One year ago on Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the forty-sixth President of the United States. This inauguration marked a new day in American history and a fresh start from a controversial four years under previous President Donald Trump. The 2020 US election came at the end of a tumultuous year seeing high racial tensions, high unemployment, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
It is an undisputed fact that President Biden has not had the strongest year in office. Many Republicans and Democrats as well feel that President Biden has not fulfilled his promises of bringing back the United States after a tough year in 2020. From the Afghanistan crisis to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a difficult year in the United States.
Perhaps the most pressing issue of the 2020 US election was the COVID-19 outbreak. The virus has killed millions of people worldwide and has changed the way of life in the United States and abroad. Face coverings are now required in most locations, schools were closed and put into a virtual environment, economies have shut down and social distancing was strongly enforced.
Fortunately, there has been a sign of hope. Several different vaccines have been developed over the past year such as Moderna and Pfizer which both have over ninety-three percent effectiveness ratings according to the CDC. Now that vaccinations are being given out, over sixty-two percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated according to the CDC as of Jan. 4.
The federal government recently launched a website, covidtests.gov to ship free COVID tests to every home in the US. The Biden Administration also announced they would give away free N95 masks at health centers and pharmacies nationwide.
Despite the effectiveness of the vaccines, millions of Americans still refuse the shot. An equal number of Americans are fed up with this resistance and have taken their stand against the unvaccinated. Across the nation, many business owners, schools, and sporting venues now require that all who enter be vaccinated.
When the pandemic hit, the economy took a massive hit and shut down. Millions of Americans were out of work, prices were up, and due to lack of customers, many small businesses shut down permanently. When lockdowns began to end, the country started to open back up, and the American people could finally return to work. Although America is back at work, inflation has jumped in Bidens' first year.
Besides unemployment, inflation has risen compared to the previous year. According to Consumer Price Index data from the US Department of Labor, the average inflation rate in 2020 was 1.8% while in 2021 the average rate was 4.42%. As a result of inflation and increased regulation, the average cost of gas per gallon in the US has grown from $2.25 in 2020 to $3.09 in 2021 according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Foreign policy has been another weak spot for the Biden Administration. Initially, the Biden Administration seemed to be doing the right thing and ended a seemingly endless twenty-year conflict overseas when President Biden announced the US would finally be leaving Afghanistan. When the military pulled out in late August, innocent civilians were left defenseless and slaughtered by the Taliban on their way to taking over Afghanistan greatly contributing to a great disdain towards the US president.
The end of pointless wars overseas has started to resonate with many Americans who have seen friends and family die over the last twenty years. Not only have thousands of US troops and innocent civilians died, but the financial stake has been a major reason to end wars abroad as well. Billions of dollars have been wasted overseas, and the government does not seem to be stopping any time soon as the defense budget for 2022 is at 728 billion dollars, 24 billion more than projected.
Border security has been a controversial topic especially since former President Donald Trump promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border on his campaign trail and enforced stricter immigration policies as president, suspending travel from several countries in the Middle East in his second week in office.
Despite his promises, President Biden has not changed the immigration system for the better, and it does not seem to be a priority to him. Both President Biden and Vice President Harris have often dodged questions about the border and have not stayed true to their word about reforming the system seeing hundreds of thousands arrested at the border in just one year.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the first four fiscal months of the Trump Administration saw 71,000 arrests at the border and more than doubled to 172,000 under the first four months of the Biden Administration.
Although Biden once criticized Trump for inhumane treatment of migrants, he does not seem to be any more friendly. President Biden has kept intact a Trump-Era policy which forces non-Mexican migrants to remain in Mexico until their designated court dates denying their legal rights to seek asylum.
Crime and distrust of the police has increased over the past three years. The murder of George Floyd in 2020 sparked nationwide outrage that saw people riot, loot and assault civilians that often distracted from those legitimately fighting for social justice. Violent crime spiked during the summer of 2020 and continued throughout 2021.
Gun violence has been a major problem for years and likely will be for a long time. Cities across the US like Indianapolis and Philadelphia saw their previous murder record broken in 2021 with Philadelphia reaching 501 homicides on November 26th and Indianapolis reaching 246 on November 27th.
Whether the rise of violent crime over the past year has to do with continuing anger towards the government or declining mental health from the COVID-19 outbreak cannot be said for sure. Regardless of the cause, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight with organized looting taking place across the country of retailers and small businesses across the nation that continues to go unpunished.
President Biden did not have an easy first year as president. There were a few bright spots, like vaccinations being rolled out effectively across the country and the drop of unemployment rate in the US. Unfortunately, there were plenty of disappointments as well with the rise of inflation and poor handling of American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
There is still plenty of work to be done to lower inflation and to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. With midterm elections coming this November, President Biden and his allies in Congress must fulfill their promises of restoring prosperity to the nation to maintain the Democratic majority in the house and to have any shot of seeing Biden win reelection in 2024.
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