President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt at Madison College, April 8, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
If the transition between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump feels familiar, it’s because it is.
By Denise Clay-Murray
No one could blame former Vice President Joe Biden if he had decided not to run for president in 2020 and left America to its own devices.
He had finished his eight years in President Barack Obama’s administration and was at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, minding his own business. Biden gave at the office. He didn’t owe America jack.
But Biden decided to run for president in 2020 because more than a few people told him that the people currently in the running — a group that included then-Sen. Kamala Harris and former Mayor of South Bend Pete ButtigiegButtiegieg — would never defeat President Donald Trump. And if someone didn’t get Trump out of office, the mishandled COVID pandemic would be the least of the country’s worries.
So, he ran. And he won.
And he and his Vice President Kamala Harris got to work on the country’s immediate needs. The American Rescue Plan helped get Americans the COVID-19COVID vaccines needed to help them get back to work and play safely. Unemployment went down as new jobs were created, and entrepreneurs began to take advantage of the programs benefitting small businesses.
President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris attend a Department of Defense Commander in Chief farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Infrastructure also got a boost through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which led to lots of construction here in Philadelphia, and also gave Gov. Josh Shapiro the money he needed to give SEPTA more time to figure out its financial woes.
World leaders started taking America’s calls again. NATO was strengthened under the Biden/Harris watch and Americans who found themselves in trouble overseas were brought home.
Without getting into all of the nonsense that led to his not running for a second term, Biden’s four years in the White House had a lot of ups, some downs, and a recognition of who brought him to the dance.
What do I mean by that? I mean that many of Joe Biden’s decisions as president, especially in the area of appointments, reflected the fact that were it not for Black women, he wouldn’t have gotten that four years in office.
From his choice of Harris as a running mate to his appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, and the administration’s focus on such things as maternal health, funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other priorities important to Black families.
For example, more than 5 million people found their student loans forgiven, in spite of the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the expansion of loan cancellation programs. The removal of medical debt from credit reports and allowing MedicareMedicaid to negotiate prices for prescription drugs.
On Monday, Biden will join several former presidents — but not necessarily their wives — in watching Trump once again take the oath of office.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, second left, and U.S President Joe Biden, center, pose with other leaders during a family picture at the NATO headquarters where the 30-nation alliance hopes to reaffirm its unity and discuss increasingly tense relations with China and Russia, as the organization pulls its troops out after 18 years in Afghanistan, June, 14, 2021. (Jacques Witt, Pool via AP, File)
He’ll be leaving him a country with an economy that’s actually not as bad as it’s been portrayed, significant infrastructure improvements, and people who can invest in America because they’re no longer battling crippling student loan debt.
But thanks to promised tariffs, mass deportations that are expected to start shortly after the iInauguration — , and a possible descent into fascism — , what the president that follows Trump will be handed is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden will be helping to find a cure for cancer and otherwise living his life.
He’ll probably also be sitting on the front porch of his home in Delaware talking with First Lady Jill Biden and shaking his head ruefully.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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