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Joe Biden got the job done.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/joe-biden-got-the-job-done/
In the State of the Union speech, he took it to Trump and showed he can fight.
Yeah Ngl, very good state of the union. I wish more people would actually… watch them.
I’ve got so many friends (mostly white guys in their 20s & 30s) who spend so much of their time huffing and puffing about how politics is this inherently broken system and how no one wants what they want (more taxes on the wealthy, more affordable housing, maybe some kind of work on the border).
Then you got at least one politician who rolls down the line saying all of those issues and absolutely no one watches it because they’re all doing the same “he can’t talk!!!” Joke.
Like I’m not saying Joe Biden is the perfect candidate or even that anyone in particular should vote for him, but it is frustrating to see how many people are willingly ignorant
I wish more people would actually… watch them.
I agree but, to be fair, this is the first SOTU I remember in a long time that wasn't written to be sound bytes in between platitudes.
Every SOTU since at least Clinton has had a section where the president says he supports a variety of populist economic policies. Anyone who follows politics closely knows that this is just pandering to voters, it is not representative of actual policy that will be adopted.
Your friends are right to be cynical.
This is just flagrantly untrue. Trumps SOTU addresses we’re almost entirely about his personal foreign relationships with North Korea, Mexico, his takes on various Mexican gangs, “global freeloaders”, warning against “the call to adopt socialism”, how much of ISIS he wiped out, etc.
This is deeply different from Joe Biden going up and saying “hey maybe Billionares shouldn’t pay 8% in taxes, maybe 25% would be a good benchmark” and “hey maybe we should give new home buyers a few hundred bucks a month” which are real and substantiate new initiatives and not just masturbatory remarks about how much other people suck
But how is Joe Biden saying "billionaires should pay more taxes" any different from when Obama said it?
I hope I'm proved wrong, but I expect the same results: no legislation, no policy change, only rhetoric.
Biden has drastically more experience working politics in DC than Obama, and has already gotten more done. If he can inspire more people to vote, he could do even more.
I think you misspelled “old as heck”. Biden first got elected to the senate in 1972.
I don’t think the “more experience” angle means what you think it means.
It means Biden is a corporate crony in a room full of corporate cronies, who actively stifle progress so that “nothing will fundamentally change” which keeps the donor class happy.
Yes. Which negates any ideas Biden has mentioned raising taxes on the wealthy.
In the same speech he also told wealthy donors income inequality is not the fault of the wealthy. He was begging the donor class to support him.
Nina Turner was right. I’m no longer going to choose between a bowl of 💩 and a half bowl of 💩
3/4’s of US Americans believe taxes should be raised for the wealthiest Americans
(Well, if you knew the context you would know that absolutely something fundamental needs to change)
You're woefully ignorant of how the legislative process works. Hint: it certainly isn't by fiat.
Also, Biden's policy has long been lowering taxes on middle-class earners.
I understand the president is not a dictator, there's no expectation of fiat rule here.
I also understand that the SOTU is a sales pitch, not a serious legislative agenda.
I do appreciate the tacit admission of his policy targets.
Alas, even though you now claim to understand Biden's hands are legislatively tied, he has since become unserious.
You really are doing some work moving that target.
There is a huge difference between a sales pitch and a policy target, you seem to be confusing the two.
A sales pitch is just rhetoric and can often be disingenuous.
I see no reason to suggest that economic populism will become a serious part of the Biden policy agenda.
Man, I guess we should look at the common factor of what’s opposing the tax raises for billionaires instead of saying “well, it hasn’t happened yet - I guess both sides are equally bad!!”
Common factor of what’s opposing the tax raises for billionaires
Billionaires is the answer. They donate pretty equally to each party but Republicans are affected by this while Democrats are not.
There is no "both sides are equal" argument here, Republicans are obviously worse.
I agree that we should examine who is opposing tax raises for billionaires. And we agree Repubs are horrible, so just consider when Democrats had full control of Congress and the WH- what stopped them then?
