U.S. hits new low in World Happiness Report

Would be interesting to see happiness segmented by Democrats/ Republicans.

I would speculate Republicans are wildly happier when "their team is 'winning'" and Democrats would have a boost in happiness with Democrats in power, but nowhere near the swing of Republicans. Democrats, IMO, are more aware of the *real* current and longterm problems the US faces while Republicans listen to whatever Republicans say the "problems" are - "problems" that are too often very outlandish and not based in reality.

As someone who leans left. I doubt too many Democrats were excited about Biden. He was just “not Trump”. People actually liked Obama and Clinton.

Taking political constraints into account, the Biden Administration was just about the most successful and effective, in policy terms, of the past 50 years. Unfortunately the political landscape is pretty unfavorable, with GOP-supportive media, a GOP-aligned Supreme Court and super wealthy people, increasingly extremist state governments in many parts of the country, decades of corporate consolidation, weakening civic institutions, and an electorate that largely ignores the details. Biden himself was never a great orator and his public charisma suffered further with age, but as far as governing goes, he did a great job. Harris would also have been an excellent president.

Unfortunately building and fixing things (or just keeping things working, negotiating compromises, and so on) takes a lot of time and effort, and doesn't make for great pithy slogans or rile people up.

Exactly what did he do that had any long lasting impact? Obama had the ACA.

Biden in fact was the worse Democratic President for not stepping aside early enough and letting the DNC have a real primary. It was sheer selfishness and ego.

Results count - not excuses.

Biden came into office in the middle of a Covid crisis substantially caused by the previous administration (which he then was unfairly blamed for the effects of by people arguing in bad faith). During the first two years of Biden's presidency the Democrats had a tied 50–50 Senate (including 2 prima donna Senators who repeatedly undermined Democrats' legislative priorities) and a narrow House majority. During the second two years they had a 51–49 Senate majority and lost control of the House. They never had the votes for anything like the ACA. But within the very difficult constraints of a 50–50 Senate with no possibility of abolishing the filibuster (i.e. requiring 60 votes, and thus significant GOP support, to pass any legislation), the Dems were remarkably effective in 2021–2022, exceeding my expectations.

If you want to see sweeping legislation, you have to elect a Congress that with enough votes to pass it. Blaming Biden for not having the votes is an expression of political cluelessness.

Again what did he do? The Covid vaccine was created and approved before he was elected.

You really think people were excited about Biden like Obama or Clinton?

> Again what did he do?

Inflation Reduction Act [0][1]

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [2][3]

CHIPS and Science Act [4]

He worked to use our tax dollars to spur re-investment in America. From factory construction and utility jobs to grid resilience and innovation. Not to mention that zero to few Republicans voted for these, yet they are the largest benefactors. Texas massive growth spurt in Green energy can thank Biden, but they won't even though they are happy to take the infrastructure investments and enjoy the cheaper energy and jobs. I'll just be happy if I dont have to deal with another Great Texas Freeze.

Also, and even though, the coal mining communities didn't vote for him he made sure to single out investment specifically to coal communities "it announced $428 million in grants for 14 projects in coal communities, creating 1,900 jobs and leveraging $500 million in private investments."

Those also include tax reform (to collect from super-rich tax evaders, expire the deep corporate tax cuts etc) and prescription drug reform to lower prices among other things like investing in green energy projects for low income communities. He brought investment back into this country without sucker punching our allies.

Imo, that's what my tax dollars are for, for reinvestment back into building this country -- not to give rich business friends that donate meme coins to a family account extra large tax cuts or giving bonuses for rounding up brown people (including US citizens - google if you want links) and empower a federal immigration force to throw out any integrity and character they had before being told to make a spectacle.

Anyway there is a lot in there is you care to read up on it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Projec...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_...

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act

How is Intel doing these days? They have already kicked out one poor performing CEO and no company wants to use Intel for chip fabs. Nvidia is partnering with Intel on design - not fabrication.

How much do you want to bet that in four years nothing he did will have made a difference and Trump is going to undo it? That wouldn’t have been an issue if Biden had stepped aside and announced he wasn’t going to run for reelection earlier. Again results count. The few things he “accomplished” are going to be undone because he didnt step aside.

And all of his “prescription reforms” weren’t put into law and were easy to undo by the next administration.

The Republicans no matter how hard they try can’t kill the ACA and are probably going to vote to increase funding. The ACA would have been a lot easier to kill if Obama hadn’t won reelection. Biden should have known he couldn’t win.

What Trump does is on him, not Biden. You asked what Biden did.

The ACA is an accomplishment that stood the test of time. Everything that Biden did will be inconsequential because he didn’t step aside to try to secure what he did.

Not to mention the Chips act just threw money at a flailing Intei without any strategy. There was a strategy behind Obama’s getting through the financial crises and the ACA

The ACA was passed with 60 Democratic Senate votes and not a single GOP vote in House or Senate.

Biden had a 50–50 Senate, counting Manchin and Sinema among the 50. If you think he "should have" passed similar legislation and consider his failure to do so to be some kind of failure of willpower, then you fundamentally don't understand how our political system works. If the Dems don't have the votes, it's nonsensical to blame them for not being able to pass legislation that is opposed by 100% of the GOP.

The ACA was a big accomplishment, and it managed to go through during the exactly 72 working days since 1980 when the Democrats had such a majority in Congress and the Presidency. (We all owe an incredible debt of gratitude for that to Nancy Pelosi, who was personally responsible for getting it over the finish line after Ted Kennedy died in office.) If the Dems consistently had large congressional majorities, they could make much more progress. If you want to see that happen, make sure they get the votes.

I have repeatedly said what I think he should have done - announced after the mid terms that he wasn’t going to seek re-election, let there be a real primary and if another Democrat could have been elected they could have solidified the foundation he set.

Excusing that is like commending a surgeon for saving a life and then not washing his hands during follow up and killing the patient allowing the wound to get infected.

And why haven’t the democrats had a platform that could convince enough people to vote for them in the Senate since then?

The Democratic majority didn’t happen by accident. Howard Dean pushed for the “50 state strategy” in 2008. The current Democrats are feckless

In other words, you think the Dems "should" have won the election in 2024, and that they didn't was entirely down to on Biden's personal decisions. Because they didn't win that election, everything that the GOP and voters do afterward is now Biden's fault personally.

The first part is a counter-factual hypothesis that seems wrong, which you keep insisting on without any evidence. The second part is thoroughly fallacious.

To first order, the summary is that you don't think Biden or his administration deserves credit for anything they actually did, while simultaneously thinking they deserve blame for a large number of things that other people did that they were personally opposed to and worked against.