Despite failing to win a second term that he badly wanted, Joe Biden’s time in the White House had some very real accomplishments and should not be measured as a failed presidency.

While those minority of U.S. presidents who only served a single term are deemed losers, having been rejected by voters, Biden had major legislative achievements, a strong economy — with one major asterisk — and a number of foreign policy victories.

Biden, who took over in early 2021 as the nation was still recovering from COVID, passed critical legislation to help America rebuild. He championed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has been injecting more than $1 trillion into rebuilding roads, bridges, public transportation and more. The CHIPS and Science Act has given us the semblance of an industrial policy for the first time in a long time, giving the nation the chance to compete with China in sectors that are increasingly crucial to the global economy and national security.

Faced with a seismic environmental challenge, Biden oversaw passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which made the largest investments in developing cleaner and renewable energies in the nation’s history.

Speaking of that I word: The rising prices of Biden’s first two years were a real plague on millions of families’ budgets, one that soured millions even to the point that they entered the voting booth in November 2024. All the money that he pumped into the economy to fight COVID triggered an inflationary cycle. Containing inflation required aggressive use of monetary policy, namely the jacking up of interest rates.

But it is not akin to remarking “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” to say that other than pernicious inflation, the economy Biden helped produced was indeed a powerhouse. The nation has seen in excess of 16 million jobs produced; rising wages; steady GDP growth; declining numbers of people without health insurance; and significant increases in median household wealth. Energy production hit record highs, one of many facts that Republicans refuse to acknowledge. Biden deserves significant credit for his economic leadership.

The video player is currently playing an ad. Biden’s single most defining area of domestic policy was immigration. Handed a complex situation at the border by Donald Trump — including legal authority to block entry based on the thin reed of a pandemic public health restriction, even as the pandemic passed — Biden saw large numbers of unauthorized entries before belatedly implementing new policies to reduce the influx. As with inflation, that change happened after the public had gained a powerful first impression of a policy that most believed was not working. The adjustment was too little and came too late to save him electorally.

Perhaps Biden’s most fateful decision is one about service itself: For too long, he clung to the idea that he could run an effective campaign against Trump and go on to serve a second term. Only after a disastrous debate performance and pressure on all sides did he decide to fold, passing the baton to his vice president. An earlier decision that enabled Democrats to compete for the ballot line would’ve put the party in a better position to compete with Trump. Biden’s pride prevented him from seeing things clearly and acting in a timely fashion. This one-term president may well have effectively delivered the last one-term president a second stint in power.

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