News Analysis: The First 100 Days of the Biden Administration

WASHINGTON — A full four-year presidential term of office is 1,461 days long, from one inaugural speech on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol to the next. Why is it then, considering this length of time, so many political pundits and analysts emphasize the work and activity of a president within their first 100 days in office?

This tradition, as old, vetted and perhaps odd as it may be, has an origin story that truly substantiates its significance and existence in presidential lore. It was the newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who assumed office in March of 1933, that coined the term “first 100 days” in a radio address to the nation. Taking office in one of the darkest hours of American history, the nation looked to Roosevelt to cultivate change, progress and solutions fast, immediate action needed from a desperate America. 

Since its coinage, the “first 100 days”  has taken on a symbolic meaning, serving as a brief period of time that measures the strengths, weaknesses, foundation and direction of a presidency that lies ahead. 

As the first 100 days of the nation’s 46th president draws to a close on April 30, it is time to apply the history and significance of this famed term to President Joe Biden. In doing so, we will evaluate his accomplishments and promises fulfilled from the campaign trail, assess his failures, setbacks and broken promises and develop a roadmap derived from the outline of his first 100 days that illustrates the potential future of his presidency. It is my hope that this evaluation may serve as a guide that ultimately determines where Biden will stand in America’s cabal of its most prominent executives. 

While Biden did not face a great depression when entering office, as one of his predecessors Roosevelt had, he was still tasked with addressing and solving a surfeit of issues and crises. Facing a global pandemic, unsteady economy, cultural tensions and calamitous political divide, President Biden certainly had his work cut out for him upon entering the highest office of the land. Thus, let us examine how he reacted. 

The Good

After a slew of first-week executive orders, President Biden reversed many policies enacted by the Trump Administration, setting forth plans for the U.S. to officially rejoin the Paris Agreement and World Health Organization, action to re-establish the U.S.’s presence within the international community and contribute to global environmental and health security and to veer away from an almost renewed era of isolationism that President Trump sought to explore. In this flurry of executive orders, President Biden also lifted the controversial Trump-era Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, otherwise known as the Muslim ban or travel ban, a move which contributed toward areas of necessary immigration reform and casted a more inclusive light on U.S. foreign and domestic policy. 

Aside from President Biden’s billow of executive orders, the commander-in-chief, according to the Business Insider on March 11, “already has a major, historic legislative accomplishment on his record…the steps Biden has taken appear to be putting the U.S. on the road to recovery from the pandemic.”

On March 10, 2021, Congress passed Biden’s American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package designed to provide stimulus checks, unemployment insurance and assist in economic and pandemic recovery, which ultimately serves as a historic measure against poverty. This measure has also served as Biden’s hallmark of reviving the American economy, resulting in the easing of financial tensions and constraints of American citizens and businesses, as well stimulating job growth and placing an emphasis on the administration’s investment in human and social capital.

Alongside his economic revival, Biden has been successful in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, not only through the stimulus package, but specifically through his effective vaccine rollout initiative. Purchasing enough vaccines for three times the U.S. adult population, Biden overshot his original goal of distributing 100 million shots in his first 100 days, a milestone he surpassed on day 58. 

He is now on track to have successfully distributed 200 million shots in his first 100 days, having tripled the number of daily vaccinations in less than three months. As of April 19, Biden announced all American adults became eligible for a vaccine. It is Biden’s successful strides in combating this pandemic that may just allow a return to normalcy for the U.S. far sooner than predicted.

In building off of relief, President Biden has also taken immense strides in both housing and education. Biden achieved this through recent actions taken to extend the pause on student loan payments and pause evictions and foreclosures to assist students and homeowners with issues and complications surrounding the pandemic and its effect on the economy.

