President Joe Biden

[SWP's back]

Similar situation to Obama's first term in that Republican's have made it their sworn duty to try and oppose everything the Dem's want to do despite in many cases their being huge public support for some of their proposed changes amongst Republican supporters.

What they laughingly call democracy over there is dead really isn’t it.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

What they laughingly call democracy over there is dead really isn’t it.

One side clearly want democracy to work, and the other side clearly want to be in power.

That isn't a functioning democracy and hasn't really been one really since Clinton.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Nothing in that story to suggest he has been effective and efficient although it is indeed gratifying to have a change of tone from the Trump era.
What is the view about how effective and efficient he has been? Has he delivered what he promised? To what extent is he hampered by republican opposition and indeed any lack of consensus within his own party?

I read a BBC piece yesterday on his first 100 days which suggested he has been “transformational”, a little further on from that now is that hyperbole?

Trumpism still seems to be a force, can Biden help heal some of the divide that appears to exist in the US?

"Effective" is defined by me as "not having encouraged an armed revolt against the government" and "efficient" as "has not yet thrown a substantial portion of his staff and cabinet out".

The change in tone IS the effective and efficient. That's the whole point.

He may or may not have promised he wouldn't be a batshit crazy fuckwit. Regardless, he has delivered in spades. That's the only promise I care about. Literally -- the ONLY one. Has that been "transformational"? Of course, because the former guy was a batshit crazy fuckwit.

Has he healed anything? I don't know. Is the divide entirely a worshipping cult of personality or based on deep-seated fears about many other things? It's both. Trump is the Messiah who will save his base from those fears (and fuck over those perceived to be/blamed for causing those fears). As people become unhappier, they gradually move to more singular, broader solutions. Like Trump. Religions have been leveraging the desperation of the unhappy and providing be-all, end-all singular solutions for your every ill for about 2,000 years. Cure-alls, medicine shows, Lourdes, fucking Scientology, etc. etc. I doubt Biden's going to change that.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

One side clearly want democracy to work, and the other side clearly want to be in power.

That isn't a functioning democracy and hasn't really been one really since Clinton.

They both want to be in power. One can be via democratic means; the other can't be because mathematics and demography and required purity of platform to encourage turnout of their base won't allow them to be.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Then you assume wrong. The 30% that don’t want the vaccine are virtually as one circle with Trump supporters on a Venn diagram.

Absolutely nothing to do with medical insurance.

The vax rates of Latinx and Black Americans of all political stripes are also low and some of that is due to misinformation about the vax in their communities. "Virulently anti-vax and complaining about it on Twitter" is probably the overlapping Venn diagram with Trump types.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

The vax rates of Latinx and Black Americans of all political stripes are also low and some of that is due to misinformation about the vax in their communities. "Virulently anti-vax and complaining about it on Twitter" is probably the overlapping Venn diagram with Trump types.

@SWP's back
Thanks - it was something someone I know suggested as being a reason (access to health insurance = better rates), but that didn't sound right to me.

I thought I'd ask some Americans who would have an idea.

 

[journolud]

"Effective" is defined by me as "not having encouraged an armed revolt against the government" and "efficient" as "has not yet thrown a substantial portion of his staff and cabinet out".

The change in tone IS the effective and efficient. That's the whole point.

He may or may not have promised he wouldn't be a batshit crazy fuckwit. Regardless, he has delivered in spades. That's the only promise I care about. Literally -- the ONLY one. Has that been "transformational"? Of course, because the former guy was a batshit crazy fuckwit.

Has he healed anything? I don't know. Is the divide entirely a worshipping cult of personality or based on deep-seated fears about many other things? It's both. Trump is the Messiah who will save his base from those fears (and fuck over those perceived to be/blamed for causing those fears). As people become unhappier, they gradually move to more singular, broader solutions. Like Trump. Religions have been leveraging the desperation of the unhappy and providing be-all, end-all singular solutions for your every ill for about 2,000 years. Cure-alls, medicine shows, Lourdes, fucking Scientology, etc. etc. I doubt Biden's going to change that.

So at what point do you want more from him than not being Trump? I suspect you do him a disservice by defining him purely in those terms An approval rating of 53% is good but suggests not everyone is happy. Leaving aside those who disapprove of him purely because he isn’t Trump, what do people have to disapprove of?

 

[west didsblue]

So at what point do you want more from him than not being Trump? I suspect you do him a disservice by defining him purely in those terms An approval rating of 53% is good but suggests not everyone is happy. Leaving aside those who disapprove of him purely because he isn’t Trump, what do people have to disapprove of?

He isn’t Bernie Sanders.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

@SWP's back
Thanks - it was something someone I know suggested as being a reason (access to health insurance = better rates), but that didn't sound right to me.

I thought I'd ask some Americans who would have an idea.

Yeah, the insurance thing is a non-issue for vax.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

So at what point do you want more from him than not being Trump? I suspect you do him a disservice by defining him purely in those terms An approval rating of 53% is good but suggests not everyone is happy. Leaving aside those who disapprove of him purely because he isn’t Trump, what do people have to disapprove of?

I think you are trying to see this in same-old, same-old political terms. They don't apply here. I thought my earlier somewhat cheekily flippant answer would have pointed you in that direction. Joe Biden could personally cure cancer and hand everyone a check for $10K and I bet that approval rating wouldn't budge a point. After about 3,927 posts of mine about how cults work, I think you can infer that very little will shake a cult member. I define that cult as Trumpist now but even without Trump, "He's a still a goddamn Demon-crat" and there you have a different kind of cult, but a cult nonetheless.