Democrats can't pass economic populism, even when they have full control, due to their corporate donors, lobbyists, the DNC, etc. This Democratic establishment has prevented anything left-of-center from getting passed in my lifetime.
so just consider when Democrats had full control of Congress and the WH- what stopped them then?
They had control for ~70 days and in that period they passed the largest healthcare overhaul in a generation (that's still incredibly popular). Seems to me like they got some serious shit done when we gave them a relatively small period of actual control. The idea that they didn't get anything done is completely ahistorical.
Yes that is exactly my point, Dems had full control and they still passed a right wing healthcare plan.
In that 70 days they abandoned a public option and quickly adopted Romneycare. Then they added even more corporate subsidies and giveaways for health insurance companies.
Half of things not changing is people believing they can't and not being willing to do the smallest things.
So many downvotes just for having doubts. I too have heard many a speech promising the delivery of progressive policies, and time, and consistent let-downs by the DNC informed my cynicism.
The speech also featured a lengthy wish list of progressive proposals: ending Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy, lowering the price of prescription drugs and capping the annual costs of such medicines, tax credits for first-time home buyers, increasing affordable housing, establishing universal access to pre-school, increasing Pell grants, raising taxes on billionaires and corporations, upping pay for public school teachers, boosting the minimum wage, enhancing voter rights, protecting transgender rights, banning assault weapons. (There was plenty more!)
I hope and suspect Biden will be re-elected. My suggestion is that after you lot downvote me you make a copy of these promises and see whether any of them come true. You may guess by my demeanor that i believe they will remain wishes. Don't change your vote friends, but do allow for doubt and don't believe the excuses made when those dreams don't come true. Then you will at least understand voters displeased with the Democratic party et al
Being skeptical is fine. We should be skeptical. And we should also keep track. And good news, we have and do keep track. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/biden-promise-tracker/ He's honestly not doing too bad so far. Wouldn't be surprised if his looks alot like Obamas after 8 years. Glad Trump sucked at keeping promises. He still managed some terrible things, but glad to see so much red on his tracker.
Then you will at least understand voters displeased with the Democratic party et al
My good sir, many of us are Democrats. Of course we understand.
I'm not sure about bots, but this is politics@world, Lemmy's home for BlueMAGA.
I wear my downvotes from here with pride.
I didn’t realize that
Maybe that's because it's not true. Blue MAGA? Is that even a thing‽
To be honest that was probably one of the best state of the union addresses i've ever seen. He showed he was mentally sharp and also willing to punch back at those who punch at him. That speech just might have won him the presidency again.
I sure hope so, but the SotU has pretty minimal impacts on approval, historically. Clinton got a bump of ~10 points in 98, but otherwise it's been less than 5 points in the last 30 years. It was a fantastic speech though, and we are in a unique situation with the age dilemma. Here's to hoping!
I see people say they're not big on Biden, but I'm not really sure why. At least not in the big strokes. He's been remarkably effective in getting good policy passed despite the situation in congress. I get being unhappy about certain particulars, but I think he's the best president I've voted for in my lifetime and it's an easy yes to vote for him again.
I'll vote for him but the DNC is taking unnecessary risks by not encouraging young progressives from taking the main stage who might drum up actual enthusiasm. Biden may be in favor of climate action and worker's rights but those have never been his top priority.
While it's true that he campained pretending to be pro-union, his actual actions show the opposite. See the 2022 railroad strike
Actions or action? I was infuriated by the railroad strike response, and I'll never view that as anything but a miserable decision, but Biden was also the first president to join picket lines with the UAW strike and, for what it's worth, leaders of the railroad unions did give him some credit for helping negotiate for the sick day benefits they were able to earn in the months following. He's no Mother Jones by a longshot, but grading the balance of his actions on the curve of US politicians, he's a C+ at worst
•
I had a grudge against him for things he did as a senator. Crime bill. RAVE Act. Just kind of legislated regressively and rubbed me the wrong way. Typical steely-eyed missile man wannabe, Corvette-and-aviators, neoliberal reactionary. You know, a privileged know it all. Seemed like the kinda guy who might tell a depressed person “Just try not being sad, Jack.” Not that I thought he intended to be a jerk, just maybe thought a bit too much of himself. Overconfident American white man privilege.
