President Biden's first term in office

[alhoon]

NOTE: The title has changed to first year in office to better reflect the discussions taking place here

Yesterday, Joe Biden has been sworn president of the USA, that seem less united than any time in my memory. Biden started off his presidency with a speech calling for unity and I expect he will try to address this issue.

President Biden has presented his agenda for his first days in office, which includes opening the path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants (with good and bad things), trying to tackle CoVID 19, the rollout of the vaccine and trying to help with the economic fallout of the pandemic. He has signaled he wants to rejoin the Paris Agreement and takes climate change seriously and took steps towards those issues. He also took a progressive stance towards LGBT issues and signed executive order to expand protections for this group.

The first day in office, Biden signed 17 executive orders to deal with these issues or undo orders of President Trump when it comes to regulations etc.


It is customary that new governments push much of their agenda in the first 100 days and then spend the rest of their time in office trying to smooth those changes in and try to deal with problems as they arise. I.e. the first 100 days are the most "productive" of a new administration.
What do you expect from Biden's crucial 100 first days?
What do you think of the actions he took upon taking office? Are they symbolic or crucial? Are they good?



While I like Biden's efforts to bring unity, and I think he's honestly trying (and since he was a senator for decades he has contacts), I am appalled by some of his progressive moves.
Opening the path to immigration is not that bad but putting it in the first day of flurry + the "Please don't come, you won't be admitted immediately" approach of his administration towards the Honduran caravans is bound to create headaches for him when it comes to immigration and opens him up for broadsides from conservatives. The new administration is more than clear that they are much friendlier towards illegal immigrants than the previous administration. And the path to citizenship in 8 years sounds a bit like a votegrab for those that will be granted citizenship.

And then, we have Biden's symbolic but ridiculous moves when it comes to gender pronouns.
Sure, that will be useful to the 0.2% of people that do that, the 3% of ultraprogressives that demand we all change for the benefit of that 0.2% and piss off 20%-25% of conservatives. Not good for unity and I think a mostly symbolic gesture to placate the ultraprogressive wing of his party.


I expect Biden's 100 first days will be a bit banal compared to Trump's or even Obama's 100 first days but still interesting. I expect he will have to fight for unity between the moderate and progressive wings of his own party and he will make some attempts towards the moderate-and-centrist part of the Republicans. You know, the adults in the GOP that are aware that Biden won the election.
And I expect him to fail to placate everyone.

Whether he will be someone nobody really likes but most can live with or whether he will simply make everyone angry as he tries to juggle the various factions is yet to be seen. I am not too optimistic nor too pessimistic. I expect Biden to get a solid B- when it comes to unity. And a B when it comes to his first 100 days.


EDIT: A good article on how the world has changed through Biden's life and where things stood at the beginning of his presidency.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/78-oldest...125520530.html

[Pontifex Maximus]

Posting this mostly for me,

Hello future me, gas is $2.17 per gallon right now. How angry are you?

Troops in Iraq: 2,500

Troops in Afghanistan: 2,500

[alhoon]

That too... I expect Biden will be bad for the economy.

Posting this mostly for me,

Hello future me, gas is $2.17 per gallon right now. How angry are you?

On the other hand, thanks to Biden taking the environment much more seriously, the future you will earn a few more years of relative prosperity as the massive damage from the failing environment is slowed down.
Sure, your future you will be paying somewhat more to go to work with his car in the next few years.
Your future you will be able to afford a car for a bit longer.
Your future you will have dollars in his pocket for a bit longer.
Your future you will have a future you for a bit longer.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Are those the actual troop numbers in Afghanistan and Iraq right now? Seems to round (and low) to be correct. But that is also something I want to track. Can we find stats for number of drone strikes in the last 100 days?

[Legio_Italica]

"Imposing these sanctions on Inauguration Day is seemingly an attempt to play to partisan divides," Biden's National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement to Reuters.

"Americans of both parties should criticize this unproductive and cynical move. President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position America to out-compete China," Horne said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN29Q09B

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Pontifex Maximus]

If the incoming Biden admin takes a tough on China approach they might be able to win me over in some respects.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

I personally can't wait for him to return to the Iran deal and plunge the middle east into chaos once more

[Pontifex Maximus]

That's inevitable. The forever wars are forever

[Legio_Italica]

I personally can't wait for him to return to the Iran deal and plunge the middle east into chaos once more

I’m willing to give Biden the chance to screw up before I call him a failure.

