# The Biden Administration - the first 1,500 days \[NOT an Afghanistan discussion\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 8, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057 "2020-11-08T15:09:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 52
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1023 "2021-08-08T02:39:42Z")
Garland has constraints; he enforces laws, he can’t make them. Mueller had fewer constraints but the thought of laying out a case for a U.S. president being a traitor was just…asking a lot. The problem we have is one that voters can solve. And once voters ‘solve’ the problem, legislators have to have the courage of their convictions to act. We don’t live in a time for moderation or bi-partisanship or compromise. We have possibly one election cycle left to save democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1024 "2021-08-09T19:14:57Z")
And that, unfortunately, may still be true for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1025 "2021-08-10T16:35:59Z")
🎉 Not the last step in the road, but a major milestone. We can now stop listening to Senate-gang-of-whomever rumors and go back to hand-wringing about Sinema and Manchin re the reconciliation bill which is next. > **[Senate passes $1T bipartisan infrastructure bill in major victory for Biden](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/567125-senate-passes-1t-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-in-major-victory-for-biden/)** > > The Senate on Tuesday passed a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, a significant win for President Biden and the first step on his top legislative priority.Senators voted 69-30 on t… (Boy that $1T tag is misleading. This bill is only $305b in new spending, the rest is redirected from other things like UI payments that red states sent back.) ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1026 "2021-08-10T20:40:18Z")
Politically, this really is a huge win for Biden, who campaigned on being steady, “average Joe” who will get things done and make improvements. Infrastructure is exactly the kind of “normal” thing the gov’t used to be pretty good at (cf: interstate highway system), and delivering this bipartisan bill is exactly the kind of governing that people wanted after Trump’s insanity. Sure, I suspect the bill could be better in many ways, and Democrats are working on part 2 to make that happen, but getting part 1 across the finish line in the Senate is great optics for Biden. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1027 "2021-08-10T21:41:02Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Infrastructure is exactly the kind of “normal” thing the gov’t used to be pretty good at (cf: interstate highway system), and delivering this bipartisan bill is exactly the kind of governing that people wanted after Trump’s insanity.- And that’s why he needed to get something through that is likely to have visible results on the ground (yeah, yeah, I know that is yet to be seen…) BEFORE tackling the voting rights legislation. Otherwise, it would be, _“All the Democrats care about is getting elected!”_ Of course, that **is** all the Republicans **do** care about… ---
**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:** [August 11, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1028 "2021-08-11T13:37:47Z")
Finally after seeing 208 Infrastructure Weeks come and go in the previous administration, Biden and the Democrats delivered the goods. Republicans will no doubt respond by shutting the government down over the debt ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1029 "2021-08-11T15:51:31Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Finally after seeing 208 Infrastructure Weeks come and go in the previous administration, Biden and the Democrats delivered the goods They haven’t yet. They passed a big milestone for the bipartisan bill in the Senate, and it will likely pass the House eventually\*. But “delivered” is premature. \*Pelosi is insisting on having the reconciliation bill before submitting the bipartisan bill to the house, so things will grind on into September at least. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1030 "2021-08-11T16:08:47Z")
True enough but I think the odds are good that the reconciliation bill passes and once that happens it’s all a formality. This is the first Infrastructure Week in 4 1/2 years that might actually bear fruit. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2021, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1031 "2021-08-11T16:51:09Z")
Now that I’ve said that Joe Manchin is being Joe Manchin again and trying to throw sand into the gears. It would be so nice if the Dems gain a couple seats in 2024 so they can tell him to go suck eggs. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1032 "2021-08-11T18:01:44Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Now that I’ve said that Joe Manchin is being Joe Manchin again and trying to throw sand into the gears > [@squeegee](#): > > and go back to hand-wringing about Sinema and Manchin re the reconciliation bill Yup. Manchin will do his thing, he’ll get maybe a $300b sop as prize, and we’ll continue. And Sinema will swan about in circles. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1033 "2021-08-11T19:45:37Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > This is the first Infrastructure Week in 4 1/2 years that might actually bear fruit. Is that number correct? Given that the Rs have been in control of at least one house of Congress for a full decade, has any thing positive on this count gotten through in the past ten years? ---
