History will be kinder to Biden than voters have been
RATING the American presidents is one of historians’ favourite pastimes. This exercise ends up sometimes with surprising results as US presidents who were erstwhile considered to be failures are suddenly raised to the top of the list of successful leaders.
That has happened recently to President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec 29 at the age of 100, and whose administration is now being reassessed by historians who give it higher-than-expected marks.
To recall, Carter was a one-term president who was rejected by the American voters dissatisfied with his performance in office, but who in retrospect is being praised for his achievements, including the historic 1979 Israel-Egypt peace agreement and for his tough response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the same year.
A large majority of American voters continue to give President Joe Biden, another one-term president, low grades for his performance in office; he is leaving office with about the lowest approval ratings over his tenure in office. The outcome of the 2024 presidential election, in any case, sent a clear message about what voters thought about his administration and about him personally.
Indeed, there is no doubt that large government spending during President Biden’s term in office helped fuel inflation and that his administration failed to stem the flow of illegal immigration at the southern border, not to mention the disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
And then there were the concerns about the aging president’s cognitive aptitude. Indeed, he should have refrained from seeking a second term in office, and allowed for an open presidential succession process among the Democrats.
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But then this is the same president who defeated Donald Trump in 2020, stood up to Russia in Ukraine, and advanced numerous economic and social reforms, including a historic infrastructure Bill.
In a way, President Biden ensured that the post-Covid US economic rebound was stronger than all the other large economies and, as observers put it, the envy of the world.
On Jan 15, the departing president delivered his farewell address, noting that an oligarchy and tech-industrial complex were taking hold in America, and warning of the risks of unchecked powers of the presidency.
Americans have to make clear that “no president is immune from crimes that he or she committed in office”, President Biden said, in a veiled criticism of the incoming president, Donald Trump.
The US Supreme Court ruled last year that former presidents should enjoy sweeping immunity for their acts while in office, dealing a blow to efforts to prosecute Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election.
Speaking from the Oval Office that would be occupied this week by his political adversary, a man he has described as a threat to democracy and unfit for office, President Biden ended his 50-year career in public service with deep concerns about America’s promise and near-term prospects.
The outgoing president proposed that the full benefits of his presidency would only be felt in the years and decades to come, as new factories are built, new roads are paved and the war in Ukraine ends.
“It will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together,” he said. “But the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come.” Future historians may end up agreeing.
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