For President Biden, end of year reflection must be a particularly painful exercise in the waning days of 2024.
Within the span of just a few weeks in June, Biden had his disastrous debate with Donald Trump and became the first sitting U.S. president to have a child criminally convicted. Then, after Biden finally dropped out of the race, the candidate he anointed lost the presidency in November. The Democratic Party he helped build over his half-century in public life is now fractured, enfeebled and fearful about what lies ahead.
Biden has 45 days left in office. There’s only so much a lame duck president can achieve, but he has an opportunity to buoy his supporters and bolster his legacy. So what should he do?
That’s the question I put to five contributors in a recent episode of “The Opinions.” Binyamin Appelbaum, David Firestone, David French, Michelle Goldberg and Nicholas Kristof weighed in with their suggestions, which included nominating as many federal judges as possible and withholding American weapons from Israel. The episode highlights possible codas for Biden’s presidency. I hope it might prompt you to think about what you wish he’d done during his time in office — and what else he can do with the time he still has.
