Have I been running the Biden Administration?

My not-so-secret disagreements with their approach

Before I get to today’s post, we wanted to say an enormous thank you to everyone who donated to GiveDirectly yesterday. The fundraiser has, as of 5pm on Tuesday, raised over $300,000. That’s incredible (thank you again), and so close to our goal of $350,000.

You can help the poorest people in the world

If you missed yesterday’s post, or would like to participate in the fundraiser but just haven’t had a chance, here’s a reminder of our offer:

• Anyone who makes a one-time donation larger than $300 OR a monthly recurring donation of at least $25 will receive six bonus newsletters in 2025. This won’t be typical Slow Boring content, but lighter, more personal pieces, like movie reviews and Top 10 lists.

• Anyone who makes a one-time donation larger than $1200 OR a monthly recurring donation of at least $100 will, in addition to the bonus content, get a guaranteed answer to a mailbag question in 2025.

Just email your donation receipt to kate@slowboring.com and include the email address associated with your subscription. You can also see if your employer is able to match your donation.

---

Joe Biden has been unpopular for a long time, but the two times I’ve been polled, I said that I approve of his performance as president.

In other words, despite my various criticisms of him and his administration, I am, all things considered, a Joe Biden Defender. Notably, I was a supporter of the American Rescue Plan, despite some misgivings. I defended his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. I am a big fan of his low-key but important investment in international lead abatement efforts. I’m also just a kind of generic Democrat who agrees with Biden about abortion rights and thinks that it’s a good idea to help poor people get food and health care. And even though it sucks to lose, I think he and his team have plenty to be proud of, even though Biden’s place in history, sandwiched between two Trump terms, will end up being pretty odd.

That said, I’ve been surprised to learn since the election that I wielded vast influence in the Biden Administration and got both the government and the campaign I wanted.

I welcome the idea that this newsletter has influence in DC, and of course I like to think that what I write matters. It’s been reported that reworking the failed Build Back Better package into what became the Inflation Reduction Act involved some staffers passing my columns around, and I’m proud of that.

And it is true that people I’m friendly with are involved in the Future Forward Super PAC, which is not actually a $950 million personal slush fund for David Shor. I think Future Forward’s ads were fantastic, and if you think the biggest problem with Joe Biden’s presidency or Kamala Harris’s campaign was the ads that her aligned Super PAC ran, then I’m happy to own that disagreement. As it happens, though, there was a strategic divergence between Future Forward (which liked to run economic policy focused ads) and the campaign (which was more invested in democracy/fascism themes), and in my experience, leftists are typically more on Future Forward’s side of this.

But it’s just not true that I got the government that I wanted out of Joe Biden, and I don’t think my disagreements are some huge mystery. In fact, I think a lot of my publicly stated concerns have been vindicated.

Remember when Biden ended neoliberalism?

For starters, right up until Election Day, many on the left were excited to tell you that Joe Biden wasn’t just following traditional Democratic Party economic policy, he was leading a break with neoliberalism.