I understand just fine the distinction between the branches. The Democrats were handed a mandate to lead, given a majority to do so, yet continue to refuse to exercise that. Biden is the leader of the Party. He needs to do more, put more pressure on Sinema and Manchin to pass his agenda.
Agree, and the Senate Dems continue to play right into McConnells hands.
It’s a strawman because Biden can’t really do anything about it, it’s up to the states, I’m open to correction. What can the president do that doesn’t impinge on states rights?
Biden can’t make the senate do anything. The red state dem senators are able to block any reform for fear of losing their seats.
You seem to have a very poor understanding of what powers the POTUS has.
Ah C'mere. That's the equivalent of criticising the Democrats for their failure to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial.
How is it a strawman to state that electoral reform was an issue that was campaigned on after Trump's actions? Bizarre take.
Biden, as leader of the Democrats, has failed to push the Senate to pass a reform. He and Schumer are squandering a singular moment of opportunity for serious change. That's unforgivable.
This is a classic GOP game. They’ll obstruct everything Biden attempts and then criticism him for getting nothing done.
How can they enact anything substantive on those things given the technical constraints outlined in my previous post? It's not like he can just wave a magic wand and get it done. Any law has to go through the Senate and they don't have the votes.
They didn’t campaign on Electoral reform actually, so that’s a straw man. The states make the electoral laws, I’m not actually sure what the Federal government can do, enlighten me.
Corruption is gone, done.
Did Biden campaign on fixing campaign finance? I don’t remember if he did.
it feels like you are criticising him for not doing things he never said he’d do.
He has around 18 months of majority in Congress. It's not nonsense to point out how little has been accomplished to date. He was elected on a platform of righting the ship, yet so far the Democrats have failed to enact anything substantive to address issues like Electoral reform, Campaign finance or corruption.
You say this as if these things are even possible. Given the crazy Senate rules around filibustering a 60-vote majority is needed to pass any legislation beyond Reconciliation bills. Those are limited in both number and content. That means it's impossible to get anything like electoral reform passed without Republican support or getting people like Joe Manchin, who Biden has zero leverage over, to vote to repeal the filibuster.
Biden used Reconciliation to get Covid Relief passed a few months ago and will use it again for his Infrastructure bill later in the year. That's about as good as he can get within the broken rules of American democracy. For the record Trump faced exactly the same obstacles which is why he only got his tax bill through during the term where the Republicans controlled all 3 branches.
American democracy is fundamentally broken. It relies on a bi-partisan consensus that no longer exists to get anything done unless all of the stars line up for a given party for a short period of time.
More whispers and insinuations
So if he doesn’t get his main campaign promises done in 7 months he’s a failure? That’s a bit of nonsense to be frank.
Biden has always been motivated by doing the right thing over personal gain. Unlike most Senators he isn’t a rich man. I often don’t agree with him, but I admire him for his honesty and integrity.
And yes, he authored a crime bill 30 years ago because he thought it was the best way to bring peace to urban communities. He was wrong, which he admits himself. Changing what you believe in 30 years is perfectly normal. There would be something wrong if he didn’t change what he believed in 30 years .
I don’t see any stupidity here, just things you disagree with
Why do you think he thinks its the right thing to do and isn't motivated by the left in the party either by their direct influence or as a sop to them. Bidens got a really long political history so this talk about principles is hard to judge, like he co authored the crime bill back in the 90's, would it be safe to say that was motivated by his principles???
And yes I would still cos it stupid, hell one of the example stories I posted has the administration admitting it's a mistake, though my more cynical view would be that the "mistake" is that it was noticed, mistakes by inclusion are different to mistakes of omission.
Biden is principled, but he has failed to successfully marshall the Democrats to enact his platform. No electoral reform, no healthcare reform, no environmental reform, no debt relief.
His window is closing with little to show.
"Biden got in as the moderate"? Nope! Biden got in because more ppl voted for him than voted for Trump! Their reason(s) for voting for him were myriad. Some may have voted for him as 'the moderate'. Others may have voted him in because he was/is:
Not Trump
Democrat candidate
Personable
Honourable
Credible
Had better policies
A gentleman
etc. etc.
So as I said, not stupid.
I happen to think he’s doing them because he believes it’s the right thing to do. He does have principles after all. Biden was clear about his policies when elected, if he u turned bow he’d be a hypocrite.
80+ million people voted for him. It’s the right wing outrage machine that is scaring people away now. They’re brilliant at it.
They aren't smart moves, not being on the level of some of trump's plans doesn't make it a good idea. It will help the republicans in 2022. Biden got in as the moderate, these type of things are just bad strategy, shoring up votes among groups that will always vote democrat anyway.
If that’s a response to my post, you consider them stupid? Correct?
whether I agree with them or not, they are not stupid.
He could stop putting forward bills that get blocked by judges because they are racially discriminating.
These being so far.
The Small Business Administration relief program.
Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act which was rolled into the bigger bill.
This allows conservatives to portray the Biden administration as "reverse racists" and so far at least the courts are agreeing
Also well it's hard for him to do this while keeping the left wing of his party at least slightly happy but he could choose staff picks that don't invite easy criticism, catherine lhamon being the current example.
Also he could give a top down direction to not include controversial groups/theories that put off moderates
and before there is the constant whining about the source it's got the response from the department in it. Note the way relevant to the first point I made about making picks that make attack easy, Deputy Education Secretary hosted the group previously
Will you swap that €500 note of yours for my €5? I don't see why you should care about the minor difference. They're both just notes that you end up giving away for other stuff anyway.
What has Biden done that was stupid? I mean actions not stumbling over words.
Anyone from an outside view of America can see the parties there have largely similar economic and foreign policy aims and policies.
Biden compared the covid pandemic with the American War of Independence on their July 4th celebration. A bizarre, jingoistic, "patriotic" rubbish you hear from America.
It was just a comment about how idiotic and bumbling Biden is.
America claims to be leaders of the free world and they keep producing stupid politicians.
Not without the Senate Democrats pulling the thumb out
Depends how you define real.
I never expected him to turn on Israel or socialise medicine. Because he never said he would.
I fully expected him to competently enact his policies. He is and that’s a real change from the last chump.
Considering the record amount of people voting for him, I would think that's not exactly the most scientific of judgements
Come on, nobody in their right mind thought Biden would enact real change.
That's only an accurate statement if you deal in political absolutes; that any balls dropped by one administration is comparable to the historically lopsided number of ones dropped by the previous admin. There's simply no fair degree of equivalence to be drawn between the Biden and Trump administrations, except if one is angling towards a "they're all the same" reduction. Which TBH, by your own history here, tends to be how you swing.
There's no question a great many things wrong with the structures of American politics, from the polling stations to the Resolute desk, but you'd want to be spectacularly naive to think Biden was going to be the one to fix them. Or any. So really the question isn't - has it got better? - inasmuch as it can be phrased - has it got worse?
Don't mistake users being unhappy with elements of the new administration with a concession that it's as bad as the last one. They are incomparable.
