It’s time to evaluate the Biden presidency.

Economics

1 Reduced quarterly inflation rate (CPI) from peak 8.6% in 2Q, 2022 to 2.7% in 4Q, 2024.
2 Doubled the federal budget deficit from $0.75T to $1.5T per year.
3 Inflation grew to 9%, partly reflecting excess government spending initiated by the president.
4 Added 15M jobs; added jobs every month!!!!!!!
5 Cut the Black unemployment rate from 10.0% to 6.1%. Cut the Hispanic unemployment rate from 9.3% to 5.1%.
6 Increased per capita real disposable income by 5.6%.
7 Increased prime age labor force participation to near record 83.9%, last seen in 2001.
8 Reached pre-Covid employment in 28 months. Great Recession recovery took 3 times as long (77 months).
9 Real wages grew significantly in each year.
10 Record low unemployment rates quickly achieved and maintained after pandemic.
11 Reduced unemployment rate from starting 6.7% to 3.7% average for 2022-24. Pre-Covid 2017-19 was 4.0%.
12 Increased real GDP by $2.8T, 13.1% total, 3.2% annual. Trump pre-Covid gain was $1.7T, 2.8% annual.
13 Bloomberg reported a 26% increase in net household wealth between December 2020 and 2024.
14 Increased household wealth by 20%.
15 Recorded 24% increase in median home sales price from December 2020 to 2024.
16 Stockmarket value increased by 50% from December 2020 to 2024, building upon 50%+ rise in prior 4 years.

Outstanding economic results. The majority of inflation was due to pandemic and supply chain issues. Nonetheless, the growing budget deficits were an “own goal” that should have been avoided for economic and political reasons.

Governing

17 Appointed record number of federal judges, including record share of women and minority judges.
18 Postal Service Reform Act – reset reasonable debts, compensation and service levels.
19 Misevaluated and misresponded to declining personal health risks.
20 Democratic party exceeded expectations in 2022 midterm elections.
21 Negotiated spending limits in order to increase debt ceiling and avoid government shutdown.
22 Failed to overhaul Democratic party position as leaders of states and cities.
23 Failed to take advantage of the January 6, 2021 insurrection to remove Trump from politics.
24 Oversaw continued weakening of Democratic Party appeal to working class, minorities, men and independents.
25 Oversaw continued weakening of Democratic Party power, brand and results.
26 Promised to govern for all of the people but slipped into anti-MAGA politics.
27 Ran for second term and failed to withdraw in time for the party to field an effective platform and candidate.
28 Republicans were able to make DEI and wokeness a winning issue at all levels, without counter-leadership.
29 Unable to offer a new framework to reset politics outside of the win/lose polarization approach.
30 Increased IRS budget to reduce tax evasion and increase revenues.
31 Inflation Reduction Act – set minimum 15% corporate tax rate.
32 Electoral Count Reform Act – clarify presidential election processes.
33 Speech and legislation on threats to democracy, voting rights.
34 Support Voting Rights and Freedom to Vote legislation, enforced laws, opposed new state restrictions.
35 President and Democrats were unable to make progress on voting reforms despite opportunities.
36 American Rescue Plan – extra funding to cut child poverty in half.
37 Increased Pell Grant funding for lower income college attendees.
38 PACT Act – covers veterans exposure to toxic chemicals.
39 Provided new or lower cost internet access to 5M.
40 Provided student loan debt relief to 5 million borrowers.
41 American Rescue Plan – reduced medical insurance premiums

Some “good government” initiatives and results. Biden was unable to address the basic challenges of polarization, skepticism, social media, rule of law and personal integrity. He was elected as a “placeholder” to avoid Trump in 2020 and filled the “placeholder” role. He was unable to reframe the debates.

Public Health

42 Inflation Reduction Act – allows Medicare to negotiate top 10 drug prices,
43 Inflation Reduction Act – capped annual drug costs, reduces insurance costs
44 Negotiated agreement with pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices.
45 Doubled number enrolled in Affordable Health Care from 12M to 25M. 8% uninsured is record low.
46 Inflation Reduction Act – increases Affordable Care Act access to medical insurance.
47 American Rescue Plan – 500M covid vaccinations
48 American Rescue Plan – funding for individuals, businesses, governments and NFPs to survive pandemic.
49 Management of Covid-19 pandemic health care, communications and economic recovery strategy.
50 Failed to capitalize on his pandemic recovery and economic successes in the public eye.
51 Some pandemic decisions were overly restrictive, not based upon science, cost/benefit or value of freedoms.
52 Legislative, funding and regulatory changes to energize the Cancer Moonshot initiatives.
53 Rejoined the World Health Organization.

The pandemic mitigation and recovery should have been celebrated as a once in a century victory for the American people, science, business and government. And for the world! The results were amazing, if imperfect. Biden’s team was unable to stake out the high ground and frame the real results in this manner, allowing partisan politics to infect and undermine even this situation.

