It’s time to take stock of Joe Biden, but, despite his achievements, we will especially remember the tragic nature of his time in the White House.
Most politicians leave the stage in an atmosphere of defeat that darkens their record.
We think of Winston Churchill, rejected by voters after his ultimate triumph. We will soon also think of Justin Trudeau, of whom History will remember above all that he clung to power a little too long.
This will also be the case for Joe Biden.
Tragic from start to finish
Tragedy is nothing new for Biden, who lost his wife and youngest daughter in a car accident just before he entered the Senate in 1972.
In 2016, he was considering running for president and he could have defeated Donald Trump, but the death of his eldest son prevented him from doing so. He bounced back in 2020, but he failed to deliver on his promises to rid the country of Trump and be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.
Also, he wanted to be more Catholic than the Pope by doing nothing to ensure that justice was done promptly on the criminal charges against Trump and, after his other son got mired in shenanigans, by letting Merrick Garland entrust the case to a Republican prosecutor determined to put Hunter Biden through the mill.
Biden will have finally concluded his presidency by pardoning Hunter, after having made the mistake of promising that he would do nothing about it.
An enviable record erased
I don’t know how History will treat Biden, but it will probably be less ungrateful than the American electorate.
His presidency began with the tragic withdrawal from Afghanistan (a poorly planned withdrawal by the outgoing administration) and inevitably inflationary post-pandemic recovery policies. In both cases, he suffered for repairing the problems before his mandate.
His record on the economy and foreign policy is far from bad. According to The Economistthe American economy is “the envy of the world”. Businesses are thriving, employment is thriving and inflation has been controlled much better than elsewhere.
Donald Trump could ruin everything with his tariffs and mass deportations and he will take credit for the progress that follows Biden’s record investments in future manufacturing sectors and public infrastructure.
In foreign policy, Biden has succeeded in consolidating the alliance of the great Western democracies, but this success is threatened by the return of the Trumpian doctrine which threatens the foundations of this alliance.
Sad ending
Joe Biden achieved a lot for a president who had such little room for maneuver in Congress, but defeat will erase his record from memory.
The worst part is that he could have avoided this tragic end by recognizing his own limitations and giving way earlier to the rising generation.
Instead of leaving on a winning note, Biden will have to endure the humiliation of witnessing the swearing-in of the man who always refused to admit defeat, who tried to retain power by force and quietly left Washington morning of January 20, 2021.
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