**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:** [August 11, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1034 "2021-08-11T21:56:45Z")
I don’t know but damned if I know of any infrastructure bill getting through in the previous administration, or for that matter in the Obama years. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1035 "2021-08-11T22:40:59Z")
There was some kind of infrastructure-related thing in the early part of the Obama administration, back when it was a 3-D house/senate/wh. It had to do with the big market-plop recovery effort. Then the obstructionists-who-like-to-break-everything got control of the House and it turned into a fuck-Barack-fest. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1036 "2021-08-11T22:48:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t know but damned if I know of any infrastructure bill getting through in the previous administration, or for that matter in the Obama years. I found [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/a-major-infrastructure-bill-clears-congress/418827/) Atlantic article talking about passing a 305 billion dollar bill in late 2015. Unsurprisingly, three of the Pubs who voted against this bill were Cruz, Rubio, and Paul. Also, this quote from the article: > Several plans from Republicans would cut federal infrastructure spending, although it is the current GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, who has spoken the most about the need to upgrade the nation’s outdated infrastructure. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1037 "2021-08-11T23:07:11Z")
In a sense, Congress passes an “infrastructure bill” every year – the annual federal budget that funds plenty of federal programs that fund infrastructure projects. The bill cited in the article is the surface transportation reauthorization, which has to be passed every five years. What’s novel about this latest bill is that it’s the first bill in a while to invest significant additional resources into infrastructure, and to do so across a broad range of so called “hard infrastructure.” ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1038 "2021-08-12T03:11:28Z")
I have to agree with the headline: the Biden administration has been delusional about Afghanistan. Don’t get me wrong, there weren’t a lot of good choices there - I get that. What concerns me is that, apparently, there were some in the administration who really and truly believed that we’d pull out and the Afghan government would hold up. > **[Opinion | The Biden administration’s response to the Taliban offensive is...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/11/biden-afghanistan-policy-taliban-delusional/)** > > U.S. diplomacy made the situation in Afghanistan worse — and won’t save it now. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1039 "2021-08-12T04:55:41Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > What concerns me is that, apparently, there were some in the administration who really and truly believed that we’d pull out and the Afghan government would hold up. Come on, there’s no way anyone believed that. Maybe they said it publicly or even pretended to believe it behind closed doors in order to rationalize the withdrawal. But no one _truly_ believed it. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1040 "2021-08-12T10:29:48Z")
My point is, it’s pretty evident that they believed the Afhgan government would hold up better than this. They didn’t expect Afghanistan to fall into Taliban hands this quickly; otherwise they wouldn’t have risked the embarrassment of a quick post-withdrawal collapse. I agree that they most likely - like everyone else - assumed that the nation’s government would collapse eventually, but not this fast. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1041 "2021-08-13T14:48:46Z")
To be clear, Joe Biden did not lose Afghanistan, but the manner in which we pulled out and the administration’s assessment of the Afghan forces and stability of its government was appallingly inaccurate. He’s setting himself up to look very weak in the face of the Taliban and China. > **[Losing Afghanistan: Even supporters must admit that Joe Biden’s decision to...](https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-edit-afghan-taliban-20210813-vznn4e3cczekxnvasehipojj4y-story.html)** > > Joe Biden agreed with Donald Trump that after 20 years, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan had to come to an end, as it will on Aug. 31. After being enthusiastic supporters of the war in its first decade or so, we too thought the time had come. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057/1042 "2021-08-13T14:56:00Z")
Sounds like, possibly, some major tactical errors. But the broader strategy of “it’s been 20 years, time to GTFO” is sound. And I’m not sure if there would have been a good way to GTFO without “losing” to the Taliban. Getting TFO is still the right move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-the-first-1-500-days-not-an-afghanistan-discussion/925057.md?page=53)