100 Days of Biden: My Coveted Thoughts

[Jaicee]

Whelp, it's been 100 days of style since Joe Biden became president of my country. Throughout my lifetime, the press has held the passage of 100 days as a significant milestone after which it is time to reflect on how the new administration is doing so far. So let us do that.

...*shrugs* Fine by me. Reflection over.

Okay, it's not really over, but I think that sums up my feelings, and probably those of most Americans, pretty well right now. If not massively so, Biden is nonetheless a popular president so far. In the current moving average of polls, he's above water by 11 points (53.1% approve, while 42.1% disapprove). He's faring worse than Obama was at this same point in his presidency so far in popularity, but unsurprisingly better than Trump was. (Trump was already underwater by this point.) It kinda makes sense when you watch Fox News try and complain these days. Their gripes are occasionally substantive, but more often strike one as kind of desperate. Like I glimpsed at a Fox program last night where the headline was "Biden's Covid Extremism Killing Small Business" for example. In reality, the economy grew at an annualized rate of 6.4% this last quarter, employers added 916,000 jobs in March alone, the average American's income rose 21.1% in March for the biggest single-month gain since records thereon were first kept in 1959, and even the previous administration's precious, precious stock market has reached all-time highs, all mostly due to the successful vaccine rollout this administration has overseen (we've become a world leader in Covid vaccination, with the majority of our adult population having already received at least one shot) and injection of a new wave of stimulus (which Republicans opposed and voted against!) into the economy. Compare this to where we were at the start of the year, in the waning days of the last administration, facing down the largest and worst Covid surge yet (almost 300,000 new cases being added a day at some points!), with the economy beginning to slow down and stagnate again as a result, a joke of an initial "warp speed" vaccine rollout that saw the virus spread much faster than shots, and the aura of the events of January 6th hanging heavy in the air. You really want to go back to that; to what we had before this administration took over the reins? Really? Anyone? Any sane and sober person? Most people don't. That's probably why the majority of Americans approve not only of Biden's job performance overall, but also more specifically of Biden's handling of the economy according to the aforementioned moving average of polls, and why an even larger 63% majority approve of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's tough being a partisan conservative these days. You find yourself tasked with opposing peace (the new administration has set out to bring the last U.S. troops home from Afghanistan this year and restored previously fraying diplomatic ties with our allies), rapidly expanding prosperity, and public health. How to do this in a way that will resonate with the average American? I don't think you really can.

You saw that desperation on full display in Tim Scott's official Republican rebuttal to President Biden's "not" State of the Union address Wednesday evening; that certain grasping at stuff to object to. In reality, every viewer survey has found that Biden's speech, with its heavy focus on bread-and-butter, kitchen table issues, was overwhelmingly popular. (71% of CNN viewers approved of the overall contents, for example, as did 85% of those surveyed by CBS and YouGov, and so on and so on). Frankly, of course they did! Biden had shit to boast about and proposed to the American people $4 trillion in more stuff and told them they won't have to pay for it! What other public response was to be expected, outrage? It's tough being a Republican these days. Which is probably why not so many people still are. Seriously, the Democrats now enjoy a 9-point advantage in voter identification over the GOP, which is notably a wider advantage than the more usual 4 to 6 point gap.

Biden is hardly without his faults though. Only a minority of the public approves of his immigration policies, for example, and I particularly object to the White House's attempts to conceal the squalid conditions in our migrant holding facilities; the absolutely packed cages for children and so forth. And some of you here know some about some of my other policy concerns around women's rights and what I feel was a missed best opportunity to raise the federal minimum wage. These are important issues to me as a woman who has had the misfortune of landing in spaces like a shelter for battered women and a women's jail before (for example) and is tasked with living on $9.40 an hour. If not for stimulus checks I've received since the onset of Covid, I'd still be living well below the poverty line right now, and will likely wind up back in that place by next year. These concerns pale though compared to the benefits of living under the current administration so far. For example, the main issue women's shelters have faced in the last year is an increased backlog from the lockdown period that saw a major increase in domestic violence result from people being stuck at home with abusive partners. Likewise, the unchecked spread of Covid-19 in the prison system has been by far the biggest safety concern for inmates. Therefore, defeating the coronavirus -- which is something that wasn't exactly going to happen under Trump -- is the paramount priority in my mind even for women-specific spaces.

