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US President Joe Biden can look forward to his first major success in Congress.
Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP
Donald Trump liked to make fun of Joe Biden during the election campaign.
He called him "Sleepy Joe", the "sleepy Joe".
Trump's son Donald Junior portrayed his father's democratic rival as a stupid old man. Joe Biden has now been in office for a good 50 days, and one has to say: For an old man, this president is quite agile and assertive.
While Trump mostly used his vanities for most of the time, put down critics and boastfully tried to sell even the smallest political successes as a world sensation, Biden talks little, works hard and delivers considerable results after a very short time.
In short, he does what can be expected of an American president.
Now Biden has achieved his greatest success to date: He has brought his $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid package through both chambers of the US Congress at record speed.
Millions of American families and businesses are receiving additional government support, and health care is being stabilized.
A fairer country
While Trump and the Republicans gave wealthy Americans in particular lavish tax breaks, Biden looks to the poorer half of the country.
He helps the weaker survive the crisis.
Biden is thus delivering on an important election promise and laying the foundation for the USA to become a more social, fairer country.
The American vaccination campaign is also so successful under Biden that the country could soon return to something like normalcy.
Economic experts predict an end to the crisis and a real Biden boom for the summer.
His team is pushing the distribution of vaccination doses across the country with power, ensuring that large sections of the population will soon be protected.
Master of relaxed rhetoric
It's true: the new president can build on the preparatory work of the Trump administration when the vaccination starts.
But isn't that actually a matter of course?
It would have been unforgivable if Trump had screwed up this duty as well.
Nobody will forget that under his non-leadership, hundreds of thousands died of Covid in the United States last year.
Biden, a master of relaxed rhetoric, also seems willing to keep his promise to reconcile the country with itself.
The split of the past few years is still there, including in Congress, where many Republicans are downright fighting Biden.
Biden's corona package met with broad rejection from the other side.
Many previous Trump supporters still see him as skeptical or even negative.
But this front could soon crumble.
One sign: most of his ministers were confirmed by the Senate in almost record time, and they also received approval from moderate Republicans.
With a few exceptions, the candidates have so far hardly encountered any real resistance, also because Biden has selected people who are recognized across party lines.
In his planned infrastructure program, which is planned for the next few months, Biden wants to work closely with the other side.
He holds out his hand, and if it is not taken, it should be mainly the Republicans' fault.
Popular approval
More consensus, less confrontation is his motto, and many Americans are ready to go along with him.
According to a survey by the broadcaster ABC, almost 68 percent of citizens are satisfied with its policy in the corona crisis.
Overall, he is currently achieving approval ratings that are below those of other presidents.
But he has long since overtaken Trump.
A good 53 percent of Americans see Biden positively, only 38 percent see him negatively.
Trump rarely got more than 45 percent approval.
This "honeymoon period" can pass again with Biden.
History teaches that political problems for US presidents can sometimes appear out of nowhere.
It also remains unclear how the massive national debt as a result of the crisis will affect the state of the country in the medium to long term.
But it is already evident that Biden is a president who seems to be able to cope with difficult situations.
The experience that he brings with him as a longtime Senator and Vice President is not a burden in this office, but a value in itself.
In any case, the era of erratic decision-making processes in the White House is a thing of the past.
Nor is someone fired every other week.
The American government machine is running smoothly.
The political professional Biden and his people are obviously far superior to the show-off Trump in the management of the apparatus.
In this way, Biden is giving the United States back - at least for now - the calm and stability it needs to thrive and grow.
If he continues like this, the memory of Trump will fade more and more.
Only a few tough guys will miss the former president.
Nothing better could happen to America.
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