Meacham on Biden

[George K]

The Roosevelt parallel, manifest in a giant portrait in Biden’s Oval Office, persists not only because the 32nd president helped defeat fascism in the second world war but because his New Deal in 1933 steered America out of the Great Depression.

There are those who claim that FDR's policies prolonged the Great Depression by years.

[Horace]

“That’s not Biden and I’m not saying that somewhere in his brain that’s not unfolding; I don’t know,” he says. “But I think I have a pretty good sense of this and I think he genuinely sees this as an existential moment for democracy. He sees clearly definable problems that have to be solved and, in so far as case studies of past successes and past failures can be an arrow in his quiver, I think that’s what he wants.”

Not to force an actually interesting tidbit out of an historian's pie hole, but I wonder what those clearly definable problems posing an existential threat to democracy are?

However, Meacham – whose 2018 bestseller, The Soul of America, foreshadowed the central theme of Biden’s election campaign – notes that his approach polls strongly with the general public while Republicans veer off into “culture wars” issues such as the rights of transgender student athletes or the withdrawal of six Dr Seuss books due to racially insensitive imagery.

Those darned Republicans, concentrating so hard on culture war issues. Dems, on the other hand, are all about policy.

Wow, this historian might be among the dumbest and most tribal I've ever seen. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him.

[George K]

@horace said in Meacham on Biden:

this historian might be among the dumbest and most tribal I've ever seen

I enjoyed Meacham's biography of Bush (the Elder).

[Horace]

@george-k said in Meacham on Biden:

@horace said in Meacham on Biden:

this historian might be among the dumbest and most tribal I've ever seen

I enjoyed Meacham's biography of Bush (the Elder).

I am sure he's a competent biographer, but his cultural insights are tribal garbage.

[taiwan_girl]

I think that every President thinks (or part thinks) that they are the smartest person in the room, and that they alone, have the answers to all of the problems that are faced by the country.

I think that the real good presidents learn to have real smart people around them and not to listen only to themselves.

Yes, of course, they have to make the final decision, but hopefully they will do that with input.

[George K]

@taiwan_girl said in Meacham on Biden:

I think that every President thinks (or part thinks) that they are the smartest person in the room...

I think that the real good presidents learn to have real smart people around them and not to listen only to themselves..

"If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room."

[taiwan_girl]

@george-k said in Meacham on Biden:

@taiwan_girl said in Meacham on Biden:

I think that every President thinks (or part thinks) that they are the smartest person in the room...

I think that the real good presidents learn to have real smart people around them and not to listen only to themselves..

"If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room."

I like that quote!

[Horace]

Unless you're a world class stable genius who chooses to bend your intellect to occupying the greatest room in the land. Then you have nowhere else to go.

[Aqua Letifer]

@george-k said in Meacham on Biden:

@taiwan_girl said in Meacham on Biden:

I think that every President thinks (or part thinks) that they are the smartest person in the room...

I think that the real good presidents learn to have real smart people around them and not to listen only to themselves..

"If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room."

I'll see myself out.

[Loki]

@horace said in Meacham on Biden:

“That’s not Biden and I’m not saying that somewhere in his brain that’s not unfolding; I don’t know,” he says. “But I think I have a pretty good sense of this and I think he genuinely sees this as an existential moment for democracy. He sees clearly definable problems that have to be solved and, in so far as case studies of past successes and past failures can be an arrow in his quiver, I think that’s what he wants.”

Not to force an actually interesting tidbit out of an historian's pie hole, but I wonder what those clearly definable problems posing an existential threat to democracy are?

However, Meacham – whose 2018 bestseller, The Soul of America, foreshadowed the central theme of Biden’s election campaign – notes that his approach polls strongly with the general public while Republicans veer off into “culture wars” issues such as the rights of transgender student athletes or the withdrawal of six Dr Seuss books due to racially insensitive imagery.

Those darned Republicans, concentrating so hard on culture war issues. Dems, on the other hand, are all about policy.

Wow, this historian might be among the dumbest and most tribal I've ever seen. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him.

Bingo. Meachum wasactually on the Biden for President payroll right or did he write the speeches for free?

[jon-nyc]

@george-k said in Meacham on Biden:

I enjoyed Meacham's biography of Bush (the Elder).

I liked it a lot. He was clearly a fan.

[Horace]

Not the first person to turn tribal in the wake of TDS. Accusing the Republicans of being obsessed with culture wars while the Democrats are above them, is a clear tribal divorce from reality.

[Loki]

I have loved reading Meachum’s books. Franklin and Winston comes to mind. That said he is an active advocate of Biden which should be noted, not wearing dispassionate historian hat on this one.