Just Say It, Democrats: Biden Has Been a Great President

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And the things he could do unilaterally (student loan forgiveness), he absolutely tried to do , but was cockblocked.
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  I’m shocked how so many people are extremely vocal about opposing a fascist government but then expect the US to give all power to the president for only the 3 issues they care about without understanding the horrific steps that’d follow as soon as a Republican gets into office…
  
  DMV has its own safe space now? How do I get in that
  
  First, you have to go to the DMV. And why would you do such a silly thing?
  
  Most Americans don't know how many reps are in the Senate or House
  I'm not talking about Lemmy either. I mean your average person on the streets, especially in Bumfuck, IA. It doesn't affect them enough to care.
  
  One of them is 100 and that's the actually high class people. The other is like 500 and there's a whole bunch of uggos and sub-7s in there.
  
  For the sake of any wayward souls reading this its 100 and 435.
  
  I don’t know, Jackson ignored the Supreme Court and I think Lincoln was planning on ignoring the courts decision on Dred Scott.
  
  Lincoln imposed martial law and suspended habeas corpus, ignoring the Supreme Court is pretty minor in comparison.
  
  Well the only thing stopping a president from doing something is the will of the civil service to do it and the will of Congress to impeach them. Trump proved that. Why are we still playing gentlemen's rules?
  
  Trump is hardly notable for just doing things. Monroe told Europe to fuck off in the Americas or else with zero approval or power to enforce it. Jackson proved that by forcibly removing Indians from their lands. Lincoln did lots of questionable things during the Civil War. FDR basically joined WWII without congressional approval. Reagan managed to have people commit treason and have congress grant them immunity. Bush created gtmo as a prison camp. Obama proved it with the gulf drilling moratorium.
  
  So again with my question. Why is it suddenly so important for Biden?
  
  Honestly?
  He has been fine, on the balance.
  I don’t like that he’s gone around Congress to sell weapons to Israel. The Palestine genocide is horrible, and it’s disgusting that he’s not doing everything he can to put a stop to it.
  Side note: I know. The U.S. is morally contorting itself to replenish Israel’s weapons stocks because the U.S. needs Israel to be a regional bully to keep Iran and its proxies/the major oil suppliers in check while the U.S. and its European allies decarbonize their economies to a point where U.S. oil can supply them without causing domestic oil prices to spike. The U.S. doesn’t want Russia supplying them, so supporting a genocidal regime is the only palatable option - and Israel knows this, so they’re forcing the U.S. to be complicit.
  But Biden leads the state dept, no? Why are their diplomats blocking the U.N. from stepping in as a peacekeeping force? He has other options than to be a pawn.
  Anyway.
  My real problem is the Democratic Party. Polling shows that the average voter supports way more liberal policies than political parties do. But politicians tend to vote with economic elites, rather than the average person. And in this cherry-picked example, you can see voter turnout massively increased when people think their values are being represented (2018: Marijuana legalization, 2022: Abortion Rights.)
  Democrats had a majority in 2021/2022. They had the trifecta. They controlled the legislative and the executive.
  They could have strengthened the VRA. They could have fixed campaign finance. They could have expanded the Supreme Court. They could have tried to do something about gerrymandering. (I know, states rights. Blech.) They could have rebalanced the House of Representatives. They could have made the temporary tax cuts for low earners under TCJA permanent, and’s made the permanent tax cuts for high earners temporary. They could have codified abortion rights. They could have amended the ACA to make it better. They could have forgiven student loans before it became a political mess.
  Nah. They whined about Manchin and Sinema – candidates their national and local parties supported. Said that’s why they couldn’t get anything meaningful done. Then they lost the house and now it’s just clown shoes all over again.
  It’s not all the Democrats fault. Under the current system, it’s significantly easier to court a few monied interests – corporations that can chuck unlimited donations, or wealthy patrons that can spin up a PAC and launder their personal funds to you. It is easier. More money means they can devote more effort to court voters, spin narratives of good vs evil and how this election is the most important one. ‘It may be the last if we don’t vote blue no matter who!’
  They didn’t fully create this system, but they are benefiting from it. They cater to the wealthy, make excuses to the voters for why they don’t do anything, and try just hard enough that they don’t lose elections. It’s why they chase the thin margins in “the middle” rather than disaffected liberal voters. So they can preserve a decaying status quo, rather than change it.
  Biden is the most prominent Democrat right now. All things being equal, he owns the Democratic Party’s failure to lead. And that includes their lack of action in 2021/2022 His successes are marred by the party’s failures. A referendum on him is as much a referendum on the Democratic Party as it is anything else. At least in my opinion.
  I assume most others, regardless of whether or not they blame Biden or the party, feel the same. It might be a bit hasty to assume civic illiteracy if someone doesn’t take the time to name the individual sources of their frustration.
- Same with Marijauna, one of the first things he did was call for rescheduling by the DEA who have been too busy masturbating in corners. He did, however, pardon a ton of people over weed offences.
  
