What will Joe Biden's legacy be?

It is remarkable how quickly things can change in politics. A month ago Joe Biden, trailing Donald Trump in the polls following a disastrous first TV election debate, bowed out of the presidential race after a coordinated effort by some of his closest political allies.

On Monday night he took the stage at the Democratic National Convention to rapturous applause and a four-minute standing ovation to deliver a "vintage performance that was a reminder of how he earned the White House in the first place", said The Times.

Freed from the burden of having to run a bruising campaign against Trump, CNN said Biden is "enlivened by the opportunity to burnish his legacy" – a process that is likely to be defined by what happens in November's make-or-break election.

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What did the commentators say?

One of Biden's major weaknesses as both president and candidate was his "inability to sell his achievements", said The Times. But historians are "likely to be kind and give him more credit than many voters for the post-Covid economic recovery". He managed to successfully navigate a partisan Congress to pass far-reaching infrastructure and investment legislation that will "shape the country for many years to come".

NPR said the president has been "defiant, and at times, outraged, when challenging Trump's descriptions of America under Biden as a nation on the decline, and a laughing stock on the national stage".

Domestically, the Biden administration may feel it has not received recognition from the public for delivering booming year-on-year economic growth but, said Fox News, the Biden-Harris White House has "clobbered middle-class Americans" and he leaves behind a legacy of "dishonesty, inflation, corruption and ineptitude".

Abroad, even his staunchest supporters would agree his record in office has been decidedly mixed. Many point to his approval ratings never recovering after the humiliating exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 – even though he was merely carrying out Trump's withdrawal agreement. The US under Biden has played a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine against Russia but has so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

This is where the Biden team plan to focus their remaining energies, with the president spending more time overseas to "cement his foreign policy legacy", said CNN.

This process "won't be complete" until we see how the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East play out, said The Wall Street Journal. But perhaps his biggest failure is that, having campaigned on a promise to "unite the country and be a 'transition' from the Trump era", he has "governed as a divisive progressive".

Whoever wins in November will inherit a country "more divided and dispirited than when Joe Biden was elected. That is the unfortunate legacy of the Biden Presidency."

What next?

Biden's time in office will ultimately be defined by his decision to suspend his re-election campaign and immediately endorse Kamala Harris, saving the party from a protracted succession battle.

According to The New York Times, his team quickly set about constructing a final, 180-day agenda that would "help guide a Harris presidency and in turn shape Biden’s legacy, now tethered to her candidacy".

Biden spent much of the end of his convention speech focusing on his vice-president, in a "tacit acknowledgement that how she fares against Donald Trump in November's vote could make or break how history, and his party, remembers him", said the BBC.

In sharp contrast to just a few weeks ago, delegates and party bigwigs at the convention in Chicago appeared "energised and fond of Joe Biden – but, frankly, relieved by his withdrawal", said The Times.

That perfectly sums up what they hope will be his greatest legacy: that he was the man who defeated Trump in 2020 and passed the torch to a new generation just in time to beat him again in 2024.