A portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has hung above the Oval Office fireplace since Biden took office, breaking with a longstanding tradition of giving George Washington that cherished spot.
It’s a nod to a president whom Biden mentioned during the campaign as someone he admired for prioritizing the working class and who appears to be the north star of a presidency in which Biden hopes to use government to protect vulnerable groups.
Some of his allies say he has achieved at least some of that ambition.
“President Biden said when he took office that he would be the most progressive president since FDR, and I think he has kept his word when it comes to domestic issues – not foreign policy – on domestic issues,” said the Independent Consultant. Congressman Bernie Sanders of Vermont said shortly after Biden lost the election.
Comparing a president to FDR might be a bit like comparing me, a humble newsletter writer, to Shakespeare or Robert Caro. But it was an example of lofty praise for Biden that came from a corner of his party that seemed unthinkable for much of his career: the left.
“President Biden will probably be one of the most effective working-class-centered presidents when it comes to domestic policy,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told me this afternoon, although she added saying she disagreed with working closely with him on foreign policy issues such as the Gaza war.
“I’ve been surprised by the openness that his administration has shown, especially in the early days,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
What did the president leave behind?
For much of Biden’s political career, he was viewed as the embodiment of political moderation. But in the spring of 2020, when he was vying with Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, he promised in an interview that if elected, his administration would “be one of the most progressive administrations in American history.”
Biden allies point to the trillions of dollars his administration has invested in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, rebuilding infrastructure and combating climate change, as well as his push to reindustrialize the country through measures like the CHIPs bill.
He was the first sitting president to join workers’ picket lines. He canceled the student loan debt of five million borrowers; his administration took aggressive steps to curb corporate power.
“It’s clear that he understands what the coalition that helped him win the presidency is all about, and he tries to translate that into his governance,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University, said Biden’s accomplishments place him in the tradition of Roosevelt and other Democrats who believed government could expand social equality.
But Roosevelt’s success lay not only in the policies he enacted, but also in his three re-elections. “Part of it is what you left behind,” Zelizer said. “Part of that is building a truly lasting alliance that will not only continue to grow these programs, but also continue to fight after you’re gone. In this case, that’s not the case.
My colleague David Leonhardt wrote this morning that Biden’s way of thinking about the economy and government’s role in the economy is likely to persist beyond the end of his presidency.
His advisers believe this will happen.
“If the seeds that the Biden administration has planted through our industrial policy flourish, it has the potential to transform the economy,” Jared Bernstein, Biden’s chief economist, told me.
He added: “I don’t care what your political colors are — even if they are crimson — you’re not going to bring the wrecking ball to the manufacturing plant that’s being built in your backyard.”
fight for credibility
Shortly after Biden was inaugurated in 2021, Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a longtime member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, visited Biden’s office along with other top House Democrats. She looked at Roosevelt’s portrait and told Biden that Roosevelt lifted senior citizens out of poverty by establishing Social Security. She said Biden could do the same thing for children by establishing a child tax credit — which he did back then.
“He’s on the side of the working class in this country, that’s where he comes from,” DeLauro said.
The problem, of course, is that Congress failed to extend the credit and the credit expired.
Biden failed to accomplish many progressive priorities, such as raising the minimum wage or proposing a significant expansion of government support for child care. If he governs as an economic progressive in many ways, he will have a hard time getting voters to reward him for even his most popular achievements, such as using the government’s negotiating power to lower drug prices.
“When you look at progressive actions, progressive policies, these are the things that really have an impact on working people, right?” said Vermont Rep. Becca Balint, another progressive Democrat who praised Biden. Work on climate and infrastructure. “But people have to be able to think of their names immediately,” she continued, adding: “That didn’t happen.”
Progressives say Biden recognizes the rise of Sanders, who trails Biden well for the 2020 Democratic nomination, as a harbinger of change within their party. They praised Biden for his response.
“He understands better than his colleagues that the party has shifted,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. “We are partners in setting an agenda together, and progressives are not doing that.”
Ocasio-Cortez believes that, at least to some extent, the economic progressivism that energized some of the Biden presidency will survive with Democrats, who won close races in tough districts this year election.
“Many of them embrace populist tendencies that I hope will endure,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
What Gretchen Whitmer thinks about Trump II
Some Democrats have vowed to oppose Trump. But others are taking a more nuanced approach to his incoming administration. My colleague Katie Gluck spoke with Governor Gretchen Whitmer in Detroit today, Gov. Provides new insight into her stance against the incoming administration. I asked Katie to tell us more:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic leader from one of the nation’s most important battleground states, spoke at the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday and outlined her approach to Trump.
The focus: Finding common ground on issues like lowering costs and creating manufacturing jobs, while holding on to ideas like Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada.
Whitmer, who like Trump has won two statewide elections in Michigan, summed it up in an interview before her speech.
“We are likely to have very strong and outspoken objections to the policies pursued by the next administration,” she said. “But ultimately, it’s a decision for voters across the country. I think we respect the will of the voters and want to make sure that we continue to focus on the things that make people’s lives better.
— Katie Gluck
Read more here.
