Thinking about it, it seems like Biden was almost perfectly set up to have a disappointing presidency. If he hadn't had a majority in the Senate, expectations would've been lower & he could have just scrapped his way through w/ executive action + bully pulpit, a la Obama. If ...
... he'd had a *bigger* majority in the Senate -- even just a little bit bigger -- he could have accomplished the historic stuff he planned/promised. But the 50-50 Senate is the worst of both worlds. It's "control," so it jacks up expectations, but in practice ...
... it's practically custom-designed to produce months of fruitless pleading & negotiations, with all the terrible press coverage that entails. If we're being fair/objective, Biden's presidency has been surprisingly successful *given the circumstances*. But ...
... having putative control of the Senate meant that the optics -- the results relative to the perceived possibilities -- were always gonna be bad. Not sure there was any way to avoid it.
(One clarification: I meant the 50-50 Senate is the "worst of both worlds" in terms of public perception. Objectively speaking, having a majority, even a slim one, is way way way better than not. You control votes, approve judges, etc. Just talking about optics.)
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