Biden is the most progressive, most liberal president the US has hadsince 1980. (I don't recall enough to judge how he compares withJimmy Carter.) We should show our appreciation for that. On someimportant issues, he is doing great.

At the same time, on some other important issues he falls far short of what the USand the world needs and what we demand. We get frustrated and infuriated that hedoesn't change for the better. One of these issues is ending the bombing and siegeof Gaza.

How should we deal with this half-full, half-empty glass? I think we should makesure to keep showing both sides of what we feel.

We need to keep saying, "Yes, more of that," for the issues where Biden does theright thing,p and "Stop this nonsense!" where he does not. To continue pressure onBiden, we need both sides. Sometimes we need both at once: "This is a big advance,but without more, we are still headed for disaster. Tackle the whole problem, fast!"

There are times for saying, "Yes, this measure is something to be proud of, fortoday." And there are times to say, "Don't make us laugh — that change isinadequate."

The student protests against Biden's inadequate efforts to protect the civilians ofGaza are running into increasing repression. Although not violent, they arecalculated to provoke the schools to violence. This tends to make compromiseimpossible and leave no chance of agreeing on an outcome we would really want: Itseems designed to lead to going down fighting, followed by years of hatred, ratherthan to a change for the better that leads to opportunities to demand further change.