BTRTN: Joe Biden, The Six Trillion Dollar Man
Born To Run The Numbers' April review discusses how Joe Biden is simultaneously conveying the aura of a comforting leader and a calming, an uber-conventional president... all while simultaneously reaching for a domestic legacy on a par with that of FDR and LBJ.
http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2021/05/btrtn-joe-biden-six-trillion-dollar-man.html
Excerpts: "Many envisioned Biden as a 'transition' president, one who would spend his first term fixing the obvious COVID mitigation and distribution issues, reversing the worst of Trump’s excesses on climate change, immigration and other matters of grave import, and mending fences overseas, before turning it over to Gen X-er Kamala Harris in 2024 to lead the march into the future. That is, essentially, apart from the 2024 piece, how Joe Biden campaigned. He was positioned as a steady hand who would restore science, competence and empathy to government, but not scare off those Midwestern centrist voters crucial to his election coalition with visions of a progressive utopia and its twin pillars of Medicare For All and a Green New Deal. But after watching President Joe Biden in action, one-third of the way toward a $6 trillion investment to reinvent the American economy, one has to wonder: what happened to that guy? ...This is not a time to be turning down the volume on your TV set or dispensing with your political bookmarks. A revolution is happening before your eyes."
"Biden’s 'marketing' approach for his monumental program has been quite sophisticated, and relies on three main points. The first is his confidence – borne of polling – that a healthy minority, at least, of Republican voters, along with the vast majority of Democrats, support his plans. The second is his willingness to entertain bipartisan measures...all the while firmly assuring America that failure to act is not an option, and he is not afraid of moving ahead without GOP support. But the third and most subtle of Biden’s marketing approaches – his special trick -- is his utter boringness..."