How Biden Surprised Progressives

A portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has hung over the fireplace in the Oval Office since the very beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency, a break with the longstanding tradition of giving George Washington that prized spot.It was a tribute to a president whom Biden had invoked during his campaign, whom he admired for prioritizing the working class and who seemed to be a kind of North Star for a presidency in which Biden hoped to use government to protect the vulnerable.Some of his allies have said he lived up to that ambition, at least to a degree.“President Biden, when he came into office, said that he would be the most progressive president since F.D.R., and I think on domestic issues — not on foreign policy — on domestic issues, he has kept his word,” Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, said shortly after Biden’s loss.Comparing a one-term president to F.D.R.might be a little like comparing me, your humble newsletter writer, to Shakespeare or Robert Caro.

But it’s an example of the kind of lofty praise for Biden that has been emanating from a corner of his party that would have seemed unimaginable for much of his career: the left.“When it comes to domestic policy, President Biden probably would go down as one of the most effective presidents that centered the working class,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, told me this afternoon, although she added that she disagreed deeply with him on foreign policy issues such as the war in Gaza.“I was surprised at the openness that was exhibited in his administration, particularly in the earliest days,” Ocasio-Cortez said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.W...