest of the bill has full support and will pass the Senate easily, there are 3 scenarios now due to Sinema and Manchin:
1. They don't have the will to oppose it and vote yes.
2. There's a compromise, perhaps waivers for some states, perhaps a quick rise to $11 an hour and then a protracted rise to $15 over several years for states like wv.
3. It gets removed and the rest f the bill passes, this will cause a slight delay.

I believe 2 is most likely.

[ananda]

8. Crying for happiness, for a change..

instead of crying for the people who froze to
death last week.

[multigraincracker]

9. I'd compare him to

FDR so far.

[wnylib]

23. So would I. Certainly Biden's challenges

are equal in significance to the ones that FDR faced.

Biden has the pandemic, a devastated economy, and a physical threat from inside the country through political insurrection. FDR had a devastated economy, growing fascism AND socialism at home, and a physical threat from outside the country.

Just as FDR was what we needed then, Biden is what we need now.

[PatrickforB]

10. Thanks for posting this. Biden has indeed been staggeringly good this first month.

He is the right President for our times.

[lark]

11. i am quite happy with him and his administration so far.

He's been exactly who I thought he was and more! I am very proud of him and so happy he is our true president.

[mountain grammy]

12. Competence is in charge

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215139835

For the first time in 4 years, we're number one at something good.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. Have we reached earthquake tension yet?

Over at least 40 years, Republicans have been shoving government further right. It's much further right than the population. Have we reached the point of a big, corrective shift?

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. So far, so exceptional

If he keeps this up, he will surpass my favorite President as the GOAT.

[speak easy]

16. ...

[Ferrets are Cool]

17. That is a beautiful creature.

Thanks for sharing.

[speak easy]

15. Joe Biden listens.

[groundloop]

18. I have to say it ..... I was wrong about Biden at the beginning of primary season

He's doing a great job, and now I have to wonder why I didn't realize that he was the perfect fit for the situation we find ourselves in.

Now let's just get Merrick Garland confirmed so he can start going after the criminal Former Occupant of the White House.

[NewJeffCT]

24. My guess is that Garland

will find that he needs to appoint a special counsel, or 3-4-5 of them, to investigate all the corruption & criminality we saw from Team Trump. That way, it keeps Garland clean as well as Biden.

[theneworiginal]

27. Ditto. I left DU when Obama came aboard and tried to coddle the Right early on.

There was all this talk about "wagging the dog" or some such nonsense that Obama was trying to lull the RW by playing along and then he was going to bring the heat. Well, in my opinion, he really never did. Maybe I was a little tough on him calling him Bush-lite, but I wanted so much more after GB Jr., like what Biden is doing post-Trump. BO was presidential, a good man and a great speaker who represented us well to the world, but Biden is all of that and kicking total ass while getting his platform in place in record time. I thought he was just another establishment politician, but I was wrong. I am so impressed with him.

[Tommymac]

53. Well spoken. nt

[PatSeg]

19. This article sums it up beautifully

[zentrum]

20. Spot on.

[Jon King]

21. Go big and don't look back.

Biden must govern well, go big, govern for the people, never apologize for good policy, and let the cards fall where they may politically in 2022 and 2024.

[cynical_idealist]

30. We all have to help stack the deck...

GOTV and promoting progressive policies

[jaxexpat]

22. Lucid truth, baby!

Or, as some say, pellucidly clear.

[Botany]

25. Biden will have been in office for 1 month on 2/20. He has gotten a hell of a lot done.

Short List:

Here are the executive actions Biden has signed so far.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/index.html
President Biden: "I'm not making new law. I'm eliminating bad policy."

Jen Psaki!

Dogs back at the White House.

We are back in the Paris Climate Accords.

Corona virus numbers are starting to go down. Still way too high.

10s of millions of Americans have gotten the vaccine for C-19 or will get it by summer.

Schools are gonna reopen when it is safe.

Waiting to visit Texas so he doesn't interfere with the clean up and power/water restoration projects.

......



BTW Joe and Kamala are building a new democratic party for the future and it will be very popular too.

[JudyM]

51. Your last line put a lump in my throat and a little tear in my eye, Botany.

This seems so possible and I’m regaining some faith by what and how they’re doing things, and what they are showing us all about who they are and what we all can do together.

[Botany]

56. The right wing/Fox News/GOP are fighting Joe and Kamala's ideas so hard because they know ...

.... how popular they will be and look @ the diversity of the people Joe picked and you
can see that he is building a new super majority that will dwarf the GOP's old white pissed
off man party.

Despite the billions of $s the right has spent and still is spending on hate talk if you take the
electoral college out of it the Ds would have won every presidential election since 1993.

[JudyM]

60. The good/evil is so well-defined this time, maybe the truth will have a better chance

of getting through.

[Hekate]

26. KnR

[BobTheSubgenius]

29. I wonder what the general concensus within the Naysayer Wing of the Democratic Party have to say.

I doubt there will be more than a very few that will cut off their hand to spite their arm.

[angrychair]

31. I would like to believe this...

But I do not

This administration shows every sign of not letting itself get suckered into the false promise of trying to win Republican votes that aren’t likely to materialize.

