Joe Biden's Achievements

[EnglishEdward]

Alas still trundling through tedious Trumpery is making me grumpy !

Besides which it is now nineteen months in to Joe Biden's term
as POTUS; perhaps it is time to reflect on how he has done:

Newsweek identified 7 Achievements after his first year

Joe Biden's 7 biggest achievements during his first year as president

A taxing year for the Biden administration has also achieved marked success.

www.newsweek.com

1) $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package​

2) The $1.9 trillion COVID relief deal​

3) Highest appointment of federal judges since Reagan​

4) Halt on Federal Executions​

5) Commitment to Combating Climate Change​

6) Support for Transgender Service Members​

7) Reduced unemployment​

What do forum members here think?

 

[GenMarshall]

7) Reduced unemployment

What do forum members here think?

I'd have to give the devil his due on that one.

 

[Edmund Ironside]

5) Commitment to Combating Climate Change

Yeah, 370 billion dollar bill that just passed is probably my favorite.

One which benefits me the most is the freeze on student loan repayment.

Now this will be a controversial one, but pulling out of the Afghanistan war I would list as an achievement. As much as we may hate how it ended, that war had no end, and Biden took the bullet on that one and got us out.

 

[RobAnybody]

Now this will be a controversial one, but pulling out of the Afghanistan war I would list as an achievement. As much as we may hate how it ended, that war had no end, and Biden took the bullet on that one and got us out.

I completely agree. Right there at the end, some horrible stuff happened (13 service members killed), but up until that point the withdrawal had gone relatively smoothly. If you had told me before the pullout began: "we'll completely get out of Afghanistan, but 13 US troops will be killed during it", I'd have called that an extremely optimistic projection. It sucks that we almost pulled it off but a tragedy happened right at the end.

The other bad thing was the Taliban seizing a bunch of our/US weapons from the Afghan military, who just abandoned them. But I kinda view that like the weapons we're giving Ukraine, in that we supplied them weapons expecting they would fight, but, unlike in Ukraine... they didn't. They just collapsed. It's only in hindsight, if we'd known they would chicken out, that we should not have given them weapons.

So, I put "pulling out of Afghanistan" firmly in the Biden's Achievements list.

 

[amadeus]

I can’t speak to recent domestic American politics since I don’t follow it anymore, but shouldn’t Trump get some of the credit for leaving Afghanistan? As far as I recall the accord to get out was signed under his direction, Biden keeping in line with the agreement.

 

[El_Machinae]

I appreciate the cancelation of Keystone, but ho boy that one was big, honestly.

 

[lymond]

Yeah, 370 billion dollar bill that just passed is probably my favorite.

One which benefits me the most is the freeze on student loan repayment.

Now this will be a controversial one, but pulling out of the Afghanistan war I would list as an achievement. As much as we may hate how it ended, that war had no end, and Biden took the bullet on that one and got us out.

And, of course, some folks tend to forget that most of that mess was started in he who shall not be named's administration. I don't think Biden had much choice on the matter as the process was already in place. I voted for Biden, of course. Not particularly a fan of him, but just happy that "he who..." is no longer in office and I hope to gawd he does not return.

Personally, I think we should still be in Afghanistan. I'm not a fan of war at all, but that was a necessary evil. All that progress just wiped away in an instant.

Major props for the new bill and any climate change policies.

 

[RobAnybody]

I can’t speak to recent domestic American politics since I don’t follow it anymore, but shouldn’t Trump get some of the credit for leaving Afghanistan? As far as I recall the accord to get out was signed under his direction, Biden keeping in line with the agreement.

Sort of? I guess. In that he said "we'll get out of Afghanistan by X date". But he didn't lay out a plan, or any means of doing it. He just, like, declared it was gonna happen. I mean, I could've done that. The actual execution & logistics were all left up to Biden, & Biden did the best he could to adhere to that, although it happened about two months after the random date The Orange Muffin pulled out of his butt & proposed no plan for.

