Ramesh Ponnuru’s Aug. 16, commentary in The Herald, “Biden no FDR; he’s not even Obama” is misleading. He compares Biden’s legislative achievements in his first year with those of other presidents in their entire terms: FDR’s four terms, LBJ’s six years, and Obama’s eight years. Biden has accomplished more in his first year and a half than any other president in recent memory. Biden and the Democrats have proven able to work with a Congress half of whose senators are Republicans and two of whose Democrats may as well be. The fact that they are able to do that is more impressive than other presidents’ accomplishments with an overwhelming majority in Congress.
He also compares Biden’s accomplishments with the goals of the Democratic Party. That proves only that the Democratic Party has goals and is willing to accept, as LBJ used to say, that half a loaf is better than none. The Republicans, by contrast, have had no goals at all since 2008, when their members in Congress pledged only to “obstruct, obstruct, obstruct.” In the 2020 presidential campaign, the party literally had no platform, just a reiteration of their 2016 one, complete with references to the “current president,” which by then was their own Trump. And recently Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, when asked what their 2022 proposals were, just said to vote Republican and see what they do.
The Democrats have policies for America. The Republicans have nothing.
Robert Scott Gassler
Everett
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