. Since midterms are invariably treated as referenda on the sitting president and his party, the results were something of a vindication for Biden despite his meh measures of popularity. He did not, after all, drag his party down to the ignominious defeat so many people in both parties. And thus there was no post-election hand-wringing among Democrats about finding a way to talk the president into folding his tent after one term.
Still, the loss of the Democratic trifecta in Washington effectively means Biden probably won’t have any significant legislative accomplishments in the last half of his first term as president. And so his reputation going into 2024 could well depend on factors largely beyond his control. Maybe the economy is headed to a “soft landing” where inflation is conquered without a recession, but nobody really knows that right now.
One thing we do know is that Biden is presently in something of a catbird seat when it comes to the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, assuming he intends to pursue it. As the Washington, polls are showing a modest but very real improvement of sentiment for a second Biden term among rank-and-file Democrats.
At the moment there’s just one really dark cloud on the horizon where a Biden renomination is expected to appear, barring some blow to the president’s health or some unforeseen calamity that makes him a 21st-century Herbert Hoover: his odd, symbiotic relationship with. If he announces his retirement tomorrow, Joe Biden will go down in history as the man who rescued America from the horrors of a second Trump term.
In other words, if all hell breaks loose on the Republican side of the 2024 election, nervous Democrats may need Biden to re-establish the very quality that improbably. If that’s in doubt by the time the 2024 field firms up, then challengers to Biden could be tempted to enter the race – especially if the incumbent remains coy at all about his own intentions.
ed_kilgore You sound disappointed he had a good year.
ed_kilgore While Trump just wants to burn everything down.
ed_kilgore Meanwhile: recession looming diesel shortage looming depleted strategic EMERGENCY oil reserves. RUN AWAY INFLATION HIGH GAS PRICES VIOLENT CRIME SPIKING IN LIBERAL RUN CITIES WIDE OPEN BORDERS WITH ILLEGALS AND FENTANYL POURING IN KILLING OUR YOUTH
ed_kilgore Dementia Joe.