While driving through certain neighborhoods over the past few years, I often noticed an interesting flag being displayed outside some particular houses.
The flags read, “Let’s Go Brandon,” which, for the sake of being as dignified as possible, is just a euphemism for a vulgar phrase about former president Joe Biden.
Obviously, the people living in these homes disapproved of Biden’s presidency and took to very hostile means to express this. And while not everyone who disapproved of him went to this level, he was clearly not very popular when he left office.
But is this justified?
In contemporary politics, it’s tough to get an objective judgment of what is good and bad in our political culture. Partisan politics can cloud everything, and it hurts our ability to judge our politicians and presidents honestly and fairly.
Ask anyone who flew a “Let’s Go Brandon” flag if Joe Biden did anything good during his presidency, and I bet you’ll get the cynical answer of “nothing.” The same goes for most Democrats about what Donald Trump did during his first term.
These sharply divided opinions highlight how difficult it is to judge a president’s legacy in the moment. And due to this recency bias and the broader context of history, we usually need to wait at least a few decades to get a clear picture of whether a president was good or bad for the country.
However, extreme partisanship has made it more important than ever to judge our leaders honestly today. We all live in this era, and if we let party loyalty blind us to an honest assessment of what our leaders do—even if we dislike them—everyone ultimately loses.
So, in the spirit of this, let’s look at some of the most significant pros and cons of Joe Biden’s presidency.
