Democrats have no problem putting out policies, but a terrible record on actually getting anything done. On climate change, we need drastic action, and I don't think that a Biden administration will do more than eat around the edges (especially since the Green New Deal was specifically excluded from the Democratic platform earlier this year). The Democrats have fucked around for too many years for me to have any real faith that they'll do anything real.
I think that's a little unfair. The ACA was the biggest health care deal since LBJ. The Obergefell decision was made by the Supreme Court, but Obama's and Biden's endorsement went very far to swing public opinion, which the Court is obviously reactive to. The Paris accord was a major deal. And the Iran deal was also a big effort. Obama's legacy, of which Biden was an undeniable major part, is bigger than a lot of people like to give credit for. The fact that the GOP has spent the last 11 years rabidly trying to roll it all back speaks volumes. If it weren't consequential, then nobody would care.
The ACA was a compromise that didn't need to be made - the Democrats had complete control of the government for two years and squandered it. The Paris Accord was symbolic, and hasn't led to any meaningful action. I think giving them credit for influencing Obergefell is a stretch. Meanwhile, you have significant problems that continue: racial injustice in the legal system, police brutality, climate change, and immigration, about which they did nothing or even set us back. Let us also not forget that they set the precedent of saying it's totally fine to execute American citizens abroad without due process (to say nothing of all the foreign civilians they killed via the drone program).
I know so many reasonably well off democrat like to tell me how fantastic the ACA was. I knew multiple working class people who bought their mandated health care and took their kids to the doctors when they got sick but couldn't afford to use the health care they had paid for themselves because they wouldn't make rent or be able to buy school cloths. My families health care, which we got through my wife, went up faster than her pay rate for a decade. Every one of Obamas eight years in office we were less well off than the year before because the cost of health care. "Well he bent the curve" says snooty McKoolAid fuck. Tell that to someone who has paid for healthcare (Yea, he expanded coverage) but can't afford to get care for their chronic back pain lest they lose their house (I need the insurance in case I have a car accident). Pretending that the ACA was a game changing piece of legislation means you are a loyal consumer of propaganda. People are so invested in political war all they care about is the score card an nothing about results. Same shit with the environment. Pairs accord is window dressing when compared to the reality of the situation. It's anything but comforting listening to Obama tell us all about how Joe isn't a socialist. If you looked at his record sinking bankruptcy reform that would have helped the working class you'd know that. Same with his service to the credit card industry. He's been a boon to the police state and the military state. He's done fine work on tax shelters. We are so fucked that we are happy to get shit asses like Obama an Biden in office, I'm in absolute despair that anything will ever get better.
I couldn't have said it better. I've been spending time on leftist Discord, which has helped me learn a lot of things from a new perspective, but also to help commiserate about how ugly things have gotten.
I'm not arguing that Obama was perfect or that he made the world a Utopia. I'm saying that when you compare his policy achievements to the last several presidents, he stacks up very well. Just think back to Bush's and Clinton's major policy initiatives. They're almost all catastrophes.
Yes, he definitely managed to clear those very low bars.