# Is it just me or is President Biden really good at the job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 1, 2023, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859 "2023-06-01T06:12:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/161 "2023-06-05T02:32:33Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Um–hand up, me? [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6L1mHrX0AE08D4.jpg:large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6L1mHrX0AE08D4.jpg:large) ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/162 "2023-06-05T06:31:14Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > There’s not a single person here that needs any specific examples about Biden As an European, I do. Whatever news filters through to the Danish news services, shows that Biden is a very good president who has the respect of most of the world. Do me a favour and give me a few examples. I can add that the same news services did run almost daily stories of Trumps blunders and foolishness. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/163 "2023-06-05T09:27:18Z")
First thing I thought of too. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/164 "2023-06-05T10:16:11Z")
Another vote for: he’s done an excellent job. On the economy, it’s interesting how perceptions have been successfully molded by republican talking points and a “both sides” media. Even many people on the _left_ have a perception of the economy doing poorly under democrat presidents. The reality is, the American economy is going great guns; far outpacing expectations right now and with record employment. And much _lower_ inflation than most developed countries. On divisiveness, where do I even begin? Biden described some republicans as “semi-fascist”, and, separately, said that some wanted to sunset medicare. Both of these statements are indisputably correct (well, he could have just said “fascist”). Meanwhile, repubs are saying they want to “Hunt Democrats with dogs”. That they want to “destroy Leftism”. And baselessly saying that Democrats have “started the killings”. I know this seems impossible for some people, but imagine any of these statements being made by _Democrats_. Then you might appreciate what “divisive” means. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/165 "2023-06-05T13:09:24Z")
To play devil’s advocate, I’d say the worst thing was the Afghan withdrawl. First of all, the surrender to the Taliban was negotiated by the previous administration, but executing the withdrawal itself fell on the military under Biden. The military should have prepared for what to do if the Afghan military immediately surrenders to the Taliban. They weren’t prepared for that to happen, and the terrible optics resembling the fall of Saigon took the steam out of Biden’s first year. Other than that, I think his job has been admirable considering he never had full cooperation from Congress. Even the first two years, he had to put up with an equally divided Senate meaning that he could do anything without Manchin and Sinema going along. I can’t think of anything that set off a poster a ways up thread, what is self-evident to a few seems to be non-existent to the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/166 "2023-06-05T14:24:29Z")
Biden is an old school politician with good horse trading skills. After Trump, any degree of sanity might seem refreshing. Biden has done okay and succeeded on some tough issues. I do not find him particularly charismatic, and I think there must be better Democratic candidates. He deserves better ratings than he gets. But he is solidly in the middle quintile of Presidents, IMHO. He has handled Covid well, supported Ukraine, and achieved some infrastructure goals. Artificial problems like debt ceilings count for little. He has not fulfilled some of his important campaign promises, not filled key positions for the upcoming election and not done enough to impress important constituencies whose votes the Democrats seem to take for granted. He has not highlighted the weaknesses of his opponents and underestimates them. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/167 "2023-06-05T16:31:44Z")
I personally would probably rate Obama presidency higher than the Biden one. While not perfect I think that the ACA is a bigger deal than anything that Biden has done so far, and I think the charisma factor while not the most important thing shouldn’t be ignored. Obama gets a lot of flack for naively trying to work with Republicans who had no interest in working with him, but his was the first administration where the Republican party over country strategy of “what if we didn’t” first took hold. So for the first part of his presidency he trying to play under the old rules, while Biden knew what he was getting into from day one. On the other hand, Obama had a more powerful congressional majority to work with for the first couple of years which Biden didn’t have so what Biden has been capable of has been impressive. A lot of my impression probably has more to do with the times than anything else, but when Obama was president I felt inspired by what the Democratic party could do to make our country great, while now I more inspired by stopping the Republicans from making our country awful. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/168 "2023-06-06T05:02:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > To play devil’s advocate, I’d say the worst thing was the Afghan withdrawl. First of all, the surrender to the Taliban was negotiated by the previous administration, but executing the withdrawal itself fell on the military under Biden. The military should have prepared for what to do if the Afghan military immediately surrenders to the Taliban. They weren’t prepared for that to happen, and the terrible optics resembling the fall of Saigon took the steam out of Biden’s first year. It was going to be a shitshow regardless. Maybe there were certain parts that could have been done better, but there was no plausible scenario where we came out of Afghanistan looking good. Biden stuck to a plan that was already in place and at least he didn’t second-guess it, or find some excuse to stay in Afghanistan to avoid yanking off the Band-Aid. Considering the circumstances under which he has had to perform over the last two years, I’d say he’s done remarkably well. