It is easy to forget how desperate things were on Jan. 20, 2021, when Joe Biden became president of the United States.
Just two weeks earlier, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to keep Congress from certifying Biden’s election. The nation was at the height of the coronavirus pandemic; in that month, 3,000 Americans died daily from covid-19. There were newly developed, lifesaving vaccines, thanks to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed — but there was no viable plan to distribute them. The U.S. economy and the world economy were on life support.
Four years later, the country is in vastly better shape. The economy, though still recovering, is the envy of the developed world; U.S. stock markets are at or near all-time highs. We have made overdue investments in infrastructure and technology. And American troops are not at war for the first time in a generation.
By any objective standard, Biden was a very good president whose accomplishments will benefit the nation for many years to come.
Biden’s critics find it convenient to look past his biggest success: He guided the country through, and out of, the pandemic. Regardless of what Republicans want us to believe, it was during Trump’s presidency when government officials imposed anti-covid rules that sent us into isolation — and during Biden’s when we regained the freedom to go about our lives.
The Trump administration repeatedly promised an “infrastructure week” but never delivered; Biden won approval of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The Inflation Reduction Act made the nation’s biggest investment ever in fighting climate change — more than $400 billion. The Chips and Science Act marked $280 billion to boost scientific research and spur domestic manufacturing of cutting-edge semiconductors.
These initiatives will produce returns in the years and decades to come. When future presidents smile for the cameras at ribbon-cuttings, remember that it was Biden who laid the foundations.
Without putting boots on the ground, the United States and its allies fortified Ukraine with the arms and intelligence it needed to fight invading Russian troops to a stalemate. Biden forced Putin to pay a much bigger price in manpower and materiel than he had anticipated — weakening the Russian military at minimal cost to the United States.
I am confident that historians, with the clarity of hindsight, will focus less on Biden’s softening voice and tentative gait — and more on all that he managed to achieve in a single term. He was a consequential and farsighted president who leaves the nation much better off than he found it.
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It is easy to forget how desperate things were on Jan. 20, 2021, when Joe Biden became president of the United States.
Just two weeks earlier, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to keep Congress from certifying Biden’s election. The nation was at the height of the coronavirus pandemic; in that month, 3,000 Americans died daily from covid-19. There were newly developed, lifesaving vaccines, thanks to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed — but there was no viable plan to distribute them. The U.S. economy and the world economy were on life support.
Four years later, the country is in vastly better shape. The economy, though still recovering, is the envy of the developed world; U.S. stock markets are at or near all-time highs. We have made overdue investments in infrastructure and technology. And American troops are not at war for the first time in a generation.
By any objective standard, Biden was a very good president whose accomplishments will benefit the nation for many years to come.
Biden’s critics find it convenient to look past his biggest success: He guided the country through, and out of, the pandemic. Regardless of what Republicans want us to believe, it was during Trump’s presidency when government officials imposed anti-covid rules that sent us into isolation — and during Biden’s when we regained the freedom to go about our lives.
The Trump administration repeatedly promised an “infrastructure week” but never delivered; Biden won approval of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The Inflation Reduction Act made the nation’s biggest investment ever in fighting climate change — more than $400 billion. The Chips and Science Act marked $280 billion to boost scientific research and spur domestic manufacturing of cutting-edge semiconductors.
These initiatives will produce returns in the years and decades to come. When future presidents smile for the cameras at ribbon-cuttings, remember that it was Biden who laid the foundations.
Without putting boots on the ground, the United States and its allies fortified Ukraine with the arms and intelligence it needed to fight invading Russian troops to a stalemate. Biden forced Putin to pay a much bigger price in manpower and materiel than he had anticipated — weakening the Russian military at minimal cost to the United States.
I am confident that historians, with the clarity of hindsight, will focus less on Biden’s softening voice and tentative gait — and more on all that he managed to achieve in a single term. He was a consequential and farsighted president who leaves the nation much better off than he found it.
Somehow, Trump returned.