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Our. Best. President. I would miss Joe Biden - and so should the rest of America. [1]
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Date: 2025-01-20
America has a complex relationship with its presidents. A leader of the nation is its symbol, and that's how it always was. But in the last decades, the nation, more and more, has come to believe that the president is only a symbol.
But maybe it was a mistake. Presidents are supposed to be, by the will of the people, leaders. People who voted for Trump, despite being the ones to lose most from it, did so because of how it would look. They were not thinking what living under him would be like.
Donald Trump is not a leader. He is a niche entertainer (a clown, in my opinion) who convinces the nation he is the primary enemy of the elites, while letting those same elites run the show.
In that, Trump was not exceptional. American history is not rich with presidents who were willing to be solidary with the working class. After 60's, there were no such presidents. And then there was Joe Biden.
I had my doubts about Joe, too. He was not my first choice during the 2020 primary. But I was never so wrong, and never as happy to be wrong.
No one had as many setbacks in life as President Biden. And yet he persisted. When he became president, he led the change. He worked hard. He achieved results, instead of bragging about stuff he had nothing to do with.
Joe Biden was the most productive US president in American history. He led a revival in American manufacturing. His industrial policy was huge. His infrastructure was huge. While the corporatist media and false "advisors" told Democrats to dump unions in favor of Reagan republicans in the suburbs, he was the only one with a spine to support unions despite. He was the first president to visit picket lines. He led the way with tariffs despite opposition from the corporatist fraction of democrats. He was fighting against monopolies. He appointed absolutely wonderful people like Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter.
And that leaving aside leading america out of COVID pandemic and helping Ukraine.
This is what a leader looks like.
Joe Biden did more than enough to deserve the loyalty of his own party. Joe Biden did more than enough to deserve the loyalty of the American nation. But he never got what he deserved.
The elitist media spend the last days of the Joe Biden presidency the same way they spent most of his term - that is, throwing as much dirt at the great person as they can. In that, Joe Biden, despite a short time in office, is a lot like the greatest and also his favorite president - FDR.
In the end, whatever Mr. Hearst or Mr. Sulzberger media magnates don't want an honest president or a President of the People. They want a corrupt one, and they as of tomorrow will have one. When Trump backfires on them, they would sure humiliate themselves in favor, as some of them are already (hello, WaPo), but they should not ever think it would be enough.
I can't help but doubt there is any hope of fighting the oligarchy in the face of that. But Joe never gave up.
I can only say it's been a great honor to have you as our president, Mr. President.
[END]
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