I think it's fair to say that Joe Biden is a better president than Barack Obama
Far too few people — especially liberals — acknowledge how weak America's recovery was after the financial crisis of 2008. (And for what it's worth, I am a Democrat.) The unemployment wouldn't fall to its pre-recession level until 2016. So the full recovery really took eight years. But it didn't have to be this way. [While the Recovery Act of 2009 provided a stimulus of $800 billion, the economy really needed more like $2 trillion.](
https://theweek.com/articles/450788/obamas-stimulus-succeeded--even-small) And Obama didn't try too hard to get a larger stimulus through; he could have vetoed proposals he found too small.
On the other hand, Biden also entered office during an ongoing crisis. He signed the American Rescue Plan, which stimulated the economy with $1.9 trillion. [In fact, the US stimulated its economy by about 25% of its GDP, more than any other developed country.](
https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Fiscal-Policies-Database-in-Response-to-COVID-19)
What are the results? Only two years after the recession, the unemployment rate was back to its pre-recession level. The US does have high inflation at 8%, but a large portion of that is from supply chain issues. [This Federal Reserve study estimates that 2.5% of inflation can be traced to Covid fiscal stimulus .](
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/fiscal-policy-and-excess-inflation-during-covid-19-a-cross-country-view-20220715.html) But keep in mind that over half of Covid stimulus ($2.2 trillion) was passed via the CARES Act under Trump.
We'll never know what inflation would be without the stimulus, but we can compare American inflation to that of similar developed countries. [It turns out that inflation in the US is lower than it is in the Eurozone.](
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate) What about economic growth? [Well, the US has the highest GDP growth of any developed country.](
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-growth-rate)
The lesson everyone took from the 2008 was that the stimulus was too small. Underspend and the recession goes on too long, overspend and you get inflation. You're never going to get a bullseye, but as you can imagine, I believe that Biden's efforts in using massive stimulus to guide America's economy out of crisis have been masterful. He's following the advice of economists who learned the right lessons from 2008.
Back to Obama. What were his other domestic accomplishments? He passed the Affordable Care Act, which made healthcare accessible to millions more people. I do believe the ACA remains the greatest piece of American legislation since the 1960s, but other than that, Obama doesn't have much of a legacy. The Recovery Act was weak, and Obama never signed any other important legislation, besides Dodd-Frank.
Biden, on the other hand, was just getting started with the American Rescue Plan. Biden has also signed:
* A $1 trillion infrastructure bill (which Obama and Trump both wanted to get done)
* The CHIPS Act which invests tens of billions of dollars in American semiconductor industry, so we don't have to rely on China for such a vital resource
* The Inflation Reduction Act, which capped insulin costs for seniors, capped out-of-pocket drug expenses for those on Medicare at $2000, allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices (I have no idea how anyone could oppose this), is expected to reduce US greenhouse emissions by 40 percent of its 2005 levels by 2030, and gives the IRS more resources so it can crack down on tax evasion of the super-rich
* Also, Biden even passed some gun control measures (even if they were a little modest)
Now let's talk foreign policy. My view on foreign policy is that the US is effective when it comes to containing violence, but it should not be in the business of regime change or spreading democracy. These are the lessons of the past 30 years. The US military was incredibly effective in ousting Iraq from Kuwait in the Gulf War of 1991, and the US also prevented genocide in Bosnia and Kosovo later in the decade. However, we should have learned from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars that altering another country's system of government is unwise. So this a pretty straightforward line to walk: Prevent bad actors from doing harm to others, but don't try to undermine authoritarians.
Obama's foreign policy was, unfortunately, a continuation of Bush's foreign policy — not in degree, but in kind. Obama prolonged/expanded the war in Afghanistan by implementing a surge, created a no-fly zone over Libya (look how that turned out), and armed Syrian rebels. In the same way that Bush failed to confront Russia over its annexation of Georgian territories in 2008, Obama didn't do nearly enough after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. In a 2012 debate with Romney, Obama mocked him for taking a hard stance on Russia, and that point has since aged like milk. Although, I do support the JCPOA, so I'll give Obama credit for that.
On the other hand, Biden took the brave position of ending the Afghanistan War. He took a ton of flak for it, but it was clearly a futile project that was costing the US $50 billion annually, and Afghanistan can finally be at peace. Biden made the point that there are many places in the world that have backwards social values, but that's not an excuse for American intervention. That's the lesson of the Bush administration. Also, Biden is arming Ukraine to the teeth.
So, as far as foreign policy goes, I think Biden is nailing it. He's walking the line I want presidents to walk, and is choosing to fight battles that can be won.
In wrapping up, I'll acknowledge that Joe Biden's isn't eloquent or particularly inspiring. And yes, he does slur his words — although, I see no evidence of cognitive decline. But at the end of the day, Joe Biden gets things done. Policy is kind of boring and often complicated, so lots of people don't know too much about what's going on. You might see gas prices rising and Biden stumbling as he speaks, and draw your conclusions there. I've seen a lot people say that they just voted for Biden because he wasn't Trump. But if you pay attention to what really matters, I think Biden has been a fantastic president. I genuinely believe he's the best president America has had in decades.
Obama, on the other hand, was an amazing speaker, and it was easy for people to love him. He was articulate and exciting, and managed to be pretty modest. But other than the ACA, he has no legacy. He failed the American people by passing a weak stimulus, and resigned the economy to a weak recovery that lasted almost a decade. And his foreign policy was mostly bad.
Keep in mind that Biden has accomplished everything with 50 Democratic senators whereas Obama entered office with a filibuster-proof 60 Democratic senators.
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