Biden was a complacent and ineffectual president
Did Biden think he (or Harris) was certain to win the election?
A competent executive knows that high priority initiatives need their constant attention to overcome bureaucratic resistance and infighting. This is true in the private sector and in government. Yet this is what we got from Biden:
In the final year of President Joe Biden’s term, decisions on key shipments and weapons in Ukraine were stalled not just by months of congressional delays, but also by internal debates over escalation risks with Russia, as well as concerns over whether the U.S. stockpile was sufficient, a Reuters investigation found. Adding to the confusion was a chaotic weapons-tracking system in which even the definition of “delivered” differed among U.S. military branches.
Delays were worst during the months it took Congress to pass $60 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine, held up by opposition from Donald Trump and congressional Republicans amid Trump’s successful run for president. But the jam continued well after the money was approved, according to a Reuters analysis of official announcements, U.S. spending data and interviews with more than 40 Ukrainian and American officials, congressional aides and lawmakers. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security deliberations.
[. . .]
By November, just about half of the total dollar amount the U.S. had promised in 2024 from American stockpiles had been delivered, and only about 30% of promised armored vehicles had arrived by early December, according to two congressional aides, a U.S. official, and a lawmaker briefed on the data.
It would be interesting to compare the experience of shipments to Ukraine and to Isreal. Shipments to Israel seem to have gone smoothly; those to Ukraine did not. Could it be that there was widespread, “grass roots” (Pentagon style) resistance to a policy about which many functionaries harbored secret reservations? Could this make future administrations think twice about waging forever wars of choice in the future?
John:
I am not sure of what you are touting as reasons for shipments. I can not imagine resistance to Ukraine kicking Russia’s butt. But here is the heavy lifting since 2022.
Mr. Kramer, You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I believe the example you gave is extremely weak tea. IMHO Biden was an excellent president at governing but less successful at running for re-election. As examples, he got 125,000 people out of Afghanistan after the Afghanistan army joined the Taliban and the government collapsed and the 13 marines killed guarding the evacuation were either the last or very nearly the last US military personnel to die in combat while he was in office. Certainly fewer military personnel died in combat during Biden’s 4 years in office than any other 4 years at least in the 21st century and I am guessing less than most of the 20th century as well.
He got enough of the country vaccinated–albeit against some people’s wishes–that we were able to emerge from the pandemic. Despite resistance from all Republicans and Manchin and Sinema he passed a major infrastructure bill and took positive steps toward addressing climate change, he ran an economy where the average worker was not only employed but saw real income gains throughout his time in office, the stock market (S&P) rose at an annual rate of 14.5 % better than during Trump’s first term, I believe jobs were added every month and we hovered around historically low unemployment throughout the last 3 years of his term. A greater share of the labor force participated in employment during Biden’s 4 years and during the first 3 years GDP grew at an average of 3.4 %.
There was certainly inflation much of it beyond anyone’s control–see price of eggs–but that 20% or so total inflation knocked $7.2 trillion off the national debt in real terms and to an old timer like me seems mild compared to the inflation in the late 70’s and early 80’s–when unemployment and interest rates were much higher than they are today. His deficits were lower than Trump’s and if he had control of the Senate might have been able to reduce them further with tax hikes on the wealthy.
As to the southern border, I strongly believe that the plan all along was to bring the GOP to the table with a comprehensive Border Bill. It worked only to have Trump scuttle it at the last minute. Russia is not in control of the Baltic States or Ukraine for that matter. The Biden administration at least fought back against GOP suppression of minority voters and monopolists. At the end of the day the only thing Biden was complacent about was Trump returning to the White House–he tried to adhere to tradition and the law and of course the law was stacked against him by Trump Judges and Justices and probably his biggest mistake was appointing Garland as AG.
Terrance:
Thank you for your comment. In case you are curious, I did the editing and broke it into several sections for easier reading.