As soon as we get done recognizing that Biden's domestic agenda has led to an unprecedented year of accomplishment, I would like to put in a word for the international agenda.
Contrary to what you may have read, it includes the following:
--Ending the longest war in US history
--Re-entering the Paris climate accords and restoring US to a leadership role in global climate talks (including big climate commitment in BBB package)
--Scoring big victories against the pandemic at home (well over 400 million doses given, nearly 200 million fully vaccinated) but also leading the way in vaccine diplomacy (with a commitment of over 1 billion doses)
--Re-entering the World Health Organization
--Re-starting talks with Iran to undo damage done by Trump when he pulled the US out of the JCPOA (talks continuing next month)
--Leading global minimum corporate tax initiative (15% minimum is part of BBB Package) which will transform the global tax landscape and has been a model of how economic diplomacy should work
--Elevating next generation challenges to a central role with a shift from GWOT of past two decades to a focus on China, climate, cyber/AI and other next gen threats
--Advancing new Indo-Pac security structures w/first ever Quad summit, AUKUS
--Recognizing that American strength begins at home and focusing on investing almost $5 trillion in first year in office on programs critical to US competitiveness and strength like infrastructure, resiliency, functioning health systems, climate, R&D and education
--Restoring US leadership with recent Gallup poll results showing US ratings hitting near historic highs after collapsing to historic lows under Trump
--New commitment (this week) by @SecBlinken to modernize the State Department (and reverse Trump era brain drain, loss of morale)
This is a partial list. And you can be forgiven if you haven't read about it all put together this way. Coverage tends to focus on controversy and problems and not on the big picture or process or successes. But the story is one of remarkable progress in a short period of time.
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I, for one, am a bit surprised at the general acceptance of the degree of deference that has been shown to Trump in this case. He was given far too much time and too many chances to return the documents he stole from the government.
As the subsequent seizure of the documents revealed, they were extremely sensitive in nature and put our national security at risk every moment they were held by Trump in the insecure locations he kept them or were referred to by him in meetings with visitors and associates.
Consequently, the deference could well have been deeply damaging. Similarly, if he was hiding documents at Mar-a-Lago it stands to reason some might have been at his many other residences. Why were they not searched? A normal person would not have received such a courtesy.
The book on how to indict an ex-president has not been written--until now. Chapter One was by Alvin Bragg. Ch. Two was by Jack Smith, informed by Chapter One. Ch. Three, likely by Fani Willis, will be informed by the other two experiences. So by the time we get to Ch. Four...
which is probably the most consequential of the cases, about how Trump led an insurrection against the US government and a systematic effort to defraud American voters, there will be quite a lot to draw on, to help get each element right.
What is more, the shock factor will have been degraded quite a bit. The pearl clutching of Trump's supporters will be even less credible. There arguments that somehow Trump is being wronged will appear dramatically weaker (and they appear pretty darn weak now.)
I regularly go through a debate in my mind about who is worse at their jobs, sports show analysts or political pundits. (You would think weather forecasters might be included in the mix, but the reality is that their predictions are vastly better than the other two groups.)
With the sports analysts, the level of BS is just shameless. Day-in and day-out they speak with great conviction, some of them banging the table or shouting at their guests or audiences, asserting they know what's going to happen next in one sports event or another.
And then when they're wrong they just move right on to a new equally certain prediction. And they do this week in and week out and they are wrong a lot. "I guarantee you Team X will sweep the series." "Of course, Team X lost game 1. The coach blew it...
This debt deal will rank with the most significant legislative accomplishments of Biden's first term. In a situation that should not have happened, created by his opponents, with immense stakes, he and his team produced the best possible outcome for the country.
Like so many other Biden accomplishments-from the rescue package to the infra bill, from the inflation reduction act to the CHIPs act-Biden was underestimated, he achieved progress despite his opponents' obstructionism, he didn't play media games & let the work speak for itself.
Many scoffed and said he was out of touch when he spoke during the campaign of seeking bipartisanship and compromise wherever it was possible and consistent with his core principles and objectives. And again and again and again he has achieved it.
I’m one of those crazy progressives who think supporting the most progressive president in roughly six decades is progressive, who thinks avoiding an economic disaster that would leave millions of the most vulnerable among us suffering.
I’m one of the woke mind virus sufferers who thinks progressive doesn’t mean letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, who thinks maintaining power is the key to advancing progressive goals.
I think protecting the progressive Biden agenda and initiatives of the past couple years from draconian cuts is progressive, that backing the one political leader who can defeat the enemies of democracy is progressive.
Stealthily, without proportionate recognition, Joe Biden is not just having a good presidency, he's having one that is historic in its concrete achievements and successes. The fair & balanced types in the media won't characterize it fairly because to do so, would "feel" biased.
The opposition won't cover it because it is not in their interests to tell the truth. (It's why they never do.) Editors and producers will shy away from it because positive stories don't sell like conflict does. Consequently most of the media won't present the simple facts.
It should be said, Biden uses the lack coverage to his advantage. He let's the crazies & the partisans and the weathervane pundits and the people who have forgotten that the first job of journalists is to report the truth as it is, as a kind of shield while he just does his job.