Joe Biden may be remembered as a fine president but his stubborn refusal to pass the torch for so long made it almost historically inevitable that Donald Trump would win again.
Presidential reputations can usually be measured by whether what gets listed after the word “but” outweighs what comes before. Lyndon Johnson, if judged solely by his domestic achievements, would have joined the pantheon of White House greats. Just his role in passing landmark civil rights legislation, which demolished racial apartheid in the American south and finally made universal suffrage a reality , was Lincolnesque.
They will also ruminate on an “if” as well as a “but”. Had the 82-year-old stepped aside earlier in his presidency – he intimated in 2020 he would be a “bridge” to the next generation – then the Democrats could have conducted a proper primary process to decide the best candidate to take on Trump. As for the president’s pre-but legacy, it’s strong. Under the guise of the deceptively named Inflation Reduction Act, Biden pushed through a landmark federal climate law that could cut US emissions almost in half by 2035 when compared with 2005 levels. A desperately needed infrastructure act will modernise America’s airports, roads and bridges. The CHIPS and Science Act should turn America into a semiconductor powerhouse and end a supply chain vulnerability that weakened its national defences.
It’s an impressive record of accomplishment, and gives Biden at least the chance of benefiting from the same kind of positive revisionism that has reshaped our perceptions of George Herbert Walker Bush, Harry S. Truman and Jimmy Carter. All three were derided at the time but have since been lauded, and even lionised, by friendly historians.In foreign affairs, Biden’s legacy is mixed.
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