What more do you want from Joe Biden?

With midterms arriving soon, why is there such malcontent around the Biden Administration’s governing?

Joe Biden has been President for about a year and a half now, and he’s enjoyed a Democratic House & Senate in that time. He ended a wave of Trump era reforms on day one as part of his effort to “restore America’s soul.” He’s also delivered the American Rescue Plan, which made landmark investments in American infrastructure and gave desperately needed relief to working families. By many metrics, he’s had the “most progressive Presidency in American history,” so this begs the question, why is his approval rating so low, and why are there so many people that want more from him & the Democratic Party more broadly?

I’ll start with the statement that Biden’s had “the most (or at least one of the most) progressive Presidencies in American history.” For the sake of time, let’s pretend that I agree with that statement. How progressive Biden’s Presidency has been in comparison to past Presidents doesn’t matter. Let’s say that the United States is a student. If so, it would be a horrible student (i.e., chattel slavery, Jim Crow, & mass incarceration). If the nation’s grades in the past were in the teens and twenties (out of 100), then one day it suddenly started getting 40s and 50s, does that mean that it’s passing now? Of course not. Even with the Biden…