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Biden's Biggest Blunders

Segnosaur

Penultimate Amazing
Segnosaur
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I just want to state that I do not think Biden did a bad job as president. In fact, I think he was quite competent. But, I do think there were things he could have done better, and/or failed to do things he should have.

I know he was constrained by the political environment. (For example, he couldn't expand the supreme court because there were a couple of Democratic senators who would have blocked it.) But there were things he still could have done (or attempted to do).

My ideas:

- He should have pushed for Puerto Rico statehood. If I remember correctly, they had a referendum in a previous election that stated a majority wanted statehood.

This would have given millions of Americans proper representation in government. It would have also been politically adventageous to do so. If he succeeded, there would be a new state that would likely lean democrat. If he failed, it would likely be because of the republicans, and it would probably re-enforce the notion that "the GOP doesn't care about latin voters".

- He should have allowed federal land to host abortion services in red states.

This was a suggestion that I had seen made around the time Roe v Wade was overturned. Some legal types suggested they could get around abortion limitations in certain republican-controlled states by hosting abortion clinics on federal land (which would get around state limitations). It sounded reasonable, and it would have kept the abortion issue (one that the democrats had strong support on) front and center.

- He should have found a more aggressive attorney general.

Garland wasn't necessarily a bad AG, and his nomination at the time made sense. But, his slow pace allowed Stubby McBonespurs to avoid prosecution for many of his crimes. They should have brought in someone who would have pushed for a quicker prosecution.

(Admittedly that last one was mostly a mistake in hind-sight.)

So, what else could Biden have done better?
 
Well, I do question the premise that these were blunders. As you say, he was constrained by the political environment.

Let's assume he, his cabinet and staff, and his fellow Democrats in Congress are all at least as politically savvy as you are. Let's also assume they have access to far more and far better information than you do, about the political environment.

Then these same stratagems must have occured to them, and were likely rejected by them due to political nuances we're not aware of.

That said, I think there were a couple obvious unforced errors, likely arising from simple hubris, that his team made.

Committing to picking a black woman for VP, and picking Harris, was one of them. Not endorsing Harris early, and giving her candidacy all the support he could, was another.

And of course waiting far too long to step down.
 
I think he made only one blunder. Running. Several other candidates were quite storng. Well, some were women. But having won in 2020, that president would have won 2024. Trump was certainly good with "eating cats and dogs" but it was Biden at the debate that lost us the race.
 
Garland was a stupid choice from jump. He became relevant when Obama tried to appoint him to the Supreme Court. Obama did that mostly to troll the GOP as Garland was conservative and the GOP still wouldn’t give him a vote.

Biden then appointing this guy AG was their idea of a gotcha moment because Garland was unfairly kept off the bench.

Which is the sort of silly thing Democrats like to do. Favor fairness optics over effectiveness. Which is a special kind of stupid in the age of Trump and the GOP using traditional norms as toilet paper
 
Tero said:
I think he made only one blunder. Running. Several other candidates were quite storng. Well, some were women. But having won in 2020, that president would have won 2024.
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I was thinking more in terms about what he did wrong in his role as president, rather than what he did as a politician seeking office.

When you say he made a mistake "by running", in which election are you referring?

I think it made sense to run in 2020... he had his association with Obama which would have helped with minority voters, and as a potential "strong" candidate it would have limited the type of infighting in the primaries that can be damaging to a candidate.

And in 2024, he was an incumbent, and being an incumbent gives a candidate an advantage.
...it was Biden at the debate that lost us the race.
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I disagree.

I am not saying the debate helped, but I think it was the spike in inflation (something that wasn't necessarily the Democrat's fault) that lead to their loss in 2024.
 
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Biden ran as a quick solution to Trump. That it was. But there was no planning past 4 years. He was not able to win "acting presidential." Those days are gone. You merely need money and a social nedia presence.
In fact no president after Trump...if we have one...will look special. We will have got used to the social media picking the president by then.
 
Not being aggressive enough and falling back on norms and unwritten rules. LBJ managed to get the Great Society, the Civils Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act passed almost simultaneously. All of those were polling underwater while they were being negotiated.

Biden was in Washington almost 50 years when he was finally elected POTUS. Are you telling me he didn't have the juice to pass Build Back Better? That he couldn't lower Medicare to 55? He should have been willing to take a lead pipe to Manchin and Sinema to get ◊◊◊◊ done. He should have known the Republicans were going to walk into traffic before giving him a win. He should have stopped acting like the old ways applied. But, most of all, he should have declined a second term from the get go.
 
