New York Times gift articles

From a policy perspective I think this is one of the only truly smart things the administration has done.

We're in an era of populism and people are voting with their checkbooks. You can cite any number of "good" things the administration has done, but if those things don't make a detectable, sensible, positive impact on peoples lives between now and November, they are basically irrelevant (the vast majority of bbb).

You can hate it, and you should, but the smartest thing Trump did electorally in his 4 years was to insist that his name be written on the checks mailed out to millions of Americans. For those that recall, we all know it was house progressives that made those checks appear; however, Trump was able to get people to identify them with him with his insistence that his signature be on them. He and his party were basically opponents to the checks happening, but still today, people associate those payments with Trump, not house progressives.

In the same manner, Biden needs to make sure that people are mentally associating his name, his presidency with things that are making a material difference in their lives. Getting rid of student loan debt is one way to do that.

Its wag the dog all the way down, and we can't afford to lose this election to christian nationalism. The Biden administration has been working against themselves in this regard with policies that are deeply unpopular with the Democratic base on foreign policy. They can probably make up some ground with student loan debt forgiveness. Its a policy that can directly improve the material conditions of peoples lives in a way that is immediate, detectable, and sensible.