  He did, however, pardon a ton of people over weed offences.
  How many?
  
  In Early October 2022 he pardoned all simple marijuana possession charges via executive order. All of them.
  "More than 6,500 people were convicted of simple possession between 1992 and 2021 under federal law, and thousands more under D.C. code, the officials said."
  
  Got a link for that quote? I'd like to learn more.
Drug schedules are set by the FDA. The FDA is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Health and Human Services is part of the executive branch of the US government. The executive branch is headed by Biden. Short of just waving his hand and magicking the drug classification away, there is still a lot he could do to make it legal.
If you cant hold him accountable for not getting minimum wage increase because he can't do it unilaterally why give him credit for things he cant do unilaterally, like the infrastructure bill? Clearly he didn't do that unilaterally either so why should he get credit? You can't have it both ways.
The President can't reschedule marijuana?
edit:
The Congressional Research Service seems to think he could:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10655
- It's not enabling genocide, so he can make up procedural nonsense to avoid doing it.
- "Reschedule? Ok, tomorrow evening it is."
  Dark Brandon
  
  Stop trying to make dark brandon work. Fetch has a better chance than that.
It's astonishing to me the supposed number of "informed" people with their moral purity on Lemmy don't know basic US civics. But hey trendy nicknames worked for the low intelligence maga voters no reason it doesn't work on them. Maybe they'll realize it when Trump takes power again.
Proceedings to add, delete, or change the schedule of a drug or other substance may be initiated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or by petition from any interested party, including:
The manufacturer of a drug
A medical society or association
A pharmacy association
A public interest group concerned with drug abuse
A state or local government agency
An individual citizen
Not quite unilateral, but seems like he could lean a bit on Becerra and get the re/de-scheduling started. Congress handed that authority to the executive branch years ago.
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsinclair/2024/01/18/dea-considers-rescheduling-cannabis-what-this-means-for-us-and-global-reform/?sh=1ee5279b743f
  That is happening, maybe slower than any of us want ( and honestly probably time a bit to help in the election), but the rescheduling process had begun.
  
  Yes, they've said they're looking into it like 3 times now.
The Railroad Union was all him. He can raise the minimum wage of federal workers, contractors, and sub contractors. He could have ended the Remain in Mexico program. He could have set the DOJ to monopoly breaking. He could have stopped supplying Israel. He could direct HUD to begin buying housing for direct rental programs...
The list goes on.
- On top of Edward Teach's comment, you also raised the issue of the railroad union. Guess what?
  https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
  Biden did the right thing once again, and also managed to avoid a national logistics disaster. Please stop operating off of vibes.
  
  Yeah that's what everyone was afraid of, that people would just reference the Union's own victory lap. The Unions called it a major victory but the actual union membership did not want that. They literally just wanted the ability to call in sick without being fired and to end the points system. Neither of which they got. The "short notice sick days" are scheduled a month in advance. And I sure hope they manage to schedule all of their sickness a month out, and within 7 days out of 365. None of Biden's legislative promises appeared either because why keeping working on them after this victory lap?
  The suits all got a pat on the back and the workers got fucked. Different day, Same America.
  Also, it was never a national logistics disaster. We wouldn't be the first country to have our logistics system go on strike. And we won't be the last.
  
  So just to be clear here, the union is taking a victory lap for getting what it wanted, but the union is also mad that it didn't get what it wanted? Can you help me to understand where I can get more information about this pre-scheduled sick time?
  I do also just want to note that my understanding is that the president does not make legislation, can you also point me to where he promised to do that?
  