It is important to note, however, that perhaps Biden’s greatest accomplishment and fulfilled promise is not necessarily one that can be measured. According to Mohammad Rezwanul Haque Masud, a political science graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder, said: “President Biden took charge in a time of democratic crisis. Biden has fulfilled his promise of keeping political tension in check, keeping the temperature down, and refusing to provoke further division through maintaining respectful, professional language…Biden listens to the experts, and his experience in politics and government speaks volumes.”

Throughout his bid for the presidency, Biden championed the cause of being a “president for all Americans,” a message which certainly helped him obtain the nation’s highest office. In labeling his myriad of accomplishments, Rezwanul Haque Masud also points to Biden’s appointment of qualified experts into his cabinet, specifically noting that of John Kerry.

Through his appointment of Kerry as the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement and executive action taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Biden has successfully made climate change and green energy an American priority. 

While this appointment and measures to re-establish U.S. presence in the international convocation against climate change are indeed accomplishments, the work to combat climate change and improve environmental sustainability are to be identified in the future of his presidency. In considering the host of Biden’s accomplishments, it is important to recognize that had the Democratic Party not won congressional majority, we would be having a very different conversation.

The Bad

Biden, a moderate, centrist-Democrat with decades of experience working on the Senate floor, is undoubtedly the champion of bi-partisan work and efforts, a role he promised to play and successfully carry out during his presidency. Unfortunately, this has been one of his most glaring failures in his young presidency so far, something that even he admitted and reflected upon himself. 

Biden has failed to achieve bi-partisan support on the legislative acts he has proposed, and passed as of yet, most prominently found in the recently-passed stimulus package and the upcoming American Jobs Plan. Failure to receive bi-partisan support has also cost President Biden’s campaign promise of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and only allows a host of legislative complications to most certainly surface in the future. 

Rezwanul Haque Masud provides a counter-argument however, stating that the failure to achieve bi-partisan support is not a reflection on President Biden or his leadership, but rather on the hypocrisy of certain Republican lawmakers’ and their inability to cooperate with the majority-holding Democrats. This is also true. When I speak of Biden’s inability to achieve bi-partisan support on legislation, I only address it as a failure because Biden has accepted that very own personal reflection upon himself.

Aside from the headache that can be congressional politics, Biden—like most recent presidents—has struggled with immigration policy in response to the currently ensuing migrant crisis at the U.S.’s southern border. Having appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to handle this crisis, there has been little to no response from the Biden administration to resolve this issue. The failure to address and resolve this issue has even led to the resignation of the White House’s Border Coordinator Roberta S. Jacobson.

In regards to international politics and foreign policy, Rezwanul Haque Masud criticizes President Biden’s “free pass” to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia over their involvement in the murder of Saudi-dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. This is of course, presumably, due to the immense economic ties held between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. 

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Rezwanul Haque Masud points to the U.S.’s current relationship with China, believing President Biden must “focus on Chinese relations,” further stating “there is no way to win by distancing China.” Rezwanul Haque Masud  also expresses confusion in Biden’s authorization of a bomb strike in Syria, which is President Biden’s first known military action since assuming the presidency. The bomb strike, which most assume was a threatening provocation to Iran, was designed to retaliate against Iranian-backed militias in the region. “The bomb strike in Syria was not expected from Biden,” Rezwanul Haque Masud said.

What might be considered a mere concern rather than a prominent failure, expressed by economists, lawmakers and political analysts on both sides of the aisle, is President Biden’s appetite for immense spending, which has in part negatively affected Biden’s ability to achieve bi-partisan support on his legislative efforts. There is no doubt that Biden is disbursing American dollars to significant causes, but many fear that the enormity of his expenditures could irreparably worsen the U.S. deficit and contribute to future economic turmoil. This is of course speculative, but worth heavy consideration.

