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Despite failing to win a second term that he badly wanted, Joe Biden’s time in the White House had some very real accomplishments and should not be measured as a failed presidency.
While those minority of U.S. presidents who only served a single term are deemed losers, having been rejected by voters, Biden had major legislative achievements, a strong economy — with one major asterisk — and a number of foreign policy victories.
Biden, who took over in early 2021 as the nation was still recovering from COVID, passed critical legislation to help America rebuild. He championed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has been injecting more than $1 trillion into rebuilding roads, bridges, public transportation and more. The CHIPS and Science Act has given us the semblance of an industrial policy for the first time in a long time, giving the nation the chance to compete with China in sectors that are increasingly crucial to the global economy and national security.
Faced with a seismic environmental challenge, Biden oversaw passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which made the largest investments in developing cleaner and renewable energies in the nation’s history.
Speaking of that I word: The rising prices of Biden’s first two years were a real plague on millions of families' budgets, one that soured millions even to the point that they entered the voting booth in November 2024. All the money that he pumped into the economy to fight COVID triggered an inflationary cycle. Containing inflation required aggressive use of monetary policy, namely the jacking up of interest rates.
But it is not akin to remarking “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” to say that other than pernicious inflation, the economy Biden helped produced was indeed a powerhouse. The nation has seen in excess of 16 million jobs produced; rising wages; steady GDP growth; declining numbers of people without health insurance; and significant increases in median household wealth. Energy production hit record highs, one of many facts that Republicans refuse to acknowledge. Biden deserves significant credit for his economic leadership.