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/169 "2023-06-06T08:31:01Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > It was going to be a shitshow regardless. Maybe there were certain parts that could have been done better, but there was no plausible scenario where we came out of Afghanistan looking good. Biden stuck to a plan that was already in place and at least he didn’t second-guess it, or find some excuse to stay in Afghanistan to avoid yanking off the Band-Aid. Look, there were some major intelligence and logistical failures there - the military was clearly surprised by how fast the local government collapsed, and the evacuation itself was a mess. But I can’t blame the President for that. I just hope that the DoD has been learning lessons and making sure that the military is implementing then. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/170 "2023-06-06T08:33:24Z")
One might wonder how much the release of 5000 Taliban prisoners including their current leader accelerated the fall of the country to the Taliban… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/171 "2023-06-06T09:25:26Z")
I agree with the poster above who said he wished Biden went scorched-earth on the GOP. By this point, I want either extremist D **or** extremist R presidents, but don’t want any more moderates. Someone who will jolt America out of its rut and get it going in **some** direction rather than letting the rut continue. I’d love to see Biden troll the Rs by saying all elections are suspended and then order the ATF to go door to door to confiscate all guns. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/172 "2023-06-06T11:13:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’d love to see Biden troll the Rs by saying all elections are suspended and then order the ATF to go door to door to confiscate all guns. I’m not really seeing an upside to that approach. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/173 "2023-06-06T12:24:09Z")
These desires of yours for violence and war don’t seem healthy. Are you okay? ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/174 "2023-06-06T13:26:58Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Someone who will jolt America out of its rut and get it going in **some** direction This is a nation of 300+ million people, not some small business. WTF are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/175 "2023-06-06T13:40:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I agree with the poster above who said he wished Biden went scorched-earth on the GOP. By this point, I want either extremist D **or** extremist R presidents, but don’t want any more moderates. > > Someone who will jolt America out of its rut and get it going in **some** direction rather than letting the rut continue. I’d love to see Biden troll the Rs by saying all elections are suspended and then order the ATF to go door to door to confiscate all guns. American politics is akin to trench warfare during WWI. Both sides are dug in so deep that hey can’t be moved by force, or extremism. I don’t know what it will take to get us moving again, but more extremism isn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/176 "2023-06-06T13:43:58Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > As an European, I do. Whatever news filters through to the Danish news services, shows that Biden is a very good president who has the respect of most of the world. Do me a favour and give me a few examples. > I can add that the same news services did run almost daily stories of Trumps blunders and foolishness. Denmark? Isn’t that a socialist hellhole like much of the rest of Europe? No wonder your communist press toots Biden’s horn. /s ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/177 "2023-06-06T14:09:36Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Considering the circumstances under which he has had to perform over the last two years, I’d say he’s done remarkably well. Yeah, any future analysis of Biden’s Presidency vs. all the others definitely has to be weighted based on the entirely dysfunctional Republican party he has to deal with. I mean, even during the Civil War, Lincoln didn’t have to try to placate members of Congress from the Confederate states. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/178 "2023-06-06T14:27:34Z")
Yeah, because doing something, _no matter what it is_, is better than doing nothing at all, right? Tell me-Have you ever heard of the _National Socialist German Workers’ Party_? ---
**Author:** ![betonbill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b782af/32.png) [@betonbill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betonbill)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/179 "2023-06-06T14:31:00Z")
Biden managed to evacuate more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan. Would a Trump presidency even have tried to evacuate any? No matter what a mess it was, the situation that occurred was far better than it could have been under Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859/180 "2023-06-06T14:36:29Z")
You are probably right, as seen from USA. Our prime minister even called Trumps idea of buying Greenland absurd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-president-biden-really-good-at-the-job/984859.md?page=10)