Biden “believes that if Iran comes back into compliance, we would too,” Blinken said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“But we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners, who would once again be on the same side with us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement,” Blinken said.

“It’s vitally important that we engage on the takeoff, not the landing, with our allies and partners in the region, to include Israel and to include the Gulf countries,” he said, adding that a new agreement could address Iran’s “destabilizing activities” in the region as well as its missiles.

“Having said that, I think we’re a long way from there,” Blinken said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/bidens...-to-iran-deal/

Rhetorically at least, this addresses key objections I have to the deal. If he sticks to it, I’ll reserve judgment. Tehran can’t return to compliance first after making a big show of breaking it as leverage. What the Biden Admin seems to be saying here is, the US is the one with leverage, hot shot, not Iran, which is exactly correct.

[B. W.]

Yesterday, Joe Biden has been sworn president of the USA, that seem less united than any time in my memory. Biden started off his presidency with a speech calling for unity and I expect he will try to address this issue.

President Biden has presented his agenda for his first days in office, which includes opening the path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants (with good and bad things), trying to tackle CoVID 19, the rollout of the vaccine and trying to help with the economic fallout of the pandemic. He has signaled he wants to rejoin the Paris Agreement and takes climate change seriously and took steps towards those issues. He also took a progressive stance towards LGBT issues and signed executive order to expand protections for this group.

The first day in office, Biden signed 17 executive orders to deal with these issues or undo orders of President Trump when it comes to regulations etc.


It is customary that new governments push much of their agenda in the first 100 days and then spend the rest of their time in office trying to smooth those changes in and try to deal with problems as they arise. I.e. the first 100 days are the most "productive" of a new administration.
What do you expect from Biden's crucial 100 first days?
What do you think of the actions he took upon taking office? Are they symbolic or crucial? Are they good?



While I like Biden's efforts to bring unity, and I think he's honestly trying (and since he was a senator for decades he has contacts), I am appalled by some of his progressive moves.
Opening the path to immigration is not that bad but putting it in the first day of flurry + the "Please don't come, you won't be admitted immediately" approach of his administration towards the Honduran caravans is bound to create headaches for him when it comes to immigration and opens him up for broadsides from conservatives. The new administration is more than clear that they are much friendlier towards illegal immigrants than the previous administration. And the path to citizenship in 8 years sounds a bit like a votegrab for those that will be granted citizenship.

And then, we have Biden's symbolic but ridiculous moves when it comes to gender pronouns.
Sure, that will be useful to the 0.2% of people that do that, the 3% of ultraprogressives that demand we all change for the benefit of that 0.2% and piss off 20%-25% of conservatives. Not good for unity and I think a mostly symbolic gesture to placate the ultraprogressive wing of his party.


I expect Biden's 100 first days will be a bit banal compared to Trump's or even Obama's 100 first days but still interesting. I expect he will have to fight for unity between the moderate and progressive wings of his own party and he will make some attempts towards the moderate-and-centrist part of the Republicans. You know, the adults in the GOP that are aware that Biden won the election.
And I expect him to fail to placate everyone.

Whether he will be someone nobody really likes but most can live with or whether he will simply make everyone angry as he tries to juggle the various factions is yet to be seen. I am not too optimistic nor too pessimistic. I expect Biden to get a solid B- when it comes to unity. And a B when it comes to his first 100 days.

Explain to me what exactly is the Paris Climate accord going to do about all that plastic and other Chinese industrial waste products flowing into the Pacific Ocean...never mind, I'll answer for you: Nothing. Nothing at all.

Posting this mostly for me,

Hello future me, gas is $2.17 per gallon right now. How angry are you?

Troops in Iraq: 2,500

Troops in Afghanistan: 2,500

What about all those troop in Venezuela?...oh, wait, that's yet to come.

That too... I expect Biden will be bad for the economy.



On the other hand, thanks to Biden taking the environment much more seriously, the future you will earn a few more years of relative prosperity as the massive damage from the failing environment is slowed down.
Sure, your future you will be paying somewhat more to go to work with his car in the next few years.
Your future you will be able to afford a car for a bit longer.
Your future you will have dollars in his pocket for a bit longer.
Your future you will have a future you for a bit longer.

What you mean is you'll have to keep that clunker for a long time because you won't be able to afford a new one.

[Pontifex Maximus]

What about all those troop in Venezuela?...oh, wait, that's yet to come.

oh , what do you know?

[nhytgbvfeco2]

I’m willing to give Biden the chance to screw up before I call him a failure.

