Dec 15, 2023·edited Dec 15, 2023Liked by Aaron Rupar
It’s not hard to understand where Biden comes from. He’s a liberal Catholic with the same values I got from my liberal Catholic mother: do the right thing, don’t boast about it, and let doing the right thing be its own reward.
Aaron, someone should explore the extent to which Biden’s liberal Catholicism informs his approach and public demeanor. It’s not well understood, but I’m positive that it’s important. Biden was 20 when John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, and this probably looms large in his life to this day.
Media gives him no credit as strangely they actually ‘want’ TFG back. Biden’s normality is boring.,TFG is ‘easy’ to cover-chaos and clicks. Thus, media is lazy, and Les Moonves’ aphorism about TFG still applies: may not be good for the country, but good for CBS. They forget: If TFG gets back in, media is first to go. Be careful what you wish for……
How can you write about ALL of this without mentioning the fact the media has failed when it comes to Biden. Anytime positive news comes up, there's the media with a negative "But..."
This isn't a Biden failure to connect...this is a media failure to connect, and by focusing on Biden's 'lack of charisma' you are part of it.
I agree with much of this but believe that how good a Presidency was is something best left to historians wth closer to the time being presented as 'form guides' for how history will truly decide. I note in that regard three years after Trump's presidency very few people (except the tragic zealots and the egotist in chief) are talking it as one of lasting achievements. They only talk of the big tax cuts whose worth they undercut by being ostenisbly concerned about the governement deficit/debt which it has so mightily contributed to.
It's an advertising problem. Democrats need to fire the incompetents that are doing it now, my guess is beltway insiders, and hire the people that make for example Chevrolet ads then run those ads 24/7 on every newscast and sporting event on tv. This should far and away be the number one priority for the DNC. Can't anybody here play this game?
My guess is that American politics is obsessed with being negative, critical and tearing things down, with the result that governments are always vulnerable in years 1/2-3 of their terms. Then the focus goes on the candidate that stands against them as well as the government. Next year the Republicans will have Trump and he will be very vulnerable to a negative campaign, even if it isn't by Biden. That's my quiet hope, though I'll admit it's also a worried one.
I agree that Biden has done a very good job under very difficult circumstances. Has he done everything he wanted? No. Has he done everything I wanted? No. Has he done everything most Americans want on some matters? No.
But we learned that a liberal democracy is slow at times for the right reasons. And his desire to be a consensus leader has not gone unnoticed.
Interesting to me, Mr. Laurie, that you were able to write this outstanding article without using the word Neoliberalism. Sounds like a criticism, but it’s a mild one and comes from being obsessed with an observation I read: very few ordinary Americans like myself understand who’s responsible for making their lives worse over the decades since Reagan. This confusion leaves us free to lay the blame on whoever we happen to dislike at the moment. And, they frequently blame Democrats in spite of there having been no administrations between Carter’s and Biden’s that have not accepted Neoliberal economics and values including Clinton’s and Obama’s. But it’s hard to blame them because, equally astonishingly, the term Neoliberalism is rarely mentioned by the MSM. I’m very thankful to President Biden for understanding this and rejecting Neoliberal economics.
This litany of Biden triumphs, and given the stress of the job (both physically as well as emotionally), Biden should consider quitting while he is ahead. At 76, I have seen a lot of DC celebs who stayed too long in their positions end their careers in humiliation and/or failure.
Many of the "successes" attributed to Biden here were in fact successes of teams of people on Capitol Hill and members of his cabinet. I would rather see him retire in glory than end his career responsible for a fascist dictatorship and the end of American Democracy.
It’s not hard to understand where Biden comes from. He’s a liberal Catholic with the same values I got from my liberal Catholic mother: do the right thing, don’t boast about it, and let doing the right thing be its own reward.
Aaron, someone should explore the extent to which Biden’s liberal Catholicism informs his approach and public demeanor. It’s not well understood, but I’m positive that it’s important. Biden was 20 when John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, and this probably looms large in his life to this day.
speaking of liberal Catholics, how about that Pope blessing same sex marriages?!?!!?
Excellent piece!
Biden has done a wonderful job!
Media gives him no credit as strangely they actually ‘want’ TFG back. Biden’s normality is boring.,TFG is ‘easy’ to cover-chaos and clicks. Thus, media is lazy, and Les Moonves’ aphorism about TFG still applies: may not be good for the country, but good for CBS. They forget: If TFG gets back in, media is first to go. Be careful what you wish for……
How can you write about ALL of this without mentioning the fact the media has failed when it comes to Biden. Anytime positive news comes up, there's the media with a negative "But..."
This isn't a Biden failure to connect...this is a media failure to connect, and by focusing on Biden's 'lack of charisma' you are part of it.
I agree with much of this but believe that how good a Presidency was is something best left to historians wth closer to the time being presented as 'form guides' for how history will truly decide. I note in that regard three years after Trump's presidency very few people (except the tragic zealots and the egotist in chief) are talking it as one of lasting achievements. They only talk of the big tax cuts whose worth they undercut by being ostenisbly concerned about the governement deficit/debt which it has so mightily contributed to.
It's an advertising problem. Democrats need to fire the incompetents that are doing it now, my guess is beltway insiders, and hire the people that make for example Chevrolet ads then run those ads 24/7 on every newscast and sporting event on tv. This should far and away be the number one priority for the DNC. Can't anybody here play this game?
My guess is that American politics is obsessed with being negative, critical and tearing things down, with the result that governments are always vulnerable in years 1/2-3 of their terms. Then the focus goes on the candidate that stands against them as well as the government. Next year the Republicans will have Trump and he will be very vulnerable to a negative campaign, even if it isn't by Biden. That's my quiet hope, though I'll admit it's also a worried one.
To be fair I don't think tangeranus has any shot. He hasn't done anything to add voters and likely has lost quite a few.
This Australian bloody well hopes you're right!!!
I agree that Biden has done a very good job under very difficult circumstances. Has he done everything he wanted? No. Has he done everything I wanted? No. Has he done everything most Americans want on some matters? No.
But we learned that a liberal democracy is slow at times for the right reasons. And his desire to be a consensus leader has not gone unnoticed.
Interesting to me, Mr. Laurie, that you were able to write this outstanding article without using the word Neoliberalism. Sounds like a criticism, but it’s a mild one and comes from being obsessed with an observation I read: very few ordinary Americans like myself understand who’s responsible for making their lives worse over the decades since Reagan. This confusion leaves us free to lay the blame on whoever we happen to dislike at the moment. And, they frequently blame Democrats in spite of there having been no administrations between Carter’s and Biden’s that have not accepted Neoliberal economics and values including Clinton’s and Obama’s. But it’s hard to blame them because, equally astonishingly, the term Neoliberalism is rarely mentioned by the MSM. I’m very thankful to President Biden for understanding this and rejecting Neoliberal economics.
This litany of Biden triumphs, and given the stress of the job (both physically as well as emotionally), Biden should consider quitting while he is ahead. At 76, I have seen a lot of DC celebs who stayed too long in their positions end their careers in humiliation and/or failure.
Many of the "successes" attributed to Biden here were in fact successes of teams of people on Capitol Hill and members of his cabinet. I would rather see him retire in glory than end his career responsible for a fascist dictatorship and the end of American Democracy.