After 1 month, what are your first impressions of President Joe Biden?
Politics What Do You Think About President Biden So Far?
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It’s nice to not be hyper aware of what the president is saying or doing in case of him putting his foot in his mouth.
It’s also nice to see some work getting done.
I think he and Congress are moving too slow with COVID relief, and I think they’ve bungled the whole thing with not cutting $2k checks. By time the stimulus eventually goes out, it’ll like be almost a half of a year since the $600. Instead of treating this as a continuation, they should have always treated it as fresh round of new $2k checks.
Also I think Biden’s reaction to forgiving more than $10k of student debt was a big misstep, too. He absolutely has the power to forgive more than that without congressional approval.
It’s also nice to see some work getting done.
I think he and Congress are moving too slow with COVID relief, and I think they’ve bungled the whole thing with not cutting $2k checks. By time the stimulus eventually goes out, it’ll like be almost a half of a year since the $600. Instead of treating this as a continuation, they should have always treated it as fresh round of new $2k checks.
Also I think Biden’s reaction to forgiving more than $10k of student debt was a big misstep, too. He absolutely has the power to forgive more than that without congressional approval.
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*shrug* He's fine. I don't disagree with anything that's been done so far. I'm ecstatic to hear about the Equality Act--thank God. I wish he could get rid of the postmaster already, but I was recently reading an article that that may not be possible until December because while there are four openings and one Dem already on the board that could fire DeJoy, that one Dem was appointed by Trump. So he's most likely a DINO, not really on the side of Dem issues, and will protect DeJoy. But an additional opening will come in December to give him a fifth member to appoint.
It's a shame the minimum wage multi-year increase most likely won't happen. What I don't get about Manchin is, I understand it's difficult being a Dem in a mostly red state, but at the same time... He's pretty old. Can he not take a bullet for the team? I'm sure he's not going to hurt for money if he loses this job and the party might get him a job on TV somewhere anyway like they did for Claire McCaskill. With Kristen Synema, I can understand her conflict more because her career has only just started, whereas Manchin's has to be in its latter days anyway.
It's a shame the minimum wage multi-year increase most likely won't happen. What I don't get about Manchin is, I understand it's difficult being a Dem in a mostly red state, but at the same time... He's pretty old. Can he not take a bullet for the team? I'm sure he's not going to hurt for money if he loses this job and the party might get him a job on TV somewhere anyway like they did for Claire McCaskill. With Kristen Synema, I can understand her conflict more because her career has only just started, whereas Manchin's has to be in its latter days anyway.
Manchin feels powerful because he has to drag the party to him to get things done, which means he can get more things for his state in exchange for his vote on various policies. That’s all. He’s an old man playing politics.
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I'm hoping it's mostly just a front for his voters, that he'll end up voting for most things in the end... In a way, I expect them to get rid of the filibuster later this year just so they can pass more COVID relief. It's a way they could frame getting rid of it that Manchin might be able to go along with, since majority of voters are in support of stimulus checks.
He definitely needs to do more than $10k of debt relief for students. It's holding the country back and $10k won't help people out of trouble. I can feel the "pick yourself up by your bootstraps!" energy seeping off of him.
Hesitating on his border/immigration promise to end it is also a misstep. ICE is ignoring his orders. It makes him look so weak like he can't control his own government. Pathetic.
Other than that, i guess I'm not bothered by much else. Well, it'd be great if he started pushing an initative to remove marijuana as a schedule 1 drug. Haven't heard anything on that yet.
Hesitating on his border/immigration promise to end it is also a misstep. ICE is ignoring his orders. It makes him look so weak like he can't control his own government. Pathetic.
Other than that, i guess I'm not bothered by much else. Well, it'd be great if he started pushing an initative to remove marijuana as a schedule 1 drug. Haven't heard anything on that yet.
He definitely could be better, but he’s at least better than Trump so far.
I don't anticipate it. Kamala made a career off of jailing people on stupid charges like marijuana possession and use. I can't see Biden having progressive views of it. I think it'd need to be legalized in a majority of states before they took action.
