I explicitly note on my Twitter feed I'm Never Trump and Never Biden. Oddly, many of the criticisms are in common: they are both old with limited public executive experience and have expanded the imperial Presidency. They have materially added to the national debt and violated the principles of free trade.
I think in a manner of speaking I'm even more disappointed with Biden. In part, it seemed to me that Biden had a more pragmatic, moderate, centrist political style. That style was a factor in my support of George W. Bush and John McCain. Bush had a bipartisan record as Texas governor, McCain had sponsored campaign finance reform with Feingold and was part of the Gang of 8 on immigration.
The Lugar Center has a bipartisan index: "an objective measurement of the frequency with which a Member co-sponsors a bill introduced by the opposite party and the frequency with which a Member’s own bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party." A positive score means above average bipartisan initiative. You can find more detailed information on Biden's scores here, but an overall assessment:
Biden's legislative wins include but not limited to:
- Inflation Reduction Act; " includes $369 billion US in clean energy investments as well as provisions that will lower the cost of prescription drugs and increase taxes on large corporations"
- The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
- CHIPS and Science Act
- $2.1 trillion COVID-19 rescue bill
Let's be clear: only the middle two had any significant bipartisan support. Keep in mind Dems barely had majorities in the House and Senate in the last session, but Biden wanted to work with his majorities rather than to compromise.
I cared for none of this: industrial policy; massive green energy subsidies, mammoth deficits and debt, employer vaccine mandates, illegal student loan cancellations, the border crisis, decades high inflation. During the recent debt limit crisis, he was playing chicken with debt default, unwilling to negotiate with Speaker McCarthy anything more than a "clean raise ceiling" bill for weeks, never mind he could have gotten that bill passed last session. I loathe his abuse of executive orders, economic sanctions and taking credit for a recovering economy he inherited.
