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[–] 160 points 2 years ago (72 children)

It makes sense. He's actually been competent, which not many (certainly not I) quite expected, but the media hasn't reported a lot of his successes, which have been unusually deployed and quite complex to begin with. People don't understand it. Maybe they'll vote for him anyway, but it's not assured, somehow even with Trump on the other side again.

e.g.how he blocked the railway strike at Christmas to save "the economy" first and foremost at the workers expense, but then kept working afterwards to help get most if not all of their demands met (I'm not sure if they got any sick leave though). Right or wrong, in the past that would have been hailed as a "huge success", but instead we barely heard about it.

Likewise with Gaza he has tried to toe the line - we technically have obligations to fulfill there, but does genocide change that, and if so what is the process by which to do that, and is he engaging in that, or doesn't Israel have a veto anyway, so what else is he doing that we might want done?

We have depended upon our media so much, to tell us not just what happened but what it means and how to feel about it all. So with it being bought out now by billionaires... it is like our fourth branch of government has become as unreliable as Congress and the Supreme Court.

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  • [–] 60 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    I think the media is reporting Biden's accomplishments accurately when they happen, however nobody is really interested. The news media (particularly on TV) thrives on controversy, conflict, and violence, even if they have to exaggerate. "If it bleeds, it leads". Things working the way they ought to simply doesn't drive attention.

    I often joked during the 2020 election that Biden's campaign should have been "Make Politics Boring Again". Good governance shouldn't make headlines. But there are some people who assume that if someone is out of the news, they must be irrelevant.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    There's been a LOT of times someone has said, on lemmy, "man I wish Biden would just do x" only to get responses of "Biden started the process of doing x several years ago, here's the progress that's been made, here's the timeline for completion."

    It's not that people don't care, it's that people literally don't know.

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (17 children)

    Not just the media, but perhaps worse, unverified strangers on the Internet though social media. The biggest thing that pisses me off is every time I the lesser of two evils argument spouted of paired with Biden's handing of something that 100% should fall in the domain of Congress to solve. So may things that historically have been attributed to the President were ultimately created and decided on by Congress and the public attributes way more power to the President than they actually have because of it.

    If we want actual support to Gaza we need to push our congressional members to provide that support. Which is laughable because congress can't even pass a bill that had bipartisan support because half of one floor bends knee to the will of a private citizen. Biden keeps having to overreach his office with executive orders and policies that aren't backed by law and as such are highly transient and subject to constitutional review allowing them too be thrown out, as well as peace time commander-in-chief powers to do things like supply airdrops or back door old equipment sales to their other countries to affected groups.

    The difference between Ukraine and Gaza is that unlike Ukraine, have does not have a unified Palestinian force that the US can safely supply arms to (HAMAS has actively proven that they are not the good guys) and that we're legally obligated to supply arms to Israel, which we are not to Russia. Biden can only sit loudly at Israel stating that genocide is bad threaten that this could lead to a withdrawal of US support, but he can't actually withdraw US support. Congress needs to provide a bill for him to sign that does that.

    On a side note... I'm fairly convinced that a good chunk of the rhetoric spouted to not vote for Biden likely originated from foreign sources to plant the Idea in people's minds and get them to repeat it everywhere because on the surface it feels right. The vote any vote not for Biden is a vote for Trump rhetoric probably exists for similar reasons, mostly to help reinforce the thought that both sides are the same because it's quite easily proven not true and likely increases the odds that someone it's used to convince to vote for Biden ultimately ends up either withholding their vote in protest or voting for someone else out of spite.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Excellent points, truly.

    Esp on congressional v presidential power/responsibility. I must admit im rather guilty of this, too. Its easy to hate on our cultures authoritarian tendencies that prevade in the stupidest fucking places, and yet i still consistently think, "wheres that marjuana legislation, Joe? Why arent you passing executive orders to prevent the intellectually challeneged baboon heading Texas from busing his responsibilities to my state? Or at least offer more executive support in handling the influx of ppl? Maybe something to give out more work visas, no?