 

[Hygro]

Conversation some friends and I were having the other day. (IRA is inflation reduction act)

 

[EnglishEdward]

I agree that leaving Afghanistan was a Biden achievement.

 

[Samson]

So the coronavirus is ended now?

 

[Narz]

5) Commitment to Combating Climate Change

Making a commitment is cool...

So the coronavirus is ended now?

Yeah that one is silly. How did Biden "end the pandemic", it was winding down anyway. It flared up again at the beginning of his presidency but either way that had nothing to do w him.

 

[Narz]

Conversation some friends and I were having the other day. (IRA is inflation reduction act)
View attachment 636436View attachment 636437

Projected to reduce emissions by 40% in 8 years?? You really believe that. I haven't read the plan but that sounds pretty fanciful.

Pretty sure Jimmy Carter had an environmental plan to and cars now are worse than in the 70s (edit : cars are slightly more efficient now, 21 average mpg now vs I think 17 or 18 back then but there are like twice as many on the road now)

Also where's legal weed?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Face the Impossible - Survive 1 day at Interloper difficulty.
Will to Live - Survive 500 days in Survival Mode.
Pacifist - Survive the first 25 days without killing anyone.
Desolation Point - Craft a full set of improvised tools.


This joke was brought to you by The Long Dark.

 

[IglooDame]

I completely agree. Right there at the end, some horrible stuff happened (13 service members killed), but up until that point the withdrawal had gone relatively smoothly. If you had told me before the pullout began: "we'll completely get out of Afghanistan, but 13 US troops will be killed during it", I'd have called that an extremely optimistic projection. It sucks that we almost pulled it off but a tragedy happened right at the end.

The other bad thing was the Taliban seizing a bunch of our/US weapons from the Afghan military, who just abandoned them. But I kinda view that like the weapons we're giving Ukraine, in that we supplied them weapons expecting they would fight, but, unlike in Ukraine... they didn't. They just collapsed. It's only in hindsight, if we'd known they would chicken out, that we should not have given them weapons.

So, I put "pulling out of Afghanistan" firmly in the Biden's Achievements list.

Agreed, but I'd add that we left too many Afghan supporters - interpreters and such that were active participants in the US presence - to the mercies (or lack thereof) of the Taliban, in the end, and the US government's apparent surprise at how quickly the Taliban rolled over the country counts against both the Biden administration and our military and political intel organizations.

 

[Synobun]

Agreed, but I'd add that we left too many Afghan supporters - interpreters and such that were active participants in the US presence - to the mercies (or lack thereof) of the Taliban, in the end, and the US government's apparent surprise at how quickly the Taliban rolled over the country counts against both the Biden administration and our military and political intel organizations.

That's just US government modus operandi, a time-honoured tradition between Democrat and Republican.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Also where's legal weed?

It's legal in NM and CO and others.

Agreed, but I'd add that we left too many Afghan supporters - interpreters and such that were active participants in the US presence - to the mercies (or lack thereof) of the Taliban, in the end, and the US government's apparent surprise at how quickly the Taliban rolled over the country counts against both the Biden administration and our military and political intel organizations.

He did get over 100,000 Afghans out on very short notice.

 

[Samson]

He did get over 100,000 Afghans out on very short notice.

Some even on the inside of planes.

 

[Lexicus]

Projected to reduce emissions by 40% in 8 years?? You really believe that. I haven't read the plan but that sounds pretty fanciful.

The real problem is that a 40% reduction in emissions in 8 years is not enough, but it's better than nothing.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I'd have to give the devil his due on that one.

yeah, pretty similar degrees of fun with definitions on this one.

4 is completely legit, though.

at this point i consider judicial appointments to be political hacks no matter which president puts them in until proven otherwise. us legal system has earned quite a bit of mistrust over past 10 years, though maybe this is nothing new and i just wasn't watching as carefully when younger. probably.

doing illegal and very likely net harmful lockdown measures/mandates and inflating us like a balloon i would not consider to be "accomplishments".