International Relations

54 Created QUAD security relations with Australia, India and Japan.
55 Facilitated improved relations between Japan and South Korea.
56 Increased support from citizens and leaders in NATO nations to the US.
57 Recommitted the US to NATO, encouraged defense investments, welcomed Finland and Sweden.
58 Signed AUKUS deal with the United Kingdom and Australia for Indo-Pacific security.
59 Unable to renegotiate new bargain with allies to pay for US defense, police, trade, shipping, legal umbrella.
60 Was unable to delivered principle leadership for the liberal international model on trade and global affairs.
61 Failed to reset US-China relations despite shared interests in global commerce, climate, security and health.
62 Supported Trump’s anti-free trade and anti-China actions without proposing effective alternatives.
63 Reduced US reliance of Chinese imports by 10%, increased US exports to China by 15%.
64 US dollar increased in value by 15%.
65 US inbound foreign investment averaged twice as high from 2021-24 versus 2020.
66 US outperformed other nations in achieiving pre-Covid levels of GDP and employment.
67 US stocks increased in value by 50%, more than in other markets.
68 Supported the bipartisan 2024 immigration reform bill that was rejected by candidate Trump and Republicans
69 Failed to take emergency action to secure the US-Mexico border, protect and process immigrants.
70 Responsible for 3 years of 175,000 monthly migrant apprehensions versus 25,000 baseline.
71 Ended Afghanistan war within negotiated plan.
72 Protected the US from terrorist attacks, authorized surgical anti-terrorist attacks.
73 Recorded zero domestic deaths from international terrorist activities during 2021-24.
74 Support for Israel after Hamas attack, ceasefires, prisoner exchanges and hostage releases.
75 Afghanistan withdrawal was poorly planned and executed, costing lives, equipment and US stature.
76 Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 citizens and taking 300 hostages, confident of Israel/US limits.
77 Israel invasion of Gaza has continued without resolution, highlighting the US’s lack of influence/leadership.
78 Economic, intelligence and military support to Ukraine, which has stopped Russia’s invasion progress.
79 US and allies imposed sanctions on Russia for Ukraine war.
80 Russia invaded Ukraine, confident that the US and allies would not respond effectively.
81 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has continued, without effective opposition or a negotiated solution.

Biden was able to mend relations with our allies and improve the strength of these alliances and the global power of the US economy. His team fumbled the Afghanistan withdrawal, failed to prevent the Russian and Hamas invasions and was unable to drive these situations to better solutions. US power has been undermined by these failures. The spike in illegal immigrants also portrayed the US and the Biden administration as a weak protector of our essential interests.

Resources

82 Inflation Reduction Act – $369B clean/green energy investment incentives.
83 Invested in wind, solar, battery and electical vehicle technologies.
84 US increased position as world’s largest oil producer and LNG exporter.
85 Expanded the US portfolio of national monuments.
86 Invested $4B in superfund environmental cleanup.
87 Rejoined Paris Agreement to address climate change.
88 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – $1.2T.
89 New investments in domestic manufacturing, adding 750,000 jobs.
90 CHIPS and Science Act – incentives for domestic semi-conductor production.
91 Executive order on Artificial Intelligence outlines potential risks.

Big wins in managing energy, infrastructure and the environment.

Social Issues

92 20% reduction in violent crime rate after pandemic increases.
93 Renewed the Violence Against Women Act.
94 Repositioned marijuana classified substance rating, reduced federal criminal enforcement.
95 Respect for Marriage Act – required states to recognize the decisions of other states.
96 Responded to Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade with Executive Orders on reproductive health services.
97 Revised asylum seeker options, added green card options for spouses of US citizens.
98 Safer Communities Act – gun controls, screenings, red flags.

Some small wins for the left.

Wins and Pinches

3 wins for every pinch! A decent number of achievements for a one-term president in a very polarized age.

Overall

Public Health A

Economy A-

Resources B+

International C+

Social Issues C

Govern/Politics C-

Biden did an outstanding job on the “blocking and tackling” in a very difficult situation. He “treaded water” in the international arena. He did not advance liberal social causes effectively. He failed to effectively address the Trump/populist threat to our democracy. For this, the overall grade is a D. 😦

Left, Right and Center

Biden was a moderate. He only tilted far left on 4 of the 98 items. Student loan relief was for the university crowd. The failure to address border security administratively was due to minority and progressive politics. Doubling the budget deficit undercut 30 years of Democratic Party “fiscal discipline” following Clinton’s “third way”. Not trying to reposition Democratic politics as centrist, moderate, adult, opportunity, American, scientific, effective, growing, universal, creative, tolerant, professional, metropolitan, ecumenical, big tent, majority, community, emerging, aspirational, progressive, etc. for fear of displeasing the postmodernist crowd and/or special interests was a huge lost opportunity in a time that called for leadership.

His greatest success was in managing the pandemic threat and growing the economy. He managed crime and terrorists. He enhanced American global power. He was a moderate president, just like Obama and Clinton.

Trump

I’m not a fan of Trump. His first term delivered more results than expected, but his existential threat to our system was already very clear.