Granted, he’s done pretty well to stop the bleeding from the last guy, and it certainly the better alternative now that it’s gonna be a rematch.
Needs to take off his blinders on Israel though. Whether he just didn’t know what was really happening over there or he knew and intended on being a steadfast ally regardless (cmon, he knew) the word is out, Jack. That’s not the kind of Dark Brandon we should have to accept, regardless of the alternative.
His economic policy is very similar to trump and while trump is a way bigger netanyahu dick rider than Biden, Biden still perpetuates the issue in the middle east (even if you go back decades to when he was a senator).
I live in a blue state either way so I'll probably abstain, I don't know if I would if I were in a swing state
Just compare it to one of Trump's incoherent rambling Sotu addresses. Talk about mental deterioration. Biden can at least be professional and clear with his words.
I mean, we knew well before Trumps sotu. Remember this
"Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible."
In fairness, you did read a single sentence, because that whole ramble was just one. But it was definitely incoherent.
For over an hour on Thursday night, during the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden energetically presented a vibrant progressive agenda and repeatedly stuck it to Donald Trump. Yes, there were stumbles and linguistic slips, but Biden portrayed a vigor at odds with the caricatures that are constantly promoted by Trump and Biden detractors in the conservative media. Caricatures focusing on his age are then bolstered by seemingly endless coverage by the mainstream media. The president was aggressive from the git-go; Dark Brandon was in the room.
Biden opened strong, calling for congressional support for Ukraine and slamming “my predecessor” for bowing before Russian President Vladimir Putin and telling him to “do whatever the hell you want.” Biden then vowed, “I will not bow down.” Tying the fight against Russia in Ukraine to the battle to protect democracy in the United States, Biden pivoted to the Trump-incited insurrectionist riot on January 6, 2021, which occurred in the same room in which he was speaking. Staring at the Republicans present, Biden proclaimed, “My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th.” He called on all in the chamber to say no to political violence. Democrats stood up and cheered; Republicans sat on their hands. Sitting behind the president, House Speaker Mike Johnson rolled his eyes.
In these opening minutes, Biden cornered the Trumpists: They were foes of democracy abroad and at home, a theme he returned to throughout the speech, as he relentlessly pounded “my predecessor.” MP “brags” about killing Roe v. Wade. MP, and “many of you in this chamber,” are “promising” to pass an abortion ban. During the Covid pandemic, MP “failed the most basic duty…the duty to care.” MP wants to end the Affordable Care Act and take away coverage for pre-existing conditions for a hundred million Americans. MP torpedoed the bipartisan immigration bill that included proposals from conservatives to bolster security at the border. MP did nothing on gun safety and after a recent school shooting in Iowa said that we should “get over it” and move forward.
Biden didn’t merely highlight the differences between himself and King MAGA and his comrades, he shoved it in their faces. After the speech, while delivering a predictably hyperbolic and fear-mongering GOP response, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) derided Biden as a “dithering and diminished leader.” Had she not watched him? Biden’s blistering assault on Trump was vigorous and fierce. When he was heckled by Republicans, he shot back sharp one-liners. (“Oh, you don’t like that bill?” he jeered at Republicans who booed his remarks about the immigration bill that was negotiated by Republicans and then killed by Trump loyalists.)
Biden still looks and moves like he’s 81 years old, but he was engaged and engaging, bantering with and goading the Republicans. Biden talked policy details like a pro. He was far more cogent than Trump ever is during his rambling rants at campaign rallies.
