There’s other good answers here, but there’s a more basic one.
Biden simply doesn’t have the charisma of Obama or the outlandishness of Trump. The reason he was an effective leader in the Senate was because of his ability to coordinate people and get shit done.
It’s what he’s done as President as well. It’s good organizational leadership, but it isn’t flashy.
Biden has also been way better than Obama on policy, which I really didn’t expect from his record in Congress. Obama’s charisma has really blinded a lot of people to the deep flaws of his administration.
He campaigned on “change” then governed as a competent manager of the status quo. His first major initiative was to protect Wall Street execs from the crisis they caused and stabilize the banking system on the backs of working Americans.
His crowning achievement was the ACA, which will be a complete economic disaster. It fixed some terrible shortcomings, but it’s also been a massive wealth transfer from workers to Wall Street, and the worst is yet to come on that score. He mistakenly gave the health insurance companies a seat at the table as a stakeholder in American healthcare, when they are actually in the financial services business. That philosophical mistake is at the heart of the rapidly accelerating collapse of the system today.
Price controls in the ACA were very badly thought out or, worse, they were well thought out. The rule that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% on healthcare sounds great, but it also means that insurance companies can continue to grow profits out of the 20% by spending more on the 80%. There is a soft cap of 15% on annual rate increases and, sure enough, the industry has aimed to stay just below that. It also means that the insurance companies largely ignores fraudulent claims. Those claims just increase spending on the 80% side, allowing them to increase profits. Anti-fraud enforcement comes from the 20%, which decreases profits. I don’t want to write a novel, but I could go on for quite a while on the ACA.
In short, Obama was just another neoliberal who only addressed the worst issues in society when he could sell the solution to Wall Street. The moment he left office he received a flood of cash from the investment community, all under a thin veil of legitimate transactions. He also bankrupted the DNC, setting the stage for Hillary to come in and “rescue” it. The particulars of the resulting takeover led directly to the infamous emails that got leaked and probably threw the election to Trump.
I strongly disagree. A little inspirational leadership would go a long way to calming my nerves about a potential second Trump administration. Biden is incapable of winning a mandate for a second term, and we are all lucky that Trump seems capable of losing anyways.
It’s easy enough for some voters to be happy with a competent administration. But, for a lot of Americans, that looks like an extremely privileged point of view.
I said “leadership”. Flowery speeches and clever memes are fine, but what’s his vision, and how do we get there? At best, he offers minor tweaks to a system that’s starting to implode.
Oh they definitely were memed. But I don’t think speeches resonate as they once did. I personally find people reference memes and jokes more than policy and facts. Maybe it’s who I work with.
It’s not a job for a clown. It’s a job for an accountant. You would expect your accountant to honk a horn each return they do so I don’t get this expectation a president is supposed to act like a sideshow reverend in Las Vegas
There’s other good answers here, but there’s a more basic one.
Biden simply doesn’t have the charisma of Obama or the outlandishness of Trump. The reason he was an effective leader in the Senate was because of his ability to coordinate people and get shit done.
It’s what he’s done as President as well. It’s good organizational leadership, but it isn’t flashy.
Biden has also been way better than Obama on policy, which I really didn’t expect from his record in Congress. Obama’s charisma has really blinded a lot of people to the deep flaws of his administration.
What were the deep flaws of the Obama administration in your eyes?
Not OP, but drone strikes goes on the list.
He campaigned on “change” then governed as a competent manager of the status quo. His first major initiative was to protect Wall Street execs from the crisis they caused and stabilize the banking system on the backs of working Americans.
His crowning achievement was the ACA, which will be a complete economic disaster. It fixed some terrible shortcomings, but it’s also been a massive wealth transfer from workers to Wall Street, and the worst is yet to come on that score. He mistakenly gave the health insurance companies a seat at the table as a stakeholder in American healthcare, when they are actually in the financial services business. That philosophical mistake is at the heart of the rapidly accelerating collapse of the system today.
Price controls in the ACA were very badly thought out or, worse, they were well thought out. The rule that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% on healthcare sounds great, but it also means that insurance companies can continue to grow profits out of the 20% by spending more on the 80%. There is a soft cap of 15% on annual rate increases and, sure enough, the industry has aimed to stay just below that. It also means that the insurance companies largely ignores fraudulent claims. Those claims just increase spending on the 80% side, allowing them to increase profits. Anti-fraud enforcement comes from the 20%, which decreases profits. I don’t want to write a novel, but I could go on for quite a while on the ACA.
In short, Obama was just another neoliberal who only addressed the worst issues in society when he could sell the solution to Wall Street. The moment he left office he received a flood of cash from the investment community, all under a thin veil of legitimate transactions. He also bankrupted the DNC, setting the stage for Hillary to come in and “rescue” it. The particulars of the resulting takeover led directly to the infamous emails that got leaked and probably threw the election to Trump.
“Looking forward not back”
“Giving the Republicans way more than they should have because that’s democracy”
Good organizational leadership and not flashy is exactly what we need rn. I only wish we weren’t at risk of it ending so soon
I strongly disagree. A little inspirational leadership would go a long way to calming my nerves about a potential second Trump administration. Biden is incapable of winning a mandate for a second term, and we are all lucky that Trump seems capable of losing anyways.
It’s easy enough for some voters to be happy with a competent administration. But, for a lot of Americans, that looks like an extremely privileged point of view.
That’s older politics. Speeches made the difference. Now is the dis track and highlights. The tweets and the memes. Sad but true.
I said “leadership”. Flowery speeches and clever memes are fine, but what’s his vision, and how do we get there? At best, he offers minor tweaks to a system that’s starting to implode.
Speeches were the memes back in the day. “Ask not” and “tear down this wall” and “read my lips” and so on.
Oh they definitely were memed. But I don’t think speeches resonate as they once did. I personally find people reference memes and jokes more than policy and facts. Maybe it’s who I work with.
It’s not a job for a clown. It’s a job for an accountant. You would expect your accountant to honk a horn each return they do so I don’t get this expectation a president is supposed to act like a sideshow reverend in Las Vegas
Definitely not a job for an accountant. It is a job for someone who is good at hiring qualified people and delegating work correctly.
I believe the metaphor was more to do with the most effective attitude. Accountant = boring from the outside and focused on doing the job.
This guy accounts
Loud work wins in corporate America, and I’m sure the same applies here. The reason it wins is simple: this country is full of fucking idiots.