Most voters are also for an increase in minimum wage and yet he opposes it. He seems like a republican masquerading as a Dem honestly.
Regarding Biden, he's better than Trump (but so is a potato), and he's mending things Trump has damaged, like the relationships to the UK and the rest of the world, but he's already gone back on a few of his promises. He's letting ICE do what it wants, instead of making them fall in line. He's more than willing to sacrifice the wage increase and is doing nothing against the student loan problem he created.
The way he's conducting himself now I can't really see the Democrats winning the next election, unless the other party implodes, which is a shame.
Dems doing what Dems do best~ Fumbling once the ball is in their hands.
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I don't agree that Biden should be doing more on debt relief. I think $10k is enormous as it is. Nobody's going to give people $50k free. Well, nobody that can actually get elected to the position to do it anyway. Biden wasn't a far left candidate, so naturally he isn't suddenly going to start acting like one now.
It's too early to tell. Rebublicans are getting their image tarnished in Texas thanks to their nasty mismanagement of the snow storm. Governor Greg Abbot (R, TX) has disappeared from the the Texan public eye and has said NOTHING concerning the absurdly high electric bills Texans are getting, and let's not even touch the subject of Ted Cruz (which I've always said that he's worse than Trump). There is a high probability that Democrats could flip Texas, meaning less probabilities of Republicans winning.
Then there's Florida. Governor Ron DiSantis (R, FL) is expected to run for POTUS and so is Senator Rick Scott (R, FL). Florida is gonna be split because DiSantis is the Governor, Scott has garnered support from Puerto Rican voters (which voted in the thousand in the previos Election), and Trump can't endorse one or the other because both of them are supported Trump. Florida, as always, will be a split State.
And speaking of potential GOP POTUS candidates, there's the shitshow we're gonna get with the GOP Primaries. This isn't the 2016 cycle where Trump won and consolidated the Party.
No.
This is the Republican Party not wanting to address a meltdown they're having where Trump is basically consolidating power outside of the party.
He's a steady pair of hands I guess, meaning America is still just as bad as it was in 2016 with regards to certain things but that's definitely a good thing when considering the previous presidency.
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Uh... I'm a liberal and have been since I was thirteen years old, and I consider people like Obama, Hillary, and Biden to be liberal-leaning centrists.
Democrats often introduce big things to get a little; it's a political game, I'm sure R's do the same thing with their issues. It's sort of like when someone sues for 500 million. They don't expect to actually get that much in the end, but if you shoot for the stars you might get 5 million instead of 1 million or less. I mean, Kamala proposed some bill last year about giving everyone $2,000 stimulus checks every month, and anyone with a brain already knew that would never actually happen no matter who was president.
Universal Basic income is still a concept being tested around the world, even in some local cities/towns in the US. I'm not totally on the UBI bandwagon until we scientifically know for sure that it is a sustainable system with overwhelming benefits (or even some benefits)
Even UBI is not far left. It's pretty normal left. Actual "far left" policies are ideas like banning cars and air travel because of global warming. End meat production and farming because everyone must be vegan. Etc etc. Far left consists of ideas that might be the "correct" idea but can never be implemented because society could potentially collapse.
UBI, or $2000 checks through the worst of the pandemic is not "far left" unless our European and Canadian neighbors are so radically out of their mind that we can't possibly associate with them anymore. (Many countries in the EU and Canada put much more effort into keeping people at home when numbers were spiking, which is the purpose of $2000 checks)
In this country 2-3 generations of people are unable to participate in the market due to crippling loans. Not credit card loans (which is its own problem), student loans. Stuff like that has an effect on the economy overall in the long term.
Not even forgiving $50k of student loan debt will get many people out of the hole, but it will help not only people on an individual level, but the whole economy. Forgiving student loan debt is potentially even more beneficial to the long term economy than $2000 checks and way more than a virtually useless $10k student relief.
If Biden cannot understand this, or he thinks he's just giving people "free money" because "ooooo FREE STUFF!", then that can hardly be considered liberal. That's a right wing talking point through and through.