As expected, Biden highlighted positive economic indicators and cited a long list of his accomplishments: the infrastructure bill and the 46,000 new projects it has generated (including removing lead pipes and bringing broadband to rural communities), the CHIPS Act, the revival of manufacturing, reducing the price of insulin, tax credits that lower the costs of health care premiums, $12 billion in funding for women’s health research, a reduction the student debt burden for millions, cutting credit card fees, and a wide variety of climate change initiatives.
The speech also featured a lengthy wish list of progressive proposals: ending Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy, lowering the price of prescription drugs and capping the annual costs of such medicines, tax credits for first-time home buyers, increasing affordable housing, establishing universal access to pre-school, increasing Pell grants, raising taxes on billionaires and corporations, upping pay for public school teachers, boosting the minimum wage, enhancing voter rights, protecting transgender rights, banning assault weapons. (There was plenty more!)
Recognizing the rift within the Democratic party over his support of Israel, Biden noted the horrific loss of life in Gaza and told the Israeli government that “humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.” The US military, he said, would lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters for Palestinians. Meanwhile, he vowed to keep working for a ceasefire that would include a return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. “The only real solution is a two-state solution over time,” he declared, a position at odds with that of the current Israeli government. This is unlikely to calm the protests against him for supporting Israel’s assault in Gaza, but he highlighted the horrendous civilian casualties in Gaza more than he has done in the past.
So you're voting for Trump? Not voting? You know Trump said Israel needs to "finish the job," right? And that he's advocated for using nukes in the middle east? I don't think Biden has done enough, but he's the best alternative by a wide margin.
Don't forget that time Trump tried to goad Iran into a war by assassinating a military official on allied soil.
If the choice is between complicity in genocide and saving myself the five minutes it'd take to fill out a mail-in ballot in my solid-blue state, then I'm definitely not going to bother with voting.
Biden has every opportunity to legitimately earn my vote, but he'd rather keep selling weapons to Israel and you chose to complain to me instead of him.
Despite the fact that trump will be ten times - easily ten times worse for Palestine?
Ok. Weird, but it’s your vote to throw away.
If that perspective helps you sleep at night then you're welcome to it. Personally, I got bored with it back in 2020 when I refused to vote for Democrats after the shit they pulled in the primary.
I don't suppose you'd also want to hold me party to Biden's actions in office thus far because I didn't vote against him? XD
President Biden spoke to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) after the State of the Union address:
NADLER: Nobody’s gonna talk about cognitively impaired now!
BIDEN: I kinda wish sometimes I was cognitively impaired.
That's because the anti-Biden propaganda coming from Russian bots & alt-right astro-turfing is effective.
The astro-turfers are everywhere (including the fediverse) , and a ton of them present themselves as "concern trolls" since it's a little harder to identify them that way.
I recently asked a "I'll never vote for Biden" person here on Lemmy why, what goal does that accomplish? And boy oh boy, their answers were flacid, goal-post-shifting non-sequiturs. I never replied but someone else took up the torch, and I've never seen a conversation more like 2015 gamergate anti-feminists. Just garbage after distraction after red herring.
I'll never vote for Biden because I'd have to move to the United States to vote in the elections he's running in, and fuck that.
There were a lot of people on lemmy complaining about his age and senility just a coupe weeks ago...
Thank goodness SCOTUS just ruled presidents are against the law. Wouldn’t want Biden to go to jail over the killing before the election.
It's just words, and they mean nothing. The state of the union is the ruling class' best take on kabuki theater. He's a genocidal maniac.
He's got a point...Do we want Palestine to be smoking craters or a pice of glass...that's our choices.
Rather be edgy than let the sophist's slick words draped in patriotism and liberalism distract me from a horrific monstrosity that has left over 30,000 people dead - mostly women and children.
I swear in 10 years, once the backside to fascism has seriously taken root, the libs in this comment section will still be hooting and hollering over these empty words in the State of The Union - all the while doing every mental gymnastic possible such that they don't have to question capitalism. Enjoy the backside.
Free Palestine
It was a speech... were you expecting him to set up an octagon and wrestle Netanyahu?
