• OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    7 months ago

    I agree with the article except for this part:

    Joe Biden’s success in 2020 was due in no small part to his deliberate rejection of Clinton’s failed strategy. “Scranton Joe” courted both Sanders voters and blue-collar whites. He promised expanded infrastructure spending and tougher trade deals. Progressive young people might not have given Biden their votes in the primaries, but he campaigned as a candidate who saw them as part of his coalition and duly won their votes on Election Day.

    I think the main reason Biden won in 2020 is because of COVID. That and correctly recognizing that people despise both him and Trump and realizing that if he simply stays out of the limelight people won’t pay as much attention to how bad he is. Neither of these factors are working for him now, it’s much harder to stay out of the limelight when you’re the one in charge.

    I suppose there may have been less open hostility towards the left compared to Clinton, but only because that’s such a low bar.

    • return2ozma@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      7 months ago

      I also believe COVID played a huge role. People were like “Trump is an idiot and is going to get us all killed!” so they went with Biden. Then Biden did ok for awhile then some of us had to die for the economy. :(

      • EatATaco@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        And everyone is bitching about the state of the economy now. You think it would have been better off if we had extended even longer the conditions that led to the inflation?

        • Yggnar@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          7 months ago

          The inflation we have experienced since 2020 is almost exclusively due to corporate greed.

        • triplenadir@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          7 months ago
          1. yes that’s exactly the evidence from the 1918 flu pandemic showed: places which locked down harder and longer had quicker economic recovery. This is probably even more the case with COVID which is leaving people longterm, if not lifetime, disabled.

          2. the documented reason for recent inflation in the US is corporate greed, the only thing COVID did was give corporate execs an excuse

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago
            1. Can I get a citation on this? I searched and found nothing. But also the comparison is hard because the COIVD-19 lockdowns were much more severe. Like we had a complete shut down, most of the spanish flu there were few actually “lockdowns” as most businesses were allowed to stay open, it was more schools and public institutions were closed. They even still held parades and public celebrations. Additionally they were shorter in length. If “length of lockdown” is a good indication of how strong you come out economically on the other side of a pandemic, then we should have been way better off. Additionally, the economy has rebounded very weel, it has just come at the cost of inflation.
            2. This is untrue. Plenty of inflation was due to disruptions and monetary policy during the pandemic. It was almost a deliberate choice by the fed to pump money into the economy, to keep people employed, at the cost of inflation, as they figured that was better than a huge economic downturn, or even another depression. Sure, some of it now is corporate greed, as they realized they could raise prices and people would still pay, but it’s by and large due to policies during the pandemic.