Thursday, October 1, 2026
Although Joe Biden’s presidency is now very far in the rearview mirror, there are attempts being made by both sides to keep his name in the public arena. Republicans invoke Biden as a scapegoat for all of President Trump’s missteps, and former first lady Jill Biden wants to rewrite history after the very bad end to her husband’s term of office.
I approach the Biden legacy from a different perspective. I met Biden in the early 1980s, when one of his close supporters asked me to help raise money for Joe’s Senate re-election campaign, and we met at one of those events. I found him to be a pleasant and gracious man who enjoyed talking about his life in the Senate and his legislative priorities. He had one apparent flaw. He liked to talk and talk, and often needed a reminder that it was time to move on.
Our subsequent contacts were infrequent but always warm and kind. I attended President Clinton’s second inauguration, and while in Washington I stopped by the senator’s office. He posed for some photos my wife, Suzan, and I, and then invited us to sit in on a Senate Judiciary hearing for new judges. Biden loved legislating, and his record during those years in the Senate is a very admirable one.
Looking back at his accomplishments in the Senate, there is much to talk about. He was responsible for many important laws, dating back to 1994, when he spearheaded the Violence Against Women Act, which addressed domestic violence issues. That same year, he pushed through a major crime bill, which resulted in great success for law enforcement. Critics say it brought about mass incarceration, but its pros outweighed the cons.
Biden subsequently passed the Protect Our Children Act, which dealt with online exploitation of children. That was followed by major climate-change laws and anti-apartheid statutes. He was a strong supporter of NATO, and persuaded many of his fellow senators that the European alliance was critical to America’s interests In combating Russia’s expansion plans. Overall, Biden’s record in the Senate was historic for its scope and impact.
The early years of his presidency were marked by legislative success in many areas. He spearheaded the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion program that helped the nation recover from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which created millions of new jobs rebuilding highways, bridges and other badly needed public-works projects. He signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which began the effort to get the country to accelerate the semiconductor industry. One semiconductor-manufacturing plant is currently under construction upstate.
After the death of his son Beau, a veteran who had suffered toxic fume exposure, Biden got the PACT Act passed to help veterans suffering from similar disabilities. He got bipartisan support for the first anti-gun law in 30 years. He succeeded in capping the cost of insulin, and helped expand NATO membership. And he appointed the first black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court.
All of those accomplished were blurred during Biden’s final year in office. The hardest thing for any politician to do is to quit public office, and obvious it’s even harder when you’re president. Giving up trips on Air Force Once and being treated royally wherever you go is a very big deal. But a combination of family pressures and staff members all anxious to keep their jobs kept Biden from recognizing that it was time to go. An added complication was his failing health.
But because he isn’t president anymore, the Republicans’ blame game is starting to sound a little hollow. They are making efforts to expose embarrassing recordings of conversations he had with a ghostwriter as a way to cover up for President Trump’s current failings. I have no doubt that history will treat Biden a lot better, but that takes time. The country has countless challenges to face, and it’s time for all sides to move on and let the man deal with his potential end-of-life issues.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He currently chairs the Capitol Insight Group, a government relations firm. Comments? jkremer@liherald.com.
