How Joe Biden really got it done
This weekend served as a good reminder that most progressive advancements are achieved by savvy leaders like Joe Biden who know how to get things done – as opposed to those leaders who merely announce the most leftist positions possible, angrily stomp their feet, and fail to deliver on any of it.
Before Biden, the most substantial progressive moves came from President Lyndon Johnson – no one’s idea of a “progressive.” Before that it was Franklin Roosevelt, who worked on Wall Street prior to becoming President. Before that it was Abraham Lincoln, who was a corporate lawyer prior to becoming President.
The point is that if you’re going to define “progressive” in terms of actual progress (and you should – it’s right there in the name), then it’s rarely the purist politicians who run around calling themselves “progressives” who make it happen. The accomplishments come from politically savvy leaders who lean at least some moderate degree to the left, and are politically capable of actually shifting things to the left.