What are your thoughts on the floating harbor that's being set up?
The rebuttal was so bad!! It was like a kid in a play trying to express every emotion. Completely out of touch!
Katie Britt says sexual assault is the worst thing that can happen to a woman while encouraging Americans to vote for a convicted sexual predator.
Let's go Brandon! (have we reclaimed that yet? surely we plan to, I would think? well anyway it works in this highly specific case:-D)
Yeah, that was against ethics rules, which is why she didn't have it on until it started
More pro Biden than I would like of mother jones but a good read. I will have to watch the actual State of Union today. Tell me what you think about his address? Personally I like the Dark Brandon caricature lol
It felt a little too much like a campaign speech, in my opinion. But it wasn't bad.
I was about to shut it off because it was just "orange man bad", but then he started listing policy.
He hit every issue, from housing and taxing companies/billionaires to car centric infrastructure. More importantly, for most things he was able to name something he did already, making his platform a lot more credible
The policies were also liberal instead of neoliberal... It's a definite move left, and that makes a Biden vote go down a lot smoother. I didn't vote for him last time because the DNC was ignoring the people - they were the ones flirting with facism, not the people who didn't "vote blue no matter who"
The border was a particularly well threaded needle - he's been selling it to the right, so I thought he was planning on closing the border or otherwise caving to the right. He sold it as "this will stop criminals", but what he actually said was "we're going to expand the immigration courts, so they get to trial in 6 weeks instead of 6 months/years".
A lot of it was far too little, like healthcare... It's improvements, but he definitely signaled he won't be fixing the system
Gaza was the one issue he totally failed... Using the Navy to transport aid isn't much, and he said "we're ready for a 6 week truce the second Hamas agrees"... Mofo, of course Hamas won't agree, their MO is "make Israel kill civilians so the world turns on them". And they've been propped up because they're hardliners... He called for a 2 state solution, but nothing he said does anything to change the situation, he might as well not mentioned it
Overall, it was enough to move me from "I might vote, it's hard to stomach" to "I'll probably vote". If he backs up his words with more actions, I might even do something to campaign
For reference, I was mocking him hours before, both on lemmy and with my friend - I said he had to do something big and make some enemies if he wants the lefts support... He's made some enemies, and he's apparently done a lot of smaller things
He referenced FDR at the start with a call for mobilizing Congress to wake up and act.
I have my doubts.
But the SotU, a pretty baked in freebie win for an incumbent running for relection, was, in fact, a net positive for the Biden campaign.
Missed opportunity when mentioning Jill Biden's women's program/taskforce, to say:
"BECAUSE SHE REALLY CARES! DO YOU?"
Now if he'd just put a stop to the genocide that isn't happening maybe I'd feel half ok about voting for him to prevent another maga shitstorm. But we're still sending aid to a country of lunatics so they can stomp on a captive people.
Isn’t is amazing that Joe Biden was able to……. Let’s see here….. oh
ISNT IT AMAZING THAT JOE BIDEN CAN DELIVER A SPEECH WITHOUT FALLING ASLEEP?
clearly he deserves a second term
In the choice between Trump and Biden, yea Biden does deserve a second term - Trump is fucking incoherent.
Ok. But on the one hand Trump will dismantle democracy…. On the other hand democrats are putting up a candidate who “at least is better than Trump”….. if all you are offering is a candidate who will keep the oligarchy in place I just don’t think that will sway enough voters.
I don’t hate Biden, he is not the best since FDR , but he’s a okay dude I guess. But gosh dang it dems, what the heck
Yea, my general thought is that the GOP could never win an election, but the DNC is certainly capable of loosing it. In 2016 the DNC got Trump elected by squashing down a more popular candidate - I think Biden can win this one, but there were much safer choices out there.
What bullshit. It was a great speech on its own merits, and he addressed a lot of important issues. He contrasted his administration with the prior, and refuted a lot of the complaints. He's clearly a better choice than Trump - or do you have reasons why you disagree?