On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden will deliver a prime-time address to the nation—a final attempt, according to The New York Times, to “cement his legacy.” The address will be closely followed by his “final interview as president” with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Together, these orchestrated events mark the latest in a series of efforts by the Biden administration to craft a narrative for posterity. Yet, the public response suggests a fundamental disconnect between Biden’s self-image and the broader American experience under his presidency.
The Legacy Biden Wants to Leave
In recent weeks, Biden has been on an exhaustive farewell tour, offering a slew of speeches, interviews, and op-eds aimed at burnishing his image. A mid-December address to the Brookings Institution was emblematic of this effort, where Biden touted achievements he claimed will shape the nation for years to come. A booming economy, investments in infrastructure, and progress in domestic semiconductor production were paraded as triumphs. The president’s message was clear: the fruits of his labor may not yet be evident, but history will vindicate him.
Biden’s op-ed accompanying that speech doubled down on this idea, asserting that Americans should reserve judgment until “years to see the full effects” of his policies. The sentiment was repeated during a State Department address last week, where Biden declared, “Compared to four years ago, America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger. Our adversaries and competitors are weaker.”
For Biden, these proclamations are less a dialogue with the nation and more a script for the annals of history, crafted in partnership with an eager progressive intelligentsia.
The Disconnect with Reality
The problem for Biden is that the narrative he seeks to sell has not found a willing audience. Polls consistently show that more than six in ten Americans consider Biden’s presidency a failure. The dissonance between Biden’s self-congratulatory rhetoric and public sentiment could not be more striking.
The president’s claim of a strong economy feels unmoored from the reality of persistent inflation, skyrocketing energy costs, and mounting national debt. His boasts of foreign policy success ignore the debacle in Afghanistan, a growing geopolitical threat from China, and a war in Ukraine that has strained resources and alliances. Domestically, promises of a revitalized IRS and transformative infrastructure projects ring hollow in the face of bureaucratic inefficiency and growing skepticism about government overreach.
The administration’s missteps, compounded by an inability to adapt to public discontent, have made these farewell speeches feel more like wishful thinking than a genuine reckoning with the successes and failures of his tenure.
A Presidency of Flattery and Insulation
Perhaps Biden’s audience is not the American public but rather the “historians” and partisans who will attempt to shape the record of his presidency. This, too, is fitting. Biden’s administration began with high expectations cultivated by an insular group of advisers, media allies, and academics. It was a presidency shaped by those who spoke to his ambitions but not to the challenges of governing a divided and skeptical nation.
This insularity has been a hallmark of Biden’s term. From the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan to the mishandling of economic challenges, Biden’s presidency has often seemed unmoored from the realities confronting ordinary Americans. The echo chamber of flatterers and ideologues that helped usher him into office has continued to define his leadership style, leading to decisions that prioritize optics over substance.
A Legacy of Vanity
Biden’s farewell tour is not about convincing Americans of the merits of his presidency; it is about convincing himself. The sheer volume of exit interviews, speeches, and op-eds underscores a need for validation that the polls and public opinion do not provide. In this, his presidency concludes as it began: with an overreliance on the judgment of those who pander to his vanity.
Ultimately, legacy is not built through speeches or op-eds but through the lived experience of a nation. Biden can deliver all the self-congratulatory addresses he wants, but the judgment of history is not written in press releases. It is written in the economic, social, and geopolitical realities left behind—and those realities do not paint a flattering picture of his presidency.
As the nation prepares to move on, Biden’s farewell tour is a stark reminder of a leader more concerned with appearances than outcomes. It is a fitting conclusion for a presidency that, despite lofty rhetoric, has struggled to meet the moment. For Americans ready to turn the page, Biden’s parting words may serve as a final lesson in the dangers of leadership defined by vanity and insularity.
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