So close to his leaving office, it is hard to know how history will remember the Biden presidency, but certainly he will be remembered for his almost half-century of public service in the Senate, vice presidency, and White House. His support of civil rights for minorities and women, access to affordable health insurance, and reducing income inequality defined many of his policy choices in each office he held.

Calming the nation after the January 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol and during the Covid crisis started his presidency down the right path. His return to America’s leadership of the free world and concern for a cleaner environment, along with government investment in high-tech industries and U.S. households, bolstered progressivism. Biden’s attempt to lessen student loan debt, if not for the Supreme Court’s voiding the policy, would have lifted significant financial burdens from generations of Americans.

Yet, his infusion of government money into an economy stalled by the pandemic sparked inflation that hit Americans’ budgets so hard that many never credited him with improving the country’s financial outlook. Combined with his failures in Afghanistan and the challenges in Ukraine and Israel, the debit side of his presidential ledger tilts toward the negative.

The irony of Biden’s skipping the 2016 race is that he might have defeated Trump when Hillary Clinton did not. Instead, the 46th president’s stumbles, literally and figuratively, have caused many to wonder if they assured Trump’s return to the White House as the 47th chief executive. The resilience that Biden learned from his father may have led to obstinacy and his refusal to step out of the 2024 campaign until it was too late for the Democratic Party to run a successful campaign. Moreover, Democrats struggled to find a unified message to counter Trumpism after his second election.

Finally, while some modern presidents left office with low approval ratings (Truman, Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush), they had many years of post-presidency to rehabilitate their images and legacies. At 82 upon leaving the White House, and with a serious cancer diagnosis, Biden will not have that opportunity.