    Reading this tho reminds me, most all of that is legislative tasks. weve just all been brainwashed by years of executive encroachment to where the broken parts of our system behave extra broken.

    Keep fighting the good fight. Your words hit hard.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    Point of order, we are not legally bound to sell weapons to anyone. The Leahy Law actually bans the sale of weapons to countries or organizations credibly accused of war crimes. The creator of the Leahy Law has publicly said Israel should have been cut off by that law. Former civil servants have said that Israel gets a special vetting process that requires several political appointees to agree Israel is problematic. In contrast to any other country getting a single civil servant.

    We are in fact taking great pains to send them weapons illegally.

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    [–] 117 points 2 years ago (15 children)

    I'd be furious too, having such incompetent, out-of-touch advisors. This article alludes to it but others have gone more in-depth: Biden's advisors keep telling him the economy is great, the problem is messaging: the American people just haven't heard how great it is. Telling people struggling to pay their bills every month that they're better off than they were four years ago isn't messaging, it's gaslighting. His advisors should be telling him the truth, that the economy is only good on paper, that while the "haves" are living large the "have nots" are not only struggling, their ranks are quickly growing. Don't get me wrong, anyone who votes for Trump because they think he'll do better at economic issues is a moron, but history shows that a lot of people are going to go this route come November at the current pace of things. And Biden's advisors are just as moronic if they don't understand this.

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    [–] 106 points 2 years ago (22 children)

    Considering it’s him or “bloodbath for the country” McGee, I think we are all angry and anxious about it.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (21 children)

    Getting real tired of choosing between bad and worse, and knowing full well if I don't support bad I'll get stuck with worse because of the duopoly.

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  • [–] 73 points 2 years ago (16 children)

    Outside of Gaza, I think Biden has done a surprisingly good job. A lot of shit landed on his plate and he's dealt with it better than most presidents would have.

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  • [–] 53 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I would be too, seeing how effective the anti-intelligence efforts on the American public by the Republicans were.

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    [–] 41 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Thanks to the electoral college system that remains in place: Biden won 2020 narrowly. Far more narrowly for anyone to be happy or comfortable, least of all Biden.

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    [–] 38 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Good, he was sitting on his ass running on the idea he would win because Trump. I'm not sure about now, but a few weeks ago his campaign page was completely empty on policies that he would run on, literally nothing.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Looks like that's still the case. His website only seems to be a place where you can donate or volunteer. Guess his campaign is just focused on social media now? I get the potential value in that; it's like old-school campaigning. But wouldn't you still want a clear and easy place outside of videos where people can reference your values, accomplishments, and further goals?

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    [–] 32 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The media would rather see a dictator be elected than be accused of not fully reporting on Biden’s age.

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    [–] 23 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [+] 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
    [–] 16 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    "Why don't voters see that genocide is in our nation's best interest?"

    "Why don't voters care more about stock prices than food prices?"

    Unlike the orange baboon, he means well. He's just so steeped in neoliberalism that he thinks he knows better than we do what we need.

    What I want is a president who cares more about Americans than America.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    If you want a president that cares more about Americans than America, then you'll love Joe Biden. If we compare republican to Democrat options of the past, you'd have to go back to Bush senior before you could even find a competitor to Biden. Before that, I think you're back to Eisenhower.

    Biden does the best he can, but the president's powers are limited. Even when he tries to exercise them faithfully, he's stopped by the republican supreme court.

    To reduce those complex issues to single sentence, overly simplified questions is willfully disengenous.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    No one is stopping Biden from ending aid to Israel - not congress, not the supreme court, no one. It is only this administration's estimation that doing so would lessen our influence in the region that is preventing it.

    Biden is angry and frustrated that the American people don't value retaining and extending regional power in the middle east as much as he does. He cares about us, but doesn't want us to get in the way. Henry Kissinger may be dead, but he still has a lot of influence.

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    [–] 16 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Many people do not start paying to the general until August. A disturbingly large number of people don't know about any of the incredibly heinous shit Trump has been saying.

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    Ugh at least try to do surreptitious misinformation

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