Joe Biden: A Great American President

Joe Biden's speech at the DNC wasn't goodbye, but it was a reminder of why Biden is both a great president and a unique figure in American political history.

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Joe Biden’s Unique Moment At The Democratic Convention

Incumbent presidents appearing at their party’s conventions fall into two general categories. The first is the incumbent who is finishing up their second term. These conventions always feel a little awkward because the incumbent is still in office and in control of the party but is clearly no longer the star of the convention. The second category is the first-term incumbent running for reelection. Those conventions are, by nature, backward-looking as they try to make the case for a second term.

What the nation witnessed on Monday was unprecedented in modern presidential electoral history. Joe Biden was an incumbent who walked away on his own. Biden is trying to keep his party in the White House while preparing for retirement.

Democrats and Biden could have easily dropped the ball by going too heavy on Biden’s legacy or seeming dismissive by leaning too far into the future.

Joe Biden threaded the needle perfectly because the President isn’t done yet. He’s got five more months and things left to accomplish.

The media and our society tend to rush everything, but Biden’s speech was not the end of his presidency. It was a goodbye to elective politics.

At this point, I am going to do something that I don’t usually do: I am going to assume that you have seen the speech.

In case you haven’t, here it is:

Some people were upset that Joe Biden went on so late, but that is how conventions work. Night one of the Democratic convention didn’t have much filler, but it did go a little long. That is not Biden’s fault, and the complaints are unreasonable.

Mostly, the speech was received with acclaim. However, some were in the minority, like MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and The New York Times, who spun the speech negatively.

President Biden deserved to talk about his record for as long as he wanted because his record is unmatched by any president, at least since LBJ. Biden may have the most impressive one-term president record of accomplishment in history, but what makes Biden great was on display during his speech, and we’ll talk about that below.

Why Biden Is A Great American President