In the summer of 1978, I graduated from college and moved to Delaware to start my career with the DuPont Company. Joe Biden was a first-term senator representing Delaware. 

I voted for his re-election in the fall of 1978. I was thinking about this when I was listening to his speech at the recent Democratic National Convention.

I have heard friends and neighbors call Biden corrupt, judge him as the worst president ever, and accuse him of destroying both our economy and our democracy. I truly don’t get it.

When Biden took the presidential oath in January 2021 he inherited a mess. The COVID virus had killed millions and the world economy had been shut down. Millions of people suddenly had no income. His predecessor had promised infrastructure investment to rebuild America and a better healthcare plan than Obamacare, with nothing to show after four years in office.  

With very little help from Republicans in Congress, here’s what Biden got done in just his first two years in office.

He got the American Rescue Plan passed.  It provided grocery and rent help to millions of Americans who had suddenly become unemployed. It extended unemployment benefits to further help. It expanded child tax credits that helped families in poverty feed their children. It provided small business loans to help reboot the economy. And, it amped up efforts to vaccinate the population so we could resume life as usual.

He got an infrastructure bill passed. It put Americans to work rebuilding roads, bridges, public transit, ports and airports.  It provided incentives to speed our transition to environmentally-friendly electric vehicles. It expanded broadband internet to areas that had no access. It enabled investment in our power transmission infrastructure and clean-up of drinking water contamination.

He got the CHIPS and Science Act passed. It provided incentives to invest in American production of semiconductor chips, the chips that make almost everything we use actually work. It started efforts to reduce our dependence on China for this critical supply – one of the most important national defense and economic actions our country needed to take. It stimulated U.S. mining for rare earth minerals needed for batteries and electronic technology.

He got the Inflation Reduction Act passed. It provided incentives to further develop clean energy technology. It capped out-of-pocket consumer costs for life-sustaining medications. It increased a corporation tax to help pay for itself. And it invested in IRS modernization and resources to audit tax evaders, often the most wealthy among us.

Around the globe, he leveraged decades of experience and personal relationships to strengthen democratic alliances and assure allies that America still stands with them against aggression and tyranny.

What in any of these accomplishments is destroying the country?  How does this make Biden the worst president ever? I think you would have to go back to Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression or Harry Truman during the post-war years to find a president who accomplished so much in two years.

Perhaps most importantly, Biden showed us you can effectively lead a nation with decency, integrity and dignity. He showed us you can thrive on diversity and that there is no need or place for demonizing and hating others. His messaging was constant about hope and confidence for our future vs. any fear mongering about our present.

In his DNC speech, Biden admitted his self interest. He loves being President and thinks he can still do the job. But to him, that had to take a back seat to serving his country. He listened to the advice of others and agreed that defeating Donald Trump was more important, and the best chance of that was to pass the torch to a younger generation. 

George Washington refused a third term in office to teach our nation how to peacefully transfer power.  It was an extraordinary lesson about selfless civil service. The lesson is so important the Senate reads his farewell address every year. That lesson lasted 125 years until Jan. 6, 2021.  

Biden just gave us another such lesson, contradicting our cynicism that politicians are only interested in serving themselves.

Throughout his speech, Biden was interrupted by chants of “Thank you, Joe.” Thank you, indeed, Joe Biden, for leading us through a difficult time, helping us find the best of ourselves, and reminding us of what makes America great.