  The Union Leadership is taking a victory lap. The Union itself was and is furious about it. It's not that complicated. And his promises are in the press release linked in the comment. As for how to find out about those sick days being a trap? You kind of have to ask the railroaders themselves. Nobody is covering the fact that the days still count against their points system, have to be scheduled, and that not all railroaders have them. The companies gave them mostly to people that don't actually run the trains or do critical track work. So what most of us think of as a railroad worker, still doesn't even have sick days. I hate to send people to reddit but r/railroading has been a good source through all this.
  
  I get what you're saying here but there must be SOMEONE reporting on this? I don't know any railroaders so I can't really ask them, you must understand though that it's hard for me to agree with someone based on a "trust me bro", especially on the internet. I also read the entire press release again for what it's worth, they seem to have only stated that Biden was pressuring lawmakers to, well, make laws. Here's the entirety of Biden's thing:
  I share workers’ concern about the inability to take leave to recover from illness or care for a sick family member,” Biden said. “I have pressed legislation and proposals to advance the cause of paid leave in my two years in office and will continue to do so.
  Seems pretty reasonable? Idk, all that said I am in support of expanded workers rights and if this is indeed the case I hope it gets more attention soon and can be corrected, because 4 pre-scheduled sick days is pretty stupid lol. I promise I'm not being disingenuous, I'm just really not stoked about the idea of another Trump term and people seem to want to do nothing but yeet us off that cliff. Biden has been a better president than I expected and I'd like to keep democracy goin ya know?
  
  Oh I'm probably going to hold my nose. Or not, considering I live in California and it probably won't matter. But we really need to avoid swallowing the party line or else we'll be in danger of normalizing it.
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  Oh, yeah paying attention. Like when he banned Asylum seekers at the border. Effectively forcing them to remain in Mexico or in another dangerous country. They can use the CBP One app to apply from their home country, however this requires them to stay in the dangerous country to do so. He effectively continued the program while officially ending it. Don't believe me? check out this Dissent from the court currently hearing it.
  The Biden administration’s “Pathways Rule” before us in this appeal is not meaningfully different from the prior administration’s rules that were backhanded by my two colleagues. This new rule looks like the Trump administration’s Port of Entry Rule and Transit Rule got together, had a baby, and then dolled it up in a stylish modern outfit, complete with a phone app.
  -Van Dyke, Ninth Circuit Appeals; East Bay Sancuatry Covenent V. Biden
  And that HUD link is about them giving developers money. I want HUD to buy the office building, convert it, and rent it out at cost. That's how we're going to put a hole in the rental market bubble. Not by asking to them to please charge less.
  As far as the minimum wage thing, I missed that. but it is a torrent of information, that you're not getting all of either.
Can’t he just sign executive action after executive action and ignore the court like Jackson did?

Don't forget railroad buster Biden and Israel apologist Biden.

Still better than "million American deaths due to incompetence and pushing psuedo-science" trump though, don't get me wrong.

Keep in mind, the Biden administration continued to negotiate on the unions behalf until the companies capitulated and gave sick days. The rail unions celebrated the victory and gave Biden credit.
- The rail unions celebrated the victory and gave Biden credit.
  There is a huge difference between union leaders and what they say on behalf of it's members and the rank and file members themselves. Kneecapping rank and files power, their only power which is to withhold their labor, is not something that is celebrated.
Railroad Union buster... People might think he actually broke up the oligopoly on the rails.

The executive can't make laws. Only congress can do that. And right now that means for those things to happen, Democrats have to control the House and 60+% of the Senate.

Or they have to be willing to use a simple majority to get rid of the filibuster.
- They don't have the guts because the 2024 senate election landscape doesn't look great for Dems. Most of the purple seats that are up for reelection have democratic incumbents. Traditionally that would mean that Democrats will lose seats. They don't want to hand republican candidates in these states the talking point of "authoritarian democrats" killing the filibuster with a 1 seat majority.
  
  And what was the excuse in 2009 when they wouldn't kill the filibuster for the public option? What was the excuse in 2021 when they wouldn't kill the filibuster to codify Roe or pass the John Lewis voting rights act?
  There is always, always some excuse from Democrats. You may be happy to be strung along forever with empty promises and flimsy excuses. I'm sick of it.
  
