He has seen big. He moved fast. He surprised his detractors and some of his supporters. In 100 days, Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, made his mark.
Without sleeve effects, faithful to the empathetic and willingly familiar tone he loves, the one who was first elected on a promise of calm after the Trump storm is striding forward.
Mocked for his hesitations and blunders? He shows himself to be disciplined, with carefully calibrated communication to support him. He stands up to Vladimir Poutine and Xi Jinping with formulas that hit the mark (“He doesn’t have an ounce of democracy in him,” he blurted out about his Chinese counterpart).
Accused of running out of safe? The oldest president in history highlights record after record on vaccination (more than 200 million doses administered). In a few weeks, he had a plan to support the economy of 1.9 billion dollars adopted, and in the process proposed another on infrastructure of an equivalent amount.
“He was underestimated, but part of the reason is his career. During his career as a senator, he has always favored pragmatism and small changes, ”Julian Zelizer, professor of history at Princeton University, told AFP.
“Even during his campaign, he praised moderation and normality. In a way, he changed his strategy by opting for more daring. It is a strategy which, from a political point of view, has paid off ”.
Presidency without dramas
Symbol of a simple style that he claims, he regularly takes out of his suit pocket a small sheet on which are written the main indicators of the pandemic, including the number of deaths.
Surrounded by a team hitherto united, it offers the spectacle of a presidency without dramas or scandals. The announced split of the Democratic Party did not take place. The left wing has shown some signs of impatience but has so far supported ‘Joe’.
On a daily basis, the White House gives the image of a “well-oiled machine”, to use the phrase used by Donald Trump to describe, in a strange pirouette, the chaos that reigned in the corridors of the prestigious West Wing during his tenure. .
On the international front too, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr quickly positioned himself.
Its “climate summit” – virtual but well orchestrated – marked in a spectacular way the return of the United States (“America is back”) in this diplomatic game from which its predecessor had withdrew with a crash.
This high mass barely completed, he kept Saturday an emblematic campaign promise: he pronounced the word “genocide” to speak of the death of a million and a half Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
None of his predecessors had dared, fearing the strong reaction of Turkey: Barack Obama had also pledged to do so, but had stepped back once installed in the Oval Office.
Narrow majority
As a veteran of Washington, however, he knows that the hardest part is yet to come.
Its narrow majority in Congress is a vulnerability: it places a handful of Democratic senators – like Joe Manchin – in the position of overpowered referees.
Its infrastructure investment plan is only a project to date. The discussions promise to be bitter, the outcome of the legislative battle is uncertain.
On firearms, as on electoral laws, his powerlessness may soon become glaringly obvious.
Finally, on the thorny issue of immigration, Joe Biden has been on the defensive since coming to power. Trial and error, backpedaling: torn between the promise of a more “humane” migration policy and the crisis at the Mexican border, with arrivals by thousands of migrants, the White House is struggling.
On Wednesday, on the eve of the symbolic 100-day anniversary, he will deliver his first general policy speech to Congress, in prime-time.
His spokesperson Jen Psaki promised a speech centered on childhood, education, health, “the priorities of the middle class”. With, at the heart of the device, a tax hike for richer Americans.
FDR? LBJ?
In the Democratic camp, the machine is racing, flattering – sometimes hasty – comparisons are raining down.
Some evoke Franklin D. Roosevelt (“FDR”) and the audacity of the New Deal to raise the country mired in the Great Depression. Others cite Lyndon B. Johnson, who had used his fine knowledge of the workings of Congress to move the lines in American society.
Will Joe Biden join the small – prestigious – group of presidents who have left their mark on American history?
“It is possible, but it is far too early to tell”, tempers Julian Zelizer.
Opposite, deprived of his Twitter account but especially of the powerful megaphone of the presidency, Donald Trump is for the moment inaudible. His angry, almost daily press releases fall into the void.
As if to better say that the page is turned, Joe Biden hardly ever evokes his bubbling predecessor.
But “the old guy”, as he called it a few weeks ago, remains extremely popular in the Republican camp. And could give voice to the approach of the midterm elections, at the end of 2022, where Joe Biden will play big.
Hence the latter’s desire to strike hard (“go big”) at the start of his mandate, as long as he has all the levers of power.