They seem at ever turn to be posturing toward conservative votes.
The Senate backing away from witnesses. The backtracking on $15 minimum wage. The backtracking on student loan debt relief. Backtracking on undocumented immigration issues.

I genuinely worry those in Congress and the WH will fall into the appeasement trap toward Republican demands.

I genuinely worry we will be still spinning our wheels on legislation 18 months from now and have to hope that people buy the excuse it was because of republicans and not because we flopped around trying to get republicans work with us....again.

[LudwigPastorius]

32. "...they don't have contempt for Democrats to their left"

I seem to remember the criticism Obama had for the left wing of the party was only in relation to campaign rhetoric.

Far from "contempt" for the left wing, his statements were about what the average American voter was going to accept in the way of a candidate's proposed agenda during the primaries and presidential campaign.

Those statements were borne out when Biden, a centrist candidate running a centrist campaign, got more delegates and more of the popular vote in the primaries than Bernie and Elizabeth Warren combined.

[WarGamer]

33. We need ACTION on critical issues

This nation has a serious FUNDING problem.

This nation has a serious Wealth Equity problem.

Taxes need to rise substantially NOW.

Start with a 5% one-time Wealth tax for all net worth over 750k and an annual 1% Wealth tax.

And why are we waiting until the last minute to pass the Stimulus?

[LudwigPastorius]

34. "..why are we waiting until the last minute to pass the Stimulus?"

That's the way Budget Reconciliation works. It's a very involved, back-and-forth between the House and the Senate.

The House passes it first, then it goes to the Senate (where it was slightly delayed by Trump's impeachment trial), then back to the House so they can vote on the Senate changes. All of these changes must be carefully written so they will pass the Byrd Rule, and so they will be assured approval by all 50 Democratic Senators.

Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer correctly decided that budget reconcilliation was the fastest way, and the ONLY way, that their proposed stimulus provisions would pass.

[DeminPennswoods]

38. +1

Obama was a moderate/centrist Dem. That's who he is. Not good or bad, just his nature. Biden, though, has certainly evolved. His first month has been beyond great by me.

[Earthshine2]

47. Perhaps Reagan-lite?

[MineralMan]

57. No, thanks.

[apnu]

39. I don't think Biden is thinking about re-election.

I don't think he'll run in 2024. I think he wants to accomplish as much as he can in 4 years and is just done with the B.S. that gets in his way.

So he doesn't care if he burns bridges with Republicans. Let's face it, there are no bridges, the GOP burned them years ago. He's right to tell Republicans to shove it.

[Joinfortmill]

40. Joe rocks it.

[Cha]

41. Many of us knew this.. that he would be

the one to take us all the way an Do an Excellent job once he got there..

We fought long and hard.. to Biden Supporters from the Get Go.. & I'm talking about all over the country, too!

[Oldem]

42. Maybe it's a good thing that Joe Biden's previous attempts to gain the presidency failed.

He's seasoned, now. He knows the pitfalls. He's seen the mistakes. That's how wisdom and purpose are born. Which is not to say that he will always do the best thing, but he's in a better position to do so. And he's a good man.

[Cha]

43. Yes, some people learn from their mistakes..

they apologize, learn, and move on.

Pres Biden was and is in a perfect position to gain a lot of experience & qualifications along the way to the Presidency.

Thank Goodness.. for Democracy, The People, & the Planet!

[Oldem]

44. Agreed. We all learn from our mistake. The trouble is that

some learn the wrong lessons. There's no guarantee that we get better with experience. Ron Johnson hasn't. Lindsey Graham hasn't. I shudder to think what these guys'--much less Ted Qrus'--experiences have been and what warped lessens they have learned--what warped choices they have made. Joe is a good soul and has learned humane lessons, made good choices..

[Blue Owl]

49. K&R

[Gore1FL]

50. He has been fanstastic

He was far from my first choice. It's clear has come out of the gates strong, and it's nice to the majority use its power.

[Midwestern Democrat]

52. It's awfully early to make these kind of pronouncements - it would be more appropriate to wait until

the first midterm to determine a) just what has the president accomplished and b) what shape is his party in after the first midterm election.

[ecstatic]

54. Interesting article, ruined by

a divisive headline. I think the author of this piece would have gotten a lot more positive feedback had he just focused on Biden without dragging 2 popular past presidents.

[betsuni]

58. "respecting the left" "don't have contempt for Democrats to their left"

No, just more experienced after all these years and more subtle about manipulating the populists. Give them what they think they want, put them in "Teh Establishment" positions -- takes away the Us vs. Them populist thing with the Democratic Party being the elite establishment corrupt as opposed to the virtuous pure outsiders. Done!

[Azathoth]

62. You have Trump to thank for this

Trump's holocaust of a "presidency", and the death cult the GOP built around him leading to an organized insurrection and attempt to overthrow a national election, shook even establishment Beltway Democrats to their core. There is simply no room left to promote the delusion that the GOP is a responsible political party that deserves a seat at the table.

I guarantee that if we had had Rubio or Jeb or hell even Cruz for the past four years, Biden would be more closely following Obama's accomodationist approach.

[FlyingPiggy]

63. I think the last 4 years woke everyone up. It is definitely not politics as usual.

We are in a different era, that’s for sure.