Biden ran his primary campaign as a moderate and a conciliator. Due largely to the effects of the pandemic, he then ran against Trump as a radical reformer–a new FDR. While some of his progressive agenda squeaked through Congress, his ambitions to replace the dollar store economy with something more efficient and equitable failed due to the filibuster and the opposition of Manchin and Sinema. After the 2022 election, out of necessity, he gave up most of his ambitions and started engaging in Clinton-style triangulation. Call it the Spirit of ’96.
Since the playing field is tilted against the Democrats in 2024, it is very likely that Biden will face at least one, and more likely two, GOP majorities in Congress if he is re-elected. What would a second Biden term look like? What kind of an agenda will he have? I will be exploring the major themes in a series of posts over the next week.