If Biden doesn't expect to get everything he wants, then why not shoot for the stars? Obama had this exact same problem. You do not go into the debate already in the middle. This debate should start with forgiving all student loan debt and them you compromise it down to something that is beneficial but not overwhelming.
$2000? Why not walk into the room demanding $6000 and then wiggle it down?
Public option? You aren't going to get a Public option if you walk into the room saying you want a public option. What you push for is Medicare for all and wiggle it down from there. Then the next time you walk into the room you demand a little more every time until you finally get to the goal.
It is a game, and democrats and centrist continue to suck at it.
A republican will walk into the room wanting to completely shut down social security and they walk out getting the age requirement raised more and more each time.
They know how to play the game.
Even UBI is not far left. It's pretty normal left. Actual "far left" policies are ideas like banning cars and air travel because of global warming. End meat production and farming because everyone must be vegan. Etc etc. Far left consists of ideas that might be the "correct" idea but can never be implemented because society could potentially collapse.
UBI, or $2000 checks through the worst of the pandemic is not "far left" unless our European and Canadian neighbors are so radically out of their mind that we can't possibly associate with them anymore. (Many countries in the EU and Canada put much more effort into keeping people at home when numbers were spiking, which is the purpose of $2000 checks)
In this country 2-3 generations of people are unable to participate in the market due to crippling loans. Not credit card loans (which is its own problem), student loans. Stuff like that has an effect on the economy overall in the long term.
Not even forgiving $50k of student loan debt will get many people out of the hole, but it will help not only people on an individual level, but the whole economy. Forgiving student loan debt is potentially even more beneficial to the long term economy than $2000 checks and way more than a virtually useless $10k student relief.
If Biden cannot understand this, or he thinks he's just giving people "free money" because "ooooo FREE STUFF!", then that can hardly be considered liberal. That's a right wing talking point through and through.
If Biden doesn't expect to get everything he wants, then why not shoot for the stars? Obama had this exact same problem. You do not go into the debate already in the middle. This debate should start with forgiving all student loan debt and them you compromise it down to something that is beneficial but not overwhelming.
$2000? Why not walk into the room demanding $6000 and then wiggle it down?
Public option? You aren't going to get a Public option if you walk into the room saying you want a public option. What you push for is Medicare for all and wiggle it down from there. Then the next time you walk into the room you demand a little more every time until you finally get to the goal.
It is a game, and democrats and centrist continue to suck at it.
A republican will walk into the room wanting to completely shut down social security and they walk out getting the age requirement raised more and more each time.
They know how to play the game.
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I guess for me the easiest way to discern between "left" and "far left" is that wanting cheap / cheaper college education is what I consider Left. Free higher education is far left fringe. I have plenty of other thoughts, but I'll choose not to be rude or argumentative. 
I wouldn't change your mind and you certainly won't change mine.
I wouldn't change your mind and you certainly won't change mine.
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Our current political spectrum is dragged so far to the right that we have a very skewed view of what is left and liberal compared to what is actually left and liberal.
That said, when you have members of the Senate stating outright that the president can do something on his own and it is a popular thing that would help people across political aisles, he should absolutely let go of his BS politicking and just do it.
But he's receiving donor money from student loan finance companies and he also is one of the reasons the student loan issue has ballooned so massively, so I don't know why I should expect anything different.
That said, when you have members of the Senate stating outright that the president can do something on his own and it is a popular thing that would help people across political aisles, he should absolutely let go of his BS politicking and just do it.
But he's receiving donor money from student loan finance companies and he also is one of the reasons the student loan issue has ballooned so massively, so I don't know why I should expect anything different.
Pretty much this. Even British Conservatives talk about social programs.
But not US Conservatives. Or at least, not the popular ones.
Yeah, about dismantling them, lol
Sorry, the last ten years have made me cynical, yes we have free healthcare and social benefits but they have been exceptionally run down over the past 11 years on purpose so that a private system would be more palatable to the public. So many of our public services have already been privatised during this governments tenure, I don't have a lot of hope for this new batch of loyalist tories to be any different