Is it possible for the Republicans to stage a comeback from where they are now and win back one or both chambers of Congress next year? Yup! The GOP came back from a deeper hole in party affiliation at this same point in 2009 to win what became known as the tea party wave election in the fall of 2010, for instance, and also came back from a deeper hole in party affiliation at this same point in 1993 to win the 1994 midterm elections by a considerable margin. The party out of power, matter-of-factly, almost always at least makes gains in midterm election cycles. I can think of lots of ways that same thing could happen this time around as well. The easiest way I can think of would be for the Democrats not to pass either the Jobs Plan or the Families Plan in any form between now and the fall of next year (since all of the provisions in the Rescue Plan, the recent Covid relief package, are temporary and expire in time for the 2022 midterms (unlike the minimum wage provision that got stripped from the bill, which was a permanent provision they could've actually run on)!) and also take what's really started to become their natural anti-free speech side of this upcoming, high profile case -- the biggest student speech case in half a century -- to land before the Supreme Court in the meanwhile; the side that tries to dries to draw a straight line from swearing on the internet to crime and illegal activity. Just as an example of what the path to a Democratic defeat might look like. It would be historically unusual if the Republicans didn't at least gain a few Congressional seats next year. But then it's also historically unusual for a sitting president to be defeated in a re-election bid and that happened last year. (Yes, it did Republicans; quit denying it!) Unusual things happen too. And from where things are sitting right now, at this moment, there's just not that much to complain about. I'm pretty contented with the current administration overall so far. It's been a good start.

Agree? More or less? No?

[The Blackangel]

Very well said. I'm a liberal Democrat, and honestly I can't find anything in your post that isn't true. You spoke in an unbiased manner (thank you for that), and gave links to your sources instead of just spouting a bunch of "facts", as most do, without anything to back it up. There are a few truths that I don't like, such as republiKKKlans winning either or both chambers of congress in the midterms, but such is life. We live in a society that has extremists up and down both sides. The events of January 6th however, showed how bad things can get if the extremists are delusional enough. The events of 1860-1864 did the same as well, but on a larger scale. We have to fight to NOT let those things happen again. And if that means imprisoning a large part of one demographic or another, then so be it. We have to try to protect this country, before we're not a nation anymore. Things have been bad for decades. We have had those in power who have honestly tried to improve things. And we have had those in power who didn't give a shit and were literally just on a power trip. If we could just get people in power who were in it, not for the power, but for the power to affect progressive and positive change, then we could end up in a golden era. I personally tell everyone that former President Barack Obama was the greatest President our country has ever had. If I had been able, I would have repealed the 22nd amendment and we would be a monarchy under His and Her highness King and Queen Obama. But I'm just a woman at her keyboard. I saw what Biden was like as Vice President. I knew he would be a great President if he was to run at any time in the future. And in the past 100 days, I have been right. And the fact that we have our first female in the in the Presidential seat chart, and one of color at that, is a sign of progress. It's always been First Lady. Second Lady. Now we have Madam Vice President and Second Gentleman.

I know I thanked you for your unbiased post, but that is something I'm typically not able to do. So look down on me for that flaw if you want to. I don't have the power to control opinions, nor do I want it.

[Jaicee]

Do my best to be honest about the state of things, and honest about my opinions as well (when I'm allowed to be).

I'm not woke enough to back a monarchy or rounding up people for disagreeing with the Democratic Party personally, but I can appreciate the spirit in the sense that I found this last administration kind of traumatizing on a certain level (to say nothing of just plain degrading and embarrassing) and am pretty damn gratified that it's over. However, I have enough confidence in the American people that they won't let this happen again. Trump could very well win the Republican nomination again for 2024, but he won't be president again.

I also don't think pure motives necessarily have anything to do being a good president in reality, or else history might take a dimmer view of the narcissist Franklin Roosevelt's transformative impact on the nation than of say Nice Guy Jimmy Carter.

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Jaicee

[Reality vs Adventure]

Biden is quickly finding out that this country has to move ahead and bipartisanship no longer exists. I am very concerned about the voting rights bill that needs to be passed. As republicans quickly pushed voter suppression on day 1; we should have countered within the 100 days. But that would require getting rid of the filibuster since there is no other way it will pass requiring 10 republican votes, who as we know are a party no longer supporting democracy. That is the one thing that will protect democracy for years to come and it is completely partisan as republicans have another thing in mind passing bills across the country to make voting harder and all the while claiming fraud while they recount ballots in Arizona without independent witnesses. And this is something we will see happen in every state where democrats won. Nothing really matters if voting isn't protected. But that didn’t happen the first 100 days, so maybe in the next 1200 days? 

Everything else is just a return to normalcy. Normal is good. Biden is doing the right thing. As far as immigration, I don’t know why it’s so hard to build an international refugee camp paid by an international effort to provide shelter, food, and medicine. Have a program to help them move into a country and have a skill program to fit into the workforce. This is a humanitarian crisis and needs to be treated as such. And there should be more women than men operating it cause dirty men will rape all the girls. White supremacists will flock to the area hoping to rape and abuse vulnerable people. Cause that is who they are.

I’m glad Biden mentioned white supremacy as the greatest terrorism threat to this country. But he should have extended on it and give us assurance that he will utilize every resource possible to combat domestic terrorism and give us some kind of plan or bill on what he wants to do. Because just calling it out isn’t enough. Fear is the only vocabulary terrorists know. Take action. Make them feel extreme fear. That is the only language they understand. They love authoritarianism so let’s show authority against their operations. Crack down on extremism in the military. Any extremists needs immediate discharge and there needs a campaign to boost the confidence in reporting behavior of soldiers as well as the ranks and to be protected for doing so. Same with the police force. These are things I really want to see happen. We know there is a problem, give direct solutions and I have to criticize that I haven’t seen any strong movement there. This is the last chance for these things so Biden better jump on it, dive in, belly flop, I don’t give a fuck. Tear down the terrorists. Otherwise, you might as well recruit ISIS into the military and let them carry guns to capital buildings since terrorism is not a serious threat. (sarcasm).

He has tackled the Covid problem which is good. You can’t do much about the mentally challenged people that deny the threat of the virus and work against community safety. I just hope we can throw their bodies in a pile one day and burn them directly to hell.

Besides the normalcy of policy issues, my main issues I wanted to see more of was measures to fight terrorism, voting protection; police reform; and the cleaning of extremism in military and all government positions. You can’t clean those voted in, but you can clean those appointed. There has been some progress in that area, but show me bills how to prevent the politicizing of government positions. Show me bills where a president can no longer fire or appoint so many government positions. That was ridiculous what trump was legally able to do. No sitting president should be able to appoint the head of FBI and other positions like that and the attorney general needs to be unpoliticized also. The positions needs a general vote if needed. That was scary to see Barr (previous AG) fall in step with trump. There needs more checks and balances. Those are bills I wanted to see the first 100 days.

I am grateful to have a president who is working for the interest of the people and country. But if nothing is fixed about the things I just mentioned, then pucker up with the wettest lips, and kiss democracy goodbye.

* Protect voting

* Weed out extremism is military, police, and gov. positions

* Attack domestic terrorism

* Tackle covid

Those should be all our main concerns since it directly affects the country as a whole. 

 

 

 

 

[Jayson]

I think a lot of Democrats mean well.  However, their cow-towing to environmentalism is sinking the economy because it's just not workable.   That situation combined with coming back from Covid setbacks is bad news.