Joe Biden: A Consequentially Controversial Legacy

President Joe Biden left office on January 20th, 2025, as one of the most unpopular presidents in American history with an approval rating of just 39 percent according to the Real Clear Politics Average. His presidency was irreparably damaged by rampant inflation, an inability to mitigate new international conflicts, and the insurmountable hurdle of being the oldest president to ever serve, leaving office at the age of 82.

His deteriorating public support overshadowed the fact that Biden was the most legislatively consequential president since LBJ’s 1960s-era Great Society agenda. Inheriting an economy still largely shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he orchestrated the strongest recovery of any industrialized nation. He achieved key investments in infrastructure, the environment, and industrial manufacturing. All of these investments will take years, if not decades, to be realized, but will disproportionately benefit younger Americans who will enjoy new roads, an environment with a fighting chance against climate change, and a manufacturing sector able to hold its own against international competition. Biden’s legacy is a tale of a hopeful start and a disappointing finish.

One example of this dichotomy was Biden’s decision to issue a slew of pardons and commutations in the closing days of his presidency – including preemptive pardons for Biden family members with mere minutes remaining – exemplifying how presidents can abuse their constitutional authority for personal gain. His ambitious use of pardon and clemency powers shattered the norm set by many presidents before him, who were judicious in their use of such authority. President Trump exploited the opening Biden created to issue blanket pardons to over 1,500 people convicted in relation to the January 6th, 2021, Capitol insurrection. As a young person deeply worried about the future of American democracy, Biden’s reckless moves will forever sully his legacy in my eyes. His choice to renege on his 2020 pledge to be a “more normal president,” particularly when it came to use of presidential pardon power, is a gross violation of the trust placed in him by the American people.

Further, President Biden’s failure to step aside earlier in the 2024 contest is one of, if not the largest, contributing factor behind the Democrat’s defeat and the return of Donald Trump in 2024. As a result, Joe Biden will go down as a consequentially controversial president.

With Democratic control of the House, Senate, and Presidency during the first half of Biden’s term, he was successful in passing critical legislation such as the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, to name a few. For young people, the child tax credit was extended, which reduced childhood poverty by 40%, school lunches became free, and more stringent gun safety measures incentivized red-flag laws, mandated expanded background checks, and empowered judges to remove weapons from those deemed unsafe. The I.R.A. was the single-largest investment in climate technology in world history, which will, among other things, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. Perhaps most consequentially, Biden never relented in his goal of forgiving federal student loan debt, erasing over $186 billion in loans for over 5 million borrowers, the vast majority of which are under 30.

Regardless of your opinion of Joe Biden, it is an undeniable fact that his accomplishments rivaled those of FDR and LBJ. Young people are better off due to Biden’s presidency. The same can be said for both union and non-union workers, mothers, and almost everyone else. While other presidents promised change and failed to deliver, Biden followed through and ultimately paid the price for it. Amidst a global inflation spike due to exorbitant COVID-era economic stimulus spending, his hands-off approach to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy enabled the U.S. economy to achieve a “soft landing,” reducing inflation from a staggering 9% to roughly 2.7% as of December 2024 without sacrificing economic growth. His administration created over 15 million jobs, achieved historic wage growth, and a resurgence in union membership that has reinvigorated the labor movement. Nevertheless, Biden’s legacy is not defined by any one issue.

On immigration, Biden once again started strong and ended flat on his rear. Biden’s first bill submitted to Congress was a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system in the United States. Despite being at the peak of his political power, his administration failed to provide the bill sufficient backing and it died in Congress. Even still, Biden went ahead with executive orders rescinding many Trump-era immigration policies. His decision to massively weaken barriers to entry into the United States without reforming the immigration system led to a flood of illegal immigrants across the southern border, totaling more than 3 million illegal crossings during his presidency. Right-wing media quickly seized on the surge and helped make immigration the top issue for millions of Americans. The Biden administration pretended not to notice.

That is, until March of 2024, when his administration moved his position on immigration far to the right, endorsing policies such as shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border, investing in a border wall, and beefing up I.C.E. funding. The bill failed, but his initial failure to achieve meaningful immigration reform coupled with his endorsement and popularization of draconian immigration policies enabled the new Trump administration to move forward with unprecedented deportations, detentions, and separations. While I certainly won’t blame Trump’s actions on Biden, his inaction gave Trump a window to act, and act he has.

However, if you ask any young person what Biden’s biggest failure was during his presidency, chances are the first thing they mention will be his blunderous handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict. His initial embrace of Israel and far-too-slow backtrack of support following Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians irrevocably tarnished his legacy among many young people who supported a cease-fire in the region. Biden should’ve leveraged the extensive military and economic aid the United States provides Israel each year. He should’ve publicly called for a cease-fire within a week of the opening of hostilities, rather than waiting until May 2024. Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly crossed each of the administration’s “red lines” without consequence. In the end, Biden was able to announce a formal cease-fire on January 16th, 2025, thanks in large part due to the intervention of president-elect Trump’s team.

Even including his failures, I remain thankful for Joe Biden’s life of public service and for his historic 4 years in office. Particularly in light of the early moves by the Trump administration, which have shown themselves to be anti-democratic, economically destructive, and regressive on every social issue, most notably Trump’s callous and arguably illegal immigration policy, I find myself longing for the days of Biden’s steady, quiet power.

What this really all boils down to is that Biden’s presidency is a story of high hopes and dashed dreams. Due in part to unfortunate circumstances – like inflation – and unavoidable facts – like his age – Biden’s administration never got the credit it deserved for the good it did for the American people. History will be kinder to Joe Biden than we have been, and generations of Americans in the future may very well come to revere the most consequential one-term president in American history.