President Biden's Seven Biggest Achievements So Far

Newsweek: Joe Biden's Seven Biggest Achievements in His First Year as President 

Newsweek had some interesting observations back in January as President Biden wound up his first term in office as President.  I expected a lot would get accomplished, as we made the switch from an inept, ineffective, inexperienced failure in the White House to someone who knew how to make government work to get things done for the people.  His predecessor never figured that out, partly because he was unable to comprehend that running the government is not like running a business, which is set up for self benefit, and partly because he was so focused on self-benefit that he was incapable of determining the needs of his constutients.  And that needs to be said, to contrast the difference between the two men. 

There have been far more than just seven achievements, even if you categorize them by "biggest," which makes the matter of deciding how to rank them a matter of opinion.  Getting the infrastructure bill passed and handling COVID relief, along with vaccine distrubution, were definitely major achievements.  The whole economic recovery, which involved some major policy changes, along with the record job growth, should also be at the top of the list.  

"Giving Credit Where Credit is Due" is a News Media Failure

The Biden Administration isn't really getting the kind of credit it deserves for COVID relief or for the economic recovery and job growth.  Those are major achievements, not things that just happen by letting them happen.  Ignoring the extreme right wing media sources, the reporting on both of these achievements in the mainstream media has been underwhelming and medocre at best.  In newspaper jargon, these are front page headlines, and there should have been a parade of cabinet members--from the most diverse executive branch in terms of minorities and women in history--on the Sunday morning news programs and through cable news.  But with the exception of the three prime-time hours on MSNBC and their weekend programs, and two of CNN's regulars, the coverage was nothing close to what the achievements warranted. 

Kudos to Newsweek for mentioning a couple of achievements that are, in my opinion, major, but which have received little attention, and for putting them in this top seven list.  One is the suspension of the federal death penalty.  Finally we have a President and administration who understand the language of the constitution when it addresses "cruel and unusual punishment."  Along with that is the highest number of federal judges appointed since the Kennedy administration, with more diversity as far as the number of women and minorities appointed, than ever before.  The Biden-Harris administration has kept its promises in this regard, especially to African American women.  

Newsweek also gave credit for the restoration of the United States to its prior commitment to combat climate change, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord.  While I see this as an achievement, I am in favor of putting this in the same place with treaties, which would require a two thirds vote of the Senate to roll back once it's done.  Oh, I know, there's no way to get a two-thirds vote to approve it in the current Senate, so we have to work on making that happen.  But the world can't afford for us to keep moving back and forth on this.  

What Newsweek Didn't Recognize, But Signal Press Does

There are two major achievements of the Biden administration that I believe will go down in history as major achievements. Even if it hasn't been handled as it should have been in the current narrative, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was a major achievement in that it reversed one of the worst foreign policy decisions ever made in all of American history, and it was the proverbial can that got kicked down the street, trash left behind by a previous administration for the current one to clean up.  

The former President 45 should have been preparing a transition of office between November and January, providing the incoming Biden administration with intelligence information on Afghanistan which would have included the reality of the situation and the possible rapid collapse of the army and government instead of engaging in criminal activity to try and subvert the constitution's peaceful transfer of power.  Valuable time was wasted, and the blame for that should fall squarely on the incompetence of the Trump administration.  

What President Biden achieved was an airlift that evacuated over 100,000 people--Americans and those in Afghanistan whose lives would be endangered if they remained because of their connection with the U.S. and the previous government.  There were 13 additional American casualties involved, regrettable, but a relatively small number when considering the circumstances.  

The failed attempt at "nation building" by the U.S. in Afghanistan will go down in history as one of the worst foreign policy decisions ever made by an American President, and it is Bush's failure, along with the horrible, ruinous decision to invade and attack Iraq on false pretenses.  Trump's decision to legitimize the Taliban and undermine the legitimately elected democratic government of Afghanistan led to their ability to take the country back to a fundamentalist Islamic dictatorship, exactly the opposite outcome of the proclaimed aims of Bush.  

The other achievement is a current development.  Gathering intelligence on Russian activity aimed at invading Ukraine was probably a routine military assignment, but making the decision to announce it to the world, exposing Putin's intentions, and earning major credibility when it turned out to be correct, was a genius moment.  Correcting another major foreign policy mistake by the former President 45 and leading the NATO alliance into a solid front against Russian aggression has been a tremendous achievement, and the manner in which this President has handled the whole think, including knowing exactly how much pressure to put on Russia, where and how to level sanctions and how to approach giving weapons and financial help to the Ukrainian government, has been nothing short of historically remarkable.  

These two achievements alone, in other, less politically polarized times, would be fueling news media speculation about the President's excellent chances of re-election three years hence, and predictions of his party's ability to secure its majority in the mid-term elections.  And I haven't even mentioned the January 6th investigation, which could turn out to be the Democrats' greatest political achievement in two decades.  A summer full of televised hearings, along with all kinds of reminders about what this President has acheived in just over a year should be a strong foundation for members of Congress running for re-election.