• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Biden's Biggest Blunders

Donal 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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Well, technically the DoJ is supposed to have a certain amount of independence from the presidency, so many people might be concerned if the president is "directing" the DoJ to investigate pharma companies (regardless of whether those companies deserve to be investigated/charged.)

Secondly, how exactly is that supposed to put pressure on Manchin/Sinema? I don't think there's any significant connection between Mylan and Sinema. Mylan might have had offices in Manchin's state, but I think his personal fortune comes from investments in energy. It also merged with another company, and the new parent company has its headquarters in another state.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
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.
Click to expand...
Maybe the imaginary white voter has gone senile? If they watched Fox News as well, they were easily captured by the Trump con. "They are eating our cats and dogs!" The voter then takes some prevagen, and did not work.
 
Segnosaur said:
Well, technically the DoJ is supposed to have a certain amount of independence from the presidency, so many people might be concerned if the president is "directing" the DoJ to investigate pharma companies (regardless of whether those companies deserve to be investigated/charged.)
Click to expand...
The president can set the DoJs general focus. The Biden administration did that by staffing the department with white colalr crime specialists.
Segnosaur said:
Secondly, how exactly is that supposed to put pressure on Manchin/Sinema? I don't think there's any significant connection between Mylan and Sinema. Mylan might have had offices in Manchin's state, but I think his personal fortune comes from investments in energy. It also merged with another company, and the new parent company has its headquarters in another state.
Click to expand...
Look a little closer at Mylan CEOs.
 
arthwollipot said:
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.
Click to expand...
I don't think that takes into account his political context. American policy for generations has been "support Israel no matter what". For decades there's been enough bipartisan support to keep this policy going. Biden was never going to do the Trumpian thing of dismantling the institutions and repudiating the long established agreements and intentions.

Remember, Biden’s been in Congress all his life, working this policy from the legislative side. You think he doesn't already know what can and can't be done, politically?
 
I think there are two foreign policy decisions by Trump (reversing Obama decisions) that he should have reversed.

He should have reinstated the treaty with Iran limiting Iranian uranium enrichment. No good has come from Trump's pulling out of it, and the treaty did the job it was supposed to.

He should have reversed the increased sanctions on Cuba introduced because of the directed energy attacks (hysteria) on US diplomats in Havanna, and removed Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

He left a lot of Trump policy decisions in place which made it look like these were good decisions. Biden would have been better to have said everything Trump did was awful and cancelled much of it. Failing to remove them for party political reasons made him look weak.
 
He was going through some stuff then. HE probably wasn't in the right mental state. Also, that was allegedly the deal the Obama campaign made with Clinton.
 
Planigale said:
I think there are two foreign policy decisions by Trump (reversing Obama decisions) that he should have reversed.

He should have reinstated the treaty with Iran limiting Iranian uranium enrichment. No good has come from Trump's pulling out of it, and the treaty did the job it was supposed to.
Click to expand...
How do you bring Iran back to the table? How do you get the other signatory nations?
Planigale said:
He should have reversed the increased sanctions on Cuba introduced because of the directed energy attacks (hysteria) on US diplomats in Havanna, and removed Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Click to expand...
True that. Thawing relations with Cuba was a big accomplishment of the Obama administration.
Planigale said:
He left a lot of Trump policy decisions in place which made it look like these were good decisions. Biden would have been better to have said everything Trump did was awful and cancelled much of it. Failing to remove them for party political reasons made him look weak.
Click to expand...
The problem is, it is easier to break things than fix them. Industries had adjusted to things like the Trump tariffs. Just throwing those into the reverse would have screwed with economy further.
 
Donal said:
How do you bring Iran back to the table? How do you get the other signatory nations?

True that. Thawing relations with Cuba was a big accomplishment of the Obama administration.

The problem is, it is easier to break things than fix them. Industries had adjusted to things like the Trump tariffs. Just throwing those into the reverse would have screwed with economy further.
Click to expand...
Iran and the other signatory nations all said they would. Iran didn't choose to break the treaty, Iran actually tried to enforce the treaty on the US, by taking the US to court (Trump threatened sanctions against the judges).
 
As soon as SCOTUS decided that the POTUS is above the law, Biden should've had Seal Team 6 do exactly what the Trump lawyers said he could do.
 
Last edited:
Segnosaur said:
- He should have allowed federal land to host abortion services in red states.
Click to expand...
I don't know how you do that without violating the Hyde amendment.
Segnosaur said:
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.
Click to expand...
I don't think that gets around state limitations. Federal property isn't immune to state jurisdiction for state crimes.
 
thaiboxerken said:
As soon as SCOTUS decided that the POTUS is above the law, Biden should've had Seal Team 6 do exactly what the Trump lawyers said he could do.
Click to expand...
Remember, the supreme court ruling that POTUS was "above the law" was a LITTLE vague. They said the president can't be prosecuted for stuff related to his job, but without really defining just what the limits are.

This would allow the supreme court to exercise a double standard should they ever see any cases:

- Republican president does something illegal -> Its related to his job of president -> immune
- Democrat does something illegal -> It has nothing to do with the job -> prosecute
 
True. He should've fired the conservative SCOTUS under the new power, installed liberals and then used seal team 6.
 
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?
Click to expand...
Kneecap one to encourage the other. That's what they both deserved with their betrayal of their constituents and country.
 
Kneecap one to encourage the other. That's what they both deserved with their betrayal of their constituents and country.
Click to expand...
Remember, Manchin represented an area that normally heavily skewed republican.

You might think holding such political beliefs is foolish and harmful in the long run, but if he is "representing his constituents" he would need to pay at least some attention to what his voters wanted (even if they want dumb stuff.)

Sinema was a little different. Her state didn't skew as heavily to the right, and she had more of a reputation as being 'left wing/liberal' based on her past political history.
 
The thing about Manchin is that he didn't do anything to prop up the party in West Virginia. He could have been selling Democratic policies and building up a bench to make their way up the state and local offices. He sat on his as and cashed in on his grandfather's legacy as a union leader.
 
Segnosaur said:
Remember, Manchin represented an area that normally heavily skewed republican.

You might think holding such political beliefs is foolish and harmful in the long run, but if he is "representing his constituents" he would need to pay at least some attention to what his voters wanted (even if they want dumb stuff.)

Sinema was a little different. Her state didn't skew as heavily to the right, and she had more of a reputation as being 'left wing/liberal' based on her past political history.
Click to expand...
Manchin only ever represented big coal producers. He got in because of strong ground work from leftwing grassroots organisations, once in he did everything to destroy the work they did, along withhis base.
 
Gulliver Foyle said:
Remember, Manchin represented an area that normally heavily skewed republican.

You might think holding such political beliefs is foolish and harmful in the long run, but if he is "representing his constituents" he would need to pay at least some attention to what his voters wanted (even if they want dumb stuff.)
Click to expand...
Manchin only ever represented big coal producers. He got in because of strong ground work from leftwing grassroots organisations, once in he did everything to destroy the work they did, along withhis base.
Click to expand...
While support from "leftwing grassroots organizations" might have helped, I don't think they played a deciding role.

Once Manchin retired, the republicans managed to win the senate seat with over 68% of the vote. That's roughly a 20% increase in support for republicans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom