# Can I be the only person stunned at just how badly President Joe Biden is doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851 "2021-08-31T19:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/435 "2021-12-17T17:10:34Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Show me _any_ current GOP politician who would answer any question with the statement, “Institutional racism exists.” > > I’ll wait. I very much doubt that any Rupublican politiician would answer that specific question with that specific reply. However, pretty much every politician avoids answering the question asked. The technique is common to all politicians. I’d be surprised if you are surprised by that. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/436 "2021-12-17T17:16:25Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What _would_ have been a good answer? It may well have been the best approach that he could manage at the time. My point was that he sidestepped the actual question in the way that pretty much all poltiicians do and that he comes across as pretty dull and uninspiring. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/437 "2021-12-17T17:21:35Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > It may well have been the best approach that he could manage at the time. > My point was that he sidestepped the actual question Well, so did you. I asked you what a good response would have been, and you didn’t answer. Never mind that he sidestepped the question, in your opinion: if you’re so set on criticizing him, what kind of response would NOT have garnered criticism from you? Do you wish he had, like a goddamned idiot, taken the question literally and not sidestepped it? Do you wish he’d offered some proposal like more training for police? Or is there nothing he could have said that would have avoided your criticism? ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/438 "2021-12-17T17:30:50Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Well, I’d also expect to be offered good odds on the bet 😃 Who knows, maybe she’ll snap and decide to [burn this motherfucker down.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUn5-8EC_DQ) If you mean, get sick of all the crap being tossed at her, kick over the table and change parties… Well I’d ship her a few tins of homemade Christmas cookies if she did. ( And wouldn’t Joe Manchin be surprised. Ho Ho Ho! ) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/439 "2021-12-17T17:38:38Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > My point was that he sidestepped the actual question in the way that pretty much all poltiicians do and that he comes across as pretty dull and uninspiring. The one politician I could think of who’d be unlikely to sidestep the question would be Donald Trump, but I guarantee you that his answer wouldn’t have been better. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/440 "2021-12-17T17:41:43Z")
Twitter is alit with the news that Joe said president Harris. And who is catturd anyway? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/441 "2021-12-17T17:50:16Z")
Well…I don’t think he’s doing a particularly or notably bad job. He’s had some fuckups, for sure, but then it’s hard to name a president that didn’t. I don’t agree with him on some of the decisions he’s made and am baffled by others (the whole pull out of Afghanistan when and how he did it was a total cluster fuck, IMHO), but some things he’s done I agree with such as shoring up our alliances and trying to get other things back on track. His big spending initiatives I don’t agree with, but I can see where he’s coming from on those and I don’t think they are indications he’s doing a bad job. Covid…well, honestly, I think what is often overlooked is that the President isn’t god or king, and can’t just make whatever they want to happen, happen. I don’t think he’s done a particularly bad job on this…I think the situation is what it is, people are where they are. At any rate, the only real showstopper for me wrt vote for him again was his handling of Afghanistan. China MIGHT be another bone of contention, depending on what his administration does going forward…he’s talked tough in some regards, and walked stuff back in others. So, I’m taking a wait and see there. We’ll see how he handles whatever the fuck is happening in Ukraine, whatever does or doesn’t happen in Taiwan, and the other myriad things a President does, some of which he controls, others he doesn’t but gets the blame for anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/442 "2021-12-17T17:59:37Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Well, so did you. I asked you what a good response would have been, and you didn’t answer. that was already asked of me and I already said I didn’t know. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I don’t know, I’m not on his prep team and would be the worst politician in the world. But what he did say gets a big fat meh. However I suspect Obama or even Clinton would have been able to speak more eloquently and with a greater air of authority. I suspect they woudl have been able to see the better options that you and I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/443 "2021-12-17T18:05:06Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I suspect they woudl have been able to see the better options that you and I can’t. Well, his answer did go on to recommend increased police training. The short clip didn’t include that. Your criticism seems laughably off-base: “I don’t know what a good answer would have been, I can’t think of anything better, and I didn’t bother to check to see if he did, in fact, go on to give an answer I would have liked, but this clip does nothing for me.” It’s hard to conceive of a more smugly ignorant bit of criticism a person could make of a politician. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/444 "2021-12-17T18:07:02Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Well…I don’t think he’s doing a particularly or notably bad job. He’s had some fuckups, for sure, but then it’s hard to name a president that didn’t. I don’t agree with him on some of the decisions he’s made and am baffled by others (the whole pull out of Afghanistan when and how he did it was a total cluster fuck, IMHO), but some things he’s done I agree with such as shoring up our alliances and trying to get other things back on track. His big spending initiatives I don’t agree with, but I can see where he’s coming from on those and I don’t think they are indications he’s doing a bad job. Covid…well, honestly, I think what is often overlooked is that the President isn’t god or king, and can’t just make whatever they want to happen, happen. I don’t think he’s done a particularly bad job on this…I think the situation is what it is, people are where they are. I agree with everything you say here. I’m not as upset about his spending, I lament the need but I think it was a need. But otherwise you’re basically stating my opinion too. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/445 "2021-12-17T18:35:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Well, his answer did go on to recommend increased police training. The short clip didn’t include that. Your criticism seems laughably off-base: “I don’t know what a good answer would have been, I can’t think of anything better, and I didn’t bother to check to see if he did, in fact, go on to give an answer I would have liked, but this clip does nothing for me.” > > It’s hard to conceive of a more smugly ignorant bit of criticism a person could make of a politician. I didn’t introduce the clip as evidence _against_ him. Someone introduced it as evidence for the contrary. Personally I found it wanting. I never said it was “bad” and quite openly agree it might have been the best he could do. What it was was a dull and formulaic response. On the basis of the reported conversation it sounded just like any other poltical stock response, on the limited clip then posted there was nothing to change my mind. If you have any further evidence then feel free to post it. It may well be that such enlightening exchanges don’t find their way readily to the UK (which was the nub of my first post) and they may change my mind. Do you think he is dynamic and inspiring? I’ve seen nothing to suggest that and the clip shown doesn’t back up that view either. I don’t see the media falling over themselves to sing his praises, heck even those in this thread sticking up for him are damming him with faint praise in that, compared to the shitgibbon, he’s not that bad. The sum total of my criticism of him is that he’s not interesting or inspiring and seems quite slow and, perhaps, ponderous might be the word. Is he someone likely to inspire the electorate to give him a second term? Don’t get me wrong, I’d have Biden or a frog in a jar over the previous incumbent any day of the week but, sorry, he’s not a thrilling and inspiring poltical leader from what I’ve seen of him. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/446 "2021-12-17T18:37:02Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > > > Well, so did you. I asked you what a good response would have been, and you didn’t answer. > > that was already asked of me and I already said I didn’t know. > > > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > > > I don’t know, I’m not on his prep team and would be the worst politician in the world. But what he did say gets a big fat meh. However I suspect Obama or even Clinton would have been able to speak more eloquently and with a greater air of authority. I suspect they woudl have been able to see the better options that you and I can’t. Lovely. Have you examined at all the question of _why_ you don’t know? Is it because **Novelty\_Bobble** s aren’t made of the stuff that makes an effective and inspiring POTUS? Or can you entertain the notion that the question the black woman asked the white man is one for which _no ideal_ “straight” answer exists when asked by a black woman of a white man (in the presence of a global audience, I might add)? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/447 "2021-12-17T18:57:09Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Adam Kinzinger or Anthony Gonzalez come to mind. And even there, it’s not likely at all and they’re both not running for re-election next year, probably because they see the writing on the way that they’re very likely to be primaried to death for being openly opposed to Trump. Kinzinger has been redistricted out of his seat but he’ll almost certainly be running for _something_ and now has his own Super PAC. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/448 "2021-12-17T19:29:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s hard to conceive of a more smugly ignorant bit of criticism a person could make of a politician. But captains of industry, leading academics and senior government officials sit at Novelty Bubbles feet to receive wisdom, don’cha know? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/449 "2021-12-17T19:33:57Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I agree with everything you say here. I’m not as upset about his spending, I lament the need but I think it was a need. But otherwise you’re basically stating my opinion too. I should caveat my own response there. I’m not upset about the infrastructure bill, per se…I think we need that sort of thing, and while I’d quibble about parts of it, the reality is if you are going to get something like that passed then everyone is going to put their own pet ponies in the circus. I think it’s definitely more good than bad, which in itself is unusual these days for large government spending plans. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/450 "2021-12-17T19:40:25Z")
See this is when I wish I had a Like button. (Fuck, I’m posting this shit in the BBQ Pit? Something is wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/451 "2021-12-17T19:42:26Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I don’t see the media falling over themselves to sing his praises, heck even those in this thread sticking up for him are damming him with faint praise in that, compared to the shitgibbon, he’s not that bad. This is what we are left with now. ☹ The best you can hope for is mediocrity with something occasionally good. Who is going to do better that can be elected? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/452 "2021-12-17T19:50:42Z")
lol, I didn’t realize this was in the BBQ Pit or I wouldn’t have posted to it. Figures that it is though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/453 "2021-12-17T19:54:11Z")
Hey now - not everything that happens here is bad. There is good discussion to be found, as you have just demonstrated. Welcome to the dark side, er, please come back again. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851/454 "2021-12-17T20:14:15Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Personally I found it wanting. I never said it was “bad” and quite openly agree it might have been the best he could do. What it was was a dull and formulaic response. Wanting _what_? When you say it’s the best **he** could do, it sounds like you’re casting shade at him. Do you mean it’s the best **anyone** could do with that question? I’m not sure what could have been better about his answer. > [@](#): > > Do you think he is dynamic and inspiring? No. I’m on the far left, although others are further than me; still and all, I think Bernie Sanders is entirely too sanguine about the benefits of capitalism. Biden isn’t my pick for president. But that said, I don’t care about “inspiring” or “dynamic”. I want someone who gets things done. The reason people are bringing up Trump is, in large part, because Trump is the perfect example of why “dynamic” and “inspiring” aren’t by themselves positive traits for a leader. A dynamic and inspiring wanna-be tyrant like Trump is way worse than a workaday dealmaker like Biden. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-the-only-person-stunned-at-just-how-badly-president-joe-biden-is-doing/949851.md?page=23)