Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Biden Infrastructure Win Won’t Make Him More Popular

Big policy changes aren’t what move voters. But they deserve to be celebrated for other important things they say about politics.

Sometimes it feels good to be president.

Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
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There are probably few things more fun for a president than a major bill signing, and President Joe Biden got to have one on Monday that must have been especially satisfying. It’s rare for a president to be able to chalk up a major victory on a topic that had been a fiasco for the predecessor he defeated, but that’s what happened with the infrastructure legislation that has now become law. I can’t think of any comparable case for Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter, the last three presidents to defeat an incumbent. Biden was also able to tout infrastructure as a bipartisan victory, giving him a chance to say, “I told you so” to skeptics who doubted that such a thing was possible.