Joe Biden's call to leave the race is perhaps the most important legacy of his presidency

JOE BIDEN WILL be remembered for his decision to drop out of the presidential race. Given how deep into the election season we are, and the fact that he had staked his reputation on staying committed to the race only days earlier, this could not have been an easy call to make. Had Biden remained obstinate, there was not really anything that the Democrats could have done to end his candidacy this late. This was, therefore, an act of tremendous courage.

That said, his record as president is a mixed bag. Biden has done relatively better on domestic policy. He has overseen the creation of a record number of jobs, made much-needed investment in America's ageing infrastructure and expanded access to critical medicines for senior citizens. The decision to cancel student loans was quite significant, too, in a country where higher education is rather unaffordable.

Perhaps most tellingly, for most of his presidency, Biden faced dire predictions from several economists of an impending recession. So far, the recession has not come, and the expanded public investment spending was probably a key factor in mitigating that. Some pockets of the economy have remained in distress, especially the high-tech sector which saw a flurry of layoffs, but hiring remains robust in most sectors. Inflation and housing costs have been unusually high, but there are some signs that they might cool down in the months ahead. All the same, inflation has perhaps been the biggest blot on Biden's handling of the economy―in part a fallout of the understandable decision to go the 'high spending, high growth' route after the pandemic.

On foreign policy, Biden's record is less flattering. Two major wars began under his presidency―one in Ukraine and the other in Gaza. The US has taken morally inconsistent stands on the two conflicts, which has significantly diluted its credibility and added to scepticism in the Global South toward US leadership. In that sense, Biden's decision to wholeheartedly support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had an inadvertent impact on his drive to isolate President Vladimir Putin. It was always going to be difficult for the US to convince the Global South to cut Putin loose, but in the wake of the Gaza war, many saw hypocrisy in the way the US responded to the two conflicts and that increased geopolitical space for the Global South to engage with Putin.

The two fronts on which Biden has perhaps been most successful are in rejuvenating NATO, which was lacking in cohesion and confidence under Trump, and avoiding a confrontation with China over Taiwan. Skirmishes with China seemed very likely in the early days of his presidency, but Biden has done reasonably well to keep things under control, and he was perhaps aided by the fact that President Xi Jinping has been distracted by domestic economic crises. Nonetheless, by refraining from grandstanding and bombastic rhetoric towards China―which would have been popular―Biden has done well.

His role as president is now going to be overshadowed by the elections. The fact that his vice president is running in his place could make things more complicated for Biden. On the one hand, Biden personally has nothing to gain or lose in the next six months. Yet, any major developments could impact Kamala Harris's chances, so Biden would want to keep the next six months as uneventful as possible. A drop in inflation would be greatly helpful, but any major events on the domestic or international fronts would possibly only add risk to the Harris campaign.

By most accounts, the decision to leave the race appears to have helped Biden's image. Polls show that most people―both Democrat-leaning and Republican-leaning―approve of his decision to leave the race. However, it is unclear what plans he has after the White House or what role he will play in the Democratic Party.

One-term presidents are relatively rare in the contemporary era. Other than Trump, who may yet serve another term, the last president not to be reelected was George H.W. Bush more than 30 years ago, and Bush had stayed indirectly relevant in US politics through his son who also became president, but he made it a point not to play much of a role in his son's presidential campaign or political career. Now, as America's oldest-ever president, Biden is in a rather unique position, perhaps unlikely to do the sort of work that other former presidents did after their term in office.

Although reports a few weeks ago suggested that Biden was rather sour about the pressure on him to quit, now that he has indeed quit, he may not want to do anything that upsets consensus-building within the party behind Harris. She will continue to champion his economic policies―public investment in infrastructure, health care and education, addressing high student debt and making medicines more affordable. It is a fairly centre-left economic platform focused on social welfare and public spending. It will be interesting to see how Harris handles the issue of immigration, which has become much more of a hot potato in recent months.

Gaza might be the biggest point of difference between Biden and Harris. Biden's policy on Gaza has been tremendously unpopular among key Democrat voters, especially young liberals and first-time voters, and there are signs that Harris has caught on to that already. Just last week, Harris said that she was not going to be silent on the war.

As Biden walks off into the sunset, there could be some concerns about his relationship with Democratic bigwigs like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. There were reports that Biden had felt somewhat betrayed by Obama in particular, and it is possible that reports of Obama's lack of confidence in him had been a factor in his decision to withdraw, given the tremendous popularity that Obama continues to enjoy. But a lot depends on what role Biden sees for himself in politics and in the Democratic Party after he leaves office. Addressing the nation last week, he spoke about stepping aside to allow younger, fresher voices to take over, so he may decide to stick to that line and step back quietly.

Zeeshan is a foreign affairs researcher and writer.

As told to Ajish P. Joy