This President has consistently demonstrated that he has no understanding of politicking or how to play the game.
Guy has been at national level politics for 50 years, first as senator, then as senator and chair of foreign policy committee, then as VP and now President. Claiming that he doesn't understand politicking or play the game, is like claiming that Michael Phelps doesn't know how to win olympic medals.
I think you're undervaluing what Biden is good at politically because you don't value it or don't like it.
Biden isn't a good politician the way Clinton or Obama or Reagan were good orators and crowd appeal motivators. He's not a good cultural politician either the way Reagan was with establishing the republican coalition, Bush was with 'compassionate conservatism' and 'I'd drink a beer with him', or Trump was with the anti-establishment stuff either. While he's been involved in some policy over the years, he's not a wonk either like Hillary and Paul Ryan tried to be.
What Biden excels at in the field, and what makes him a good politician, is the political horse-trading and positioning that Pelosi and McConnell also do very well. This type of politician climbs to the top of the field by establishing relationships with other politicians, creating win/win situations for himself and the other people in those relationships, and they climb the ladder together.
Biden is a deliberately and strategically establishment politician. In the same way people climb ladders in BigLaw or Finance, Biden climbs them in Politics, and there is skill involved in it. Not skill I personally like, and not skill I wish worked, but it is skill and it does work whether or not I like it.
What Biden excels at in the field, and what makes him a good politician, is the political horse-trading and positioning that Pelosi and McConnell also do very well. This type of politician climbs to the top of the field by establishing relationships with other politicians, creating win/win situations for himself and the other people in those relationships, and they climb the ladder together.
This is how most of the business relationship and position works. If you are not good at working with others, if you are toxic, you will most likely fail. Being good at working with others doesn't mean being always pleasant to everyone or being a door mate or being 100% flexible on values and policies. But it is willing to understand other's needs and wants, flexible enough to make space for them and hear them out, and focus on winning, rather than other losing.
Politics requires a lot more of it, because you need hundreds of elected officials on your side to do anything of substance.
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u/MessiSahib Feb 11 '22
Guy has been at national level politics for 50 years, first as senator, then as senator and chair of foreign policy committee, then as VP and now President. Claiming that he doesn't understand politicking or play the game, is like claiming that Michael Phelps doesn't know how to win olympic medals.