Unlike his predecessors Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and even Barack Obama, Biden failed to name a single person from across the aisle to his cabinet (at least not anyone with public political affiliations to the GOP) — an especially important signpost about rebuilding the country in a bipartisan manner.

He took way too long to wield all the tools at his disposal to confront the pandemic, which allowed Covid-19 to become even more politicized than it was under Trump. He had executive orders for masks and testing, but his delay in enacting tougher policies, like his recent vaccine mandates — a positive step that could cover over 100 million Americans — arguably allowed the Delta variant to spread and gave Trump and his acolytes an opening to allege that Biden has failed.

The chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, where Biden strangely declared an “extraordinary success,” has made his administration look inept. The US has appeared weak and disorganized, ensuring that Trump’s “America first” rhetoric will gain newfound meaning as we approach 2024.

Instead of looking merely to get on first base, Biden swung for the fences with a transformative legislative agenda that has yet to make its way through Congress at a time when the country needs Washington to show it’s capable of getting the country back on track.