The Misperception of the Perception of Joe Biden

If anyone has been the victim of the expression “perception is reality” it is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

While independent analysts, historians and scholars, generally give Biden high marks for his performance as president, he left office with a disapproval rating hovering around 60 percent, the lowest in his four-year presidency.

This despite the fact that in foreign affairs: he united NATO as never before; provided Ukraine with a lifeline for its war with Russia; sent $7.9 billion of miliary aid to Israel and even convinced Arab nations to join the US in shooting down missiles launched against Israel by Iran; and left office a few days after he helped facilitate a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

On the legislative side of the ledger, without having a majority in Congress, he was second to none (expect perhaps FDR and LBJ) in having bills adopted, many passed with bipartisan support. Here are just a few of the major ones:

— Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill which financed new bridges, roads, airports, public transport, national broadband internet, and energy systems.

— Launched a federal program, the American Rescue Plan, that resulted in more than 500 million Americans getting COVID vaccinations.

— Managed to pass the Safer Communities Act, the first gun safety measure adopted in decades. It expanded background checks while financing youth mental health programs and tightened firearms regulations.

— Won approval for the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 for environmental programs. He also he rejoined the Paris Agreement which works to combat climate change and from which Donald Trump exited. Unrelated, the act also capped prescription drug prices at $2,000 per year for seniors.

While some sectors of the economy remained problematic, particularly the deficit, the economy was strong. The annual rate of inflation slowed in the Biden years to under 3% and is now near pre-pandemic levels. The GDP was 2.5% in 2022, 2.9% in 2023, and 3% in Biden’s final year in office. The US added 16.6 million jobs (some lost during the pandemic) under Biden. The jobless rate stood at about 4% while real wages also rose, and the stock market performed at record levels.

And violent crime, despite Republican claims to the contrary, the FBI has reported that crime was down in all parts of the country.

No, Biden was not faultless. Ignoring advice from his military, he botched — badly — the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The image of Afghans running for their lives under a plane taking off was all too reminiscent of people hanging from helicopters while trying to escape from Saigon at the end the Vietnam War.

He also mishandled the pardon of his son, Hunter, which, while not a national or foreign policy matter, will tarnish his legacy.

This is not to suggest that I believe he should have run again. Indeed, in February 2024, I reluctantly called for him to step aside, four months before his disastrous debate performance in June. I argued that I had concerns about his age (he turned 82 last November) making him more susceptible to physical and mental decline. He acknowledged as much when he said in January, “So far, so good, but who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?”

Finally, while the charges of Biden’s mental acuity decline were endless, the critics, besides pointing to the debate, cited no examples of him bungling policy decisions. Just the reverse: post-debate, he led a delicate prisoner exchange involving seven countries, continued US support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Hamas-Israel ceasefire was based on a plan he proposed last May. Also, in the Middle East, Hezbollah was weakened and, as a result, Lebanon is being freed from the terrorist organization’s control.

In an exchange with a writer who charged that Biden was mentally unfit, Joe Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe,” responded that he interviewed Biden for almost three hours (post-debate) and found Biden very sharp and analytical. He added that he questioned world leaders about their interactions with Biden and they supported his conclusion that Biden was astute and did not suffer from any mental deterioration.

All this leads to the following unexplainable anomaly:

While Trump has not been held accountable for any of his lies, crimes and sexual perversions for some eight years, Biden was not been able to receive recognition for his achievements.

Politics not only makes for strange bedfellows, it also produces weird and unexplainable political criticism and praise.

All that notwithstanding, Biden can take solace in the fact that historians, when studying the past, focus on reality and not perceptions.