The Future

Amid growing protests and social justice movements, President Biden will more than likely address calls for substantive police reform in the near future, coupled with the challenge of combating gun violence in response to the recent increase of mass shootings across the country. In the wake of the Boulder King Soopers shooting, Biden responded with a promise to enact several pieces of gun legislation, including ending the proliferation of untraceable firearms (ghost guns), mobilizing the Justice Department to be more effective in tracking firearms trafficking and the prevention of citizens from obtaining assault rifles, a move past presidents have spoken about, but never substantially taken action toward. This act can be considered a successful measure in and of itself, as Biden shows his willingness to contribute to gun reform and take on the epidemic that is gun violence in America.

In the midst of ensuing mass shootings and devastating gun violence in the U.S., President Biden announced on April 13, 2021, the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. Noting that he had become the fourth U.S. president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan, Biden decided it was time to end America’s longest war and bring our troops home. Both the previous Obama and Trump administrations swore to take this same action, but had failed to do so. It is expected that Biden will indeed be the president to break this cycle and bring an end to our military operations within the Afghan region.

In regards to action and legislation that will presumably take place immediately beyond Biden’s first 100 days, or within the first year of his presidency, we must look at Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

 A $2.3 trillion package comprised of infrastructure development and Biden’s version of the Green New Deal, the American Jobs Plan is not only designed to rebuild what is dubbed both “hard” and “soft” infrastructure, but aims to create jobs, improve transit systems, roads and bridges, along with modernizing American schools, childcare facilities, etc., with a particular emphasis on green energy and sustainability. The bill has also faced immense opposition from Republican lawmakers, who believe the president is “twisting” or unfairly expanding the definition of “infrastructure.” To ensure its passage, President Biden has recently expressed his willingness to compromise with Republican lawmakers.

Following the American Jobs Plan is Biden’s American Families Plan, a $1.5 trillion package to improve childcare, and institute universal prekindergarten, paid family leave, and free community college. To finance this plan, Biden has recently unveiled his controversial tax plan, a near-doubling of the capital gains tax for wealthier Americans from 20% to 39.6%, which could eventually top 43.4%. Many fear Biden’s tax plan could negatively impact the market and its investors, stifle the economy and increase unemployment, which could be a significant point of contention when this piece of legislation reaches the congressional floor. President Biden has touted both plans as “essential to our economic future.”

When examining the president’s potential policy endeavors within foreign policy, it is important to look at two countries: Iran and China. After the Trump administration withdrew from the Iranian Nuclear Deal in May of 2018, President Biden and his cabinet looked to rejoin the deal, despite recent complications within the negotiating processes concerning economic sanctions and political contention. According to the Wall Street Journal on April 21, 2021, “The Biden administration has signaled it is open to easing sanctions against critical elements of Iran’s economy, including oil and finance, helping narrow differences in nuclear talks, according to people familiar with the matter.”

President Biden’s relationship with China, however, may be one of the most important indicators of the direction his presidency will take in regards to his foreign policy. President Biden is tasked with, and must address, the dormant modern Cold War that has the U.S. and China pitted against one another. In reference to the alarming growth of China and inflaring political tensions, Rosa Brooks, former senior Pentagon official and current Georgetown University professor of law and policy stated in an April 16 interview on Real Time with Bill Maher, “I am concerned we are in danger of falling behind from a military-readiness perspective…that’s the one area where I worry that the Biden Administration is not…putting as much energy as it needs to.”

As one could speculate for days on what the future of the Biden administration may look like and what it may address, we must ask ourselves a very important question: What has defined President Biden’s first 100 days, and what could ultimately define his presidency? 

Arguably having the most successful and active first 100 days since President Franklin D. Roosevelt, historians will likely spotlight President Biden’s successes on addressing the pandemic, reviving the economy and cooling the temperature of a boiling nation. 

For the entirety of his presidency, Rezwanul Haque Masud believes the losses and gains of the Democratic party in the House and Senate will be the defining locus of his presidency. 

What do I believe? Biden’s presidency will be defined by his ability to heal a most divided nation and steady the shaken confidence the American people have in our government and democracy.

Whilst Biden’s first 100 days have concluded, his presidency very much remains an open book. Let us see what kind of story he will author for America and the world.