Centrists didn't want him to relieve student debt. Pretended his hands were tied. Said that we shouldn't try it on the grounds that it was an incomplete solution. Were content to abandon incrementalism entirely and let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Then Biden started forgiving student debt. Then the Supreme Court ruled in centrists' favor. Biden could have announced that he tried and abandoned it forever with some vague insincere horseshit about the fight not being over. To Biden's immense credit, he had a contingency plan ready to go. He has kept forgiving debt. It's been the high point of his presidency. He did exactly what I hoped he would do on this issue and this issue alone. He listened to progressives and ignored centrists, and he persevered instead of immediately giving up forever when he encountered the first setback. He did what he could with the tools at his disposal instead of pretending they don't exist.
I will not fault him on this. If only he acted this way about any other issue.
Most polling shows that student debt relief is highly popular, a boring centrist Democrat has been leading the charge for it, and centrist judges have been voting in favor of it.
It’s the extreme right that been pushing back against debt relief. The center of America wants it.
Yes. Centrists opposed it. I remember arguing with them about it. I listed some but not all of their arguments. Another one was that his hands were tied and he needed congress to pass it, with the standard addendum that progressives don't know how anything works. I remember pointing out that Chuck Schumer was asking for the same forgiveness that progressives were, and asking if Schumer didn't know how the Senate works. Yes, centrists opposed debt relief.
Biden listened to progressives. Biden persevered and didn't make stupid excuses.
Now centrists see that it's popular and want to take credit for progressive policy they opposed.
Compared to the $1.7 trillion student loan debt crisis he was key in creating? Actually yes. When it comes to future students who have to take on massive amounts of debt, he's also doing nothing there.
Soon we'll get the "buying votes" after the Gaza issues. While I think the administration is doing extra-terrible on that front, this was in motion way before all that bad PR.
Or how I'd put it: One needs to apply first aid when dealing with a gun shot wound. You don't just try to dig the bullet out while still on the sidewalk. Pressure, call for help, get a bunch of people involved, then you can deal with the problem in a better way.
It's steps in the right direction that I'd hope will put on closer to having a higher education system closer to the majority of the EU.
Unfortunately we have to get passed the GQP first before we can get to that point.
My favorite thing is when someone on the left uses "centrist" to label others on the left they disagree with. You see the right doing this all the time with "RINO".
I've had people getting pissed at me in some comment sections calling me a centrist because I think we should vote for Biden to keep trump out of office. Nothing at all related to my political views other than telling people that they need to vote (which is apparently another cardinal sin to some "leftist") if they want to change happen in this country. Especially in their local governments.
These discharges are for three categories of borrowers
Those receiving Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
Those who signed up for President Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan and who are eligible for its shortened time-to-forgiveness benefit
Those receiving forgiveness on income-driven repayment (IDR) as a result of fixes made by the Administration