Rhetorically at least, this addresses key objections I have to the deal. If he sticks to it, I’ll reserve judgment. Tehran can’t return to compliance first after making a big show of breaking it as leverage. What the Biden Admin seems to be saying here is, the US is the one with leverage, hot shot, not Iran, which is exactly correct.

I have no issues with the secretary of states' statement, however one has to look no further than to his intended deputy, Wendy Sherman, one of architects of the original terrible deal, to see a very different position. Looking at Blinken's superior, Biden, paints a similar picture, as Biden stated numerous times that he wishes to return to the current Iran deal and later solve other issues diplomatically (won't happen) and spoke out against the killing of Soleimani. And for example, in this op-ed Biden wrote on CNN he wrote objectively false statements such as "By any objective measure, Trump's "maximum pressure" has been a boon to the regime in Iran and a bust for America's interests."
Biden talks about how the US's "closest allies" were against leaving the deal, yet ignores the simple fact that the nations closest to Iran and most impacted by its actions, Israel and the gulf states, all are against the deal.

[Legio_Italica]

I have no issues with the secretary of states' statement, however one has to look no further than to his intended deputy, Wendy Sherman, one of architects of the original terrible deal, to see a very different position. Looking at Blinken's superior, Biden, paints a similar picture, as Biden stated numerous times that he wishes to return to the current Iran deal and later solve other issues diplomatically (won't happen) and spoke out against the killing of Soleimani. And for example, in this op-ed Biden wrote on CNN he wrote objectively false statements such as "By any objective measure, Trump's "maximum pressure" has been a boon to the regime in Iran and a bust for America's interests."
Biden talks about how the US's "closest allies" were against leaving the deal, yet ignores the simple fact that the nations closest to Iran and most impacted by its actions, Israel and the gulf states, all are against the deal.

Yep, we’ll see what happens. Biden could certainly reneg, but he and his Cabinet have been consistent that Iran will have to return to compliance first. I could be putting too much stock in unified messaging after the shell shock of the last four years, but I don’t think Biden will be able to just rejoin the deal for free unless he’s willing to pay a bipartisan price for it politically. To say the least, it would be a death knell to his pleas for unity if he does so in the foreseeable future.

[alhoon]

Explain to me what exactly is the Paris Climate accord going to do about all that plastic and other Chinese industrial waste products flowing into the Pacific Ocean...never mind, I'll answer for you: Nothing. Nothing at all.

I never said the Paris Agreement was perfect. For starters it has no teeth. If China doesn't reduce waste and emissions... nothing happens. No penalties. We just give China an F and things keep going.

[Muizer]

I think it would be a mistake to dismiss Xi Jinping's climate commitments as a publicity stunt. We're not talking about a western democracy pandering to an electorate. If the Great Leader makes a commitment like this, we can expect he will stop at nothing to make it happen. The "What we do won't matter anyway, because China" argument argument against climate policies is effectively dead.

[Coughdrop addict]

I haven't seen the right openly hoping for America's destruction like this since 2008 and 2012. "I hope he fails" indeed.

[Pontifex Maximus]

I haven't seen the right openly hoping for America's destruction like this since 2008 and 2012. "I hope he fails" indeed.

Such a lazy post. Nobody is saying that, not even Trump. But don't take my word for it, take Biden's https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/20/polit...den/index.html

[Ludicus]

An amazing thread for conservative reactionaries, Biden haters.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

An amazing thread for conservative reactionaries, Biden haters.

Your point being?

[conon394]

I have no issues with the secretary of states' statement, however one has to look no further than to his intended deputy, Wendy Sherman, one of architects of the original terrible deal, to see a very different position. Looking at Blinken's superior, Biden, paints a similar picture, as Biden stated numerous times that he wishes to return to the current Iran deal and later solve other issues diplomatically (won't happen) and spoke out against the killing of Soleimani. And for example, in this op-ed Biden wrote on CNN he wrote objectively false statements such as "By any objective measure, Trump's "maximum pressure" has been a boon to the regime in Iran and a bust for America's interests."
Biden talks about how the US's "closest allies" were against leaving the deal, yet ignores the simple fact that the nations closest to Iran and most impacted by its actions, Israel and the gulf states, all are against the deal.

I'll leave Israel out of the reply in terms of closest ally - it is a costly one but admittedly a close one. But frankly I can't really call any Gulf state a useful or close ally and could care less what their opinion is. The last actual close ally we had in the gulf was the Shah.