By Northwest suburban retired attorney Russ Stewart, this look at how one-term Presidents are (or will e) viewed by historians I found fascinating.
The Worst
He starts, “Just get back into office.
“That’s the line of demarcation between U.S. presidents who are abject failures and those who are passable but not irredeemable mediocrities.
“And it is an ironclad fact that one-termers are never deemed by history as ‘great’ or even ‘above average’ presidents…
“Some of them bailed rather than lose, as did Biden, but Biden-Harris would have lost to Trump as resoundingly as Harris-Walz. If you can’t measure-up in the first 4 years, then you don’t deserve a second chance.”
The top of Russ Stewart’s list:
“Historians can assess policy impact on economic and world affairs.
“They won’t view Biden kindly. Biden promised to be a unifying, transformational and/or transitional president. His policies were unfocused. His cognitive decline due to age was masked by family, staff, allies and the liberal news media from mid-2021 onward.
“His obsession was to undo whatever Trump did. There was minimal rational thought given to the consequences of an ‘Open Border’ — the cost and disposition of 10 million illegal migrants and the processing of 8 million pending asylum court cases – as well as electrical vehicle mandates, oil and natural gas drilling bans, DEI, the Ukraine War, ceasefire demands in Gaza, inflation-fueling spending, politicization of the DOJ and the FBI, the persecution of Trump, a $36 trillion national debt and a $2 trillion budget deficit.
“Inflation consumer prices have increased 20 percent over 4 years. Inflation evolved from ‘transitory’ to ‘coming down,’ Biden said. That is true. Inflation hit 9 percent in 2022, but dipped to under 3 percent by 2024. But prices, once upped, never came back down to 2020 levels. [Emphasis added.]
“Biden entered office amid COVID-caused dysfunction and leaves amid Biden-caused dysfunction, the dissatisfaction with which caused ‘convicted felon’ Trump’s compelling victory. How could a man of such inconsequence do so much harm in so little time? Perhaps it’s just benign neglect. He knows not what he does.
nsequence do so much harm in so little time? Perhaps it’s just benign neglect. He knows not what he does.
“Biden will be remembered in history as
- a man who became a multi-millionaire on a senator’s salary over 36 years and VP for 8;
- a man who pardoned his troubled son, after promising not to;
- a man so delusional he thought he should be president until age 86;
- a man who let himself be dumped after winning enough delegates to be nominated; and
- a man who outlived his usefulness.
That’s his sad legacy. So what else is there to do?
- Give out Medals of Freedom to Hillary Clinton, Bono, Jane Goodall, Magic Johnson, Michael J. Fox, Ralph Lauren, Denzel Washington, Anna Wintour AND George Soros.
