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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats always get a raw deal
Republicans historically so thoroughly fuck this country up that the Democrats are almost always responsible for cleaning up their messes.
We saw it with FDR taking over during the height of the Great Depression.
We saw it with Carter taking over a dispirited country completely disillusioned by its government largely thanks to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon.
We saw it with Clinton in 1993 taking over from a decade of Reaganomics and the catastrophic effect it had on the economy.
We saw it with Obama in 2009 after being handed the reins of a divided, broken and economically depressed nation.
And we saw it with Biden in 2021. He inherited a once-in-century pandemic. Thousands drying a day. An economic recession. And a former president sewing the seeds of hate unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Then they're expected to clean everything up in two or three or four years.
Biden finds himself in the same spot as the last two Democratic presidents: largely seeing success but not at the speed a lot of Americans would like.
We forget just how bad things were because we get used to how average things are in the moment.
And that's what these presidents have to fight against. It's why Bill Clinton, in early 1995, was losing to Bob Dole and why Obama, in 2011, was losing badly to Generic Republican and yes, why Biden's numbers are dinged too.
Fortunately, with Clinton and Obama, things became more clear when the campaign kicked off. It's like Americans were jolted into remembering just how much progress has been made.
Now it's Biden's turn to convince the American people of that progress - and remind them of just how bad it was on January 20th, 2021.
The good news for Biden? He's likely going up against the dude who got us into this mess in the first place. And while that guy has a strong base of support, let's not forget that he only increased his popular vote total by .7% between 2016 and 2020.
That guy has a clear ceiling we've seen the last two elections and no, I don't think there's any reason to believe that will change in 2024.
but it's going to be a challenge to remind Americans just how bad things were in 2020 - and how bad they can get if we cede our country's freedoms.
I like that Biden has coopted the freedom message. It's something Republicans have loved to run on over the years and it's firmly within his message.
2024 is about freedom.
Freedom to vote. Freedom to choose. Freedom to love whomever you love. Freedom to live.
It's just a shame Democrats have to always inherit a broken nation and put it back together again. But that's what happens when you vote in a Republican. They're going to break America.

onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)We're not going to allow that fucking traitor back in there.
XanaDUer2
(15,726 posts)Irish_Dem
(68,180 posts)The GOP burns it all down and steals everything that is not nailed down.
The only reason they let the Dems get into office is so the Dems can fill up
the empty piggy bank and do mop up.
Claustrum
(5,052 posts)and how utterly bad it currently is. Republicans are good at pushing the economy into a bubble until it burst. It doesn't matter who gets hurt during the burst as long as they steal as much money as they can during the "good time" with cutting taxes.
And people falls for it because they don't understand the economy enough that they think republican ruling means good time, even though that "good time" pushes us into recession every single time and democrats are left to clean up the mess. And the right is so good at lying to the people that democrats are bad for the economy because we are left to clean up the mess that they left.
Irish_Dem
(68,180 posts)As long as they get rich and have power.
They feel entitled to all of it.
Exactly the Dems have to clean up the mess and the GOP lies about it
and makes ups look bad so they can start the cycle all over again.
And the people fall for it every time.
FakeNoose
(37,150 posts)I agree with everything you say here!