  They should have in 2009. The map was also bad then but feasibly that was their last real chance to do it. Though if they had done so we almost certainly would not have the ACA now. If republicans hadn't been stuck trying to dismantle it through budget reconciliation (to avoid the filibuster) it would have been trivially easy for them to kill it in 2014/2016.
  It was never an option in 21. Dems technically had a majority (if the VP was in DC to cast a tie breaker) but Sinema and Manchin both public opposed killing the filabuster. It was DOA and bringing a DOA bill to the floor, in this case, would have been very bad. The first party to try to kill the filibuster HAS to make it stick. The first party to succeed will probably lose the the majority the next election, if they fail they will definitely lose it (while also de-stigmatizing it for the other party).
  
  Everyone is sick if it. But if it comes down to tRump or Biden, it's Biden all the way. This is not the year for a protest vote, at least not if you ever want to vote again. Also, traditionally, the second term of a Democrat president sees more getting done as they don't have to care about getting reelected. They can take more politically risky moves that the elite and Republicans may not be fully onboard with or try to campaign against.
  Bottom line is, we know both of the (presumed) candidates this year and I trust the current one far more than the previous one. Strategic voting is more important this year than any other time in history. Progress, even slower than we may like, is still progress.
  
  Everyone is sick if it.
  No centrist democrat is.
  But if it comes down to tRump or Biden, it’s Biden all the way. This is not the year for a protest vote, at least not if you ever want to vote again.
  And here we are again. I did not say people should not vote. I did not say people should vote for Trump. But the empty promises and the endless excuses need to stop, and they needed to stop decades ago.
  Now Democrats are promising to stop fascism, and I see no reason to believe them because it's a promise from Democrats.

None of those things are the responsibility of the President.

All those things have to be done through Congress. If he had the majority to do it and didn't do it, that would be a good reason to hold it against him.

If we want Congress to act we need to make sure he has the House and the Senate, and best to do it is to vote in upcoming election and make your friends and family to do the same

We had a majority in congress. But that majority was Democrats, so they found the no votes to maintain the status quo.
- They didn't really, they had a majority in the House, and not in the Senate, in 2022 things reversed.
  
  They had a majority in both chambers.
  I get that no Democratic majority ever acts like one so it's hard to tell.

I was really really really hoping Gerrymandering would be a key issue for his administration.

He set Harris on that issue early on, which is basically code for "it's not a priority, will probably fail, and I don't want to be associated with failure". Which was kind of self fulfilling, because the VP just doesn't have the stature to strongarm anyone into a reform.

I don't "like" him at all, but I can acknowledge that he's done a great job.

Then vote Democrat across the board. He needs a majority in both the House and Senate for some of those, and a super majority to go against the Supreme Court afaik.

Voting matters. If you want results, Biden needs the numbers.

Joe Biden is trapped in the White House. The Republicans refuse to let him out unless he pardons Donald Trump and let him be president. He needs your help but we can help him stop the Republicans from taking over the country.
All he needs is the 16 digits on the front of your mom’s credit card, as well as the 3 digits on the back but you must hurry, he doesn’t have much time.
You mean like all those other times Democrats had majorities and, checks notes, delivered milquetoast Republican bills?
- You mean that one time for 3 months during Obamas term, where they were focused on trying to get Healthcare reform in? Because there's no other time in recent history where the dems controlled both houses with a dem potus
  
  Democrats had control of the senate, house of reps and presidency from jan 20th '21 to jan 3 23.
  the current GOP control happened after the midterms in '22, at which point all progress stopped on, basically anything short of the most basic level of governance.
  
  Yeah actually, because what we got was a repackaged healthcare bill that was written by none other than Obama's presidential opponent Mitt Romney. It was a fucking godsend to insurance companies and hasn't actually improved health outcomes for the average American. In fact if the current burnout working people in the Healthcare profession is anything to go by, this age of insurance is diametrically opposed to serving the public.
  Or we could talk about Clinton's pull yourself up by your boots straps impact on social safety nets and gutting of Wall Street and bank regulations maybe?
  
  Even with its warts and all, the ACA is a godsend compared to what we had before, and even that barely passed.