The social media thing agin: it seems to be no longer than 2 weeks of memory.

"They are eating our cats and dogs" worked as it hinted at something real. "They are stealing our democracy" did not work. Because it had not happened yet! "They are crashing our planes" would right now. It will work in 2026 if the planes keep crashing.
 
A few weeks before the election I was standing around with some seniors. One of them demanded that Harris apologize for Biden's doings and pledge not to continue any of his proejcts. Otherwise he was voting Trump.
 
Tero said:
A few weeks before the election I was standing around with some seniors. One of them demanded that Harris apologize for Biden's doings and pledge not to continue any of his proejcts. Otherwise he was voting Trump.
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Yeah, kind of a catch-22 for her. She couldn't repudiate the administration without implicating herself. But her "I wouldn't change a thing" strategy wasn't doing her many favors, either.

Do you think that senior was at all likely to vote for Harris, regardless of what she did to mollify him?
 
Suddenly said:
Garland was a stupid choice from jump. He became relevant when Obama tried to appoint him to the Supreme Court. Obama did that mostly to troll the GOP as Garland was conservative and the GOP still wouldn’t give him a vote.

Biden then appointing this guy AG was their idea of a gotcha moment because Garland was unfairly kept off the bench.

Which is the sort of silly thing Democrats like to do. Favor fairness optics over effectiveness. Which is a special kind of stupid in the age of Trump and the GOP using traditional norms as toilet paper
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I agree with this. Garland was a wimp. The evidence that Trump committed massive crimes was there on day one. Trump needed to be prosecuted immediately. Instead, they played around and Trump was able to recover and reprieve.
 
because trump is such a buffoon and his coup attempt was almost comically inept, it makes it seem like a less serious crime than it was. garland was weak, and biden being publicly hands off was one thing, which was a mistake, but privately allowing garland to do nothing is inexcusable.

in retrospect, when it comes to the last president committing treasonous acts on live tv the next president should probably be actively involved in addressing instead of passively ignoring
 
Biden may have made the mistake that he was going to get things to calm down. If he did not prosecute Trump, MAGA would not get violent and would have less influece year by year. Did not happen. The Trump hard core really hate the federal government and all it does. Forever.
 
I can't identify a policy blunder that was made in good faith - he was trying to do the best he could with the information available.

What will be a stain on his legacy, for me, is pardoning Hunter. I know people like to gloss over how big of deal it was, but it was so blatant that it corrodes confidence in the presidential pardon power.
 
Donal said:
Not being aggressive enough and falling back on norms and unwritten rules. LBJ managed to get the Great Society, the Civils Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act passed almost simultaneously. All of those were polling underwater while they were being negotiated.

Biden was in Washington almost 50 years when he was finally elected POTUS. Are you telling me he didn't have the juice to pass Build Back Better? That he couldn't lower Medicare to 55? He should have been willing to take a lead pipe to Manchin and Sinema to get ◊◊◊◊ done.
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How exactly is that supposed to work?

Manchin and Sinema were senators, and congress is largely independent of the president. (Well, ok, the republican clan has turned over all their power to Trump, but they did so willingly. Manchin/Sinema were not doing so.) What exactly could he have done to influence either of them?
 
He should have done more to stop the sale of weapons to Israel. But he's always been a "support Israel no matter what" kind of guy.
 
Fear of being seen doing a good thing.
Biden's political Life, not just his Presidency, was based on appealing to an imaginary older white voter who wants things to stay the same when in fact his world has already gone down the drain but he can still pretend.

The Biden administration did unquestionably good ( for US standards) for Climate Change and consumer protection, but they didn't want to talk about it for fear of the C word.

And pretty much anything but looking like Netanjahu's puppet and apologist-in-chief would have made him look less pathetic.
 
Segnosaur said:
How exactly is that supposed to work?

Manchin and Sinema were senators, and congress is largely independent of the president. (Well, ok, the republican clan has turned over all their power to Trump, but they did so willingly. Manchin/Sinema were not doing so.) What exactly could he have done to influence either of them?
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Aim for the kneecap and follow through

Or, have the DoJ investigate all the executives of the pharma companies that did things like contributed to the opioid crisis and jack up the price of EpiPen. And start handing out indictments. Focus on people like the former CEO of Mylan.
 
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