Inevitably, every presidential campaign will revisit a line made famous by Ronald Reagan, who asked the nation if it was better off than it was four years ago. Trump is no exception.

But whereas Jimmy Carter was too mature for a country that needed to conserve energy by wearing sweaters, jam OPEC by lowering the speed limit, and attempt to rescue Iranian hostages in an attempt he did not mess up while also solidifying some lasting peace in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has clearly led the country out of darkness and pulled this nation kicking and screaming (Or half of it) into the 21st Century with a modern New Deal, prescription drug prices dropping, America’s silicon industry protected, student loans chiseled away, and wages rising. He is and will continue to be one of the most consequential legislative presidents of our generation.

Yes, we are better off than we were four years ago.

And that can be said with confidence without even having to bring up COVID, which eventually went on to kill over one million Americans despite the fact that Biden had the disease stopped in its tracks with double the speed set as a goal. Everyone who wanted a shot got one, early.

Biden’s success is almost enough to mask Trump’s failures – almost. If President Biden is to win in November, then he must refocus the American people on those days when the molecular metabolism of bleach and UV light was proposed by an American president from the White House itself.

It was hard to tell what was more comical and tragic. That Trump believed he was on to a cure or that Trump thought so highly of himself that he believed he would come up with a cure that hadn’t occurred to the scientists that spent their lives researching cures for infectious disease.

We noted that Biden had to remind the nation of those dangerous and scary days when Americans learned with finality that the average household contained two parents eminently more capable of running the country than the guy who was president. Biden won’t let that fact go as demonstrated in his latest ad:

Donald, I’m glad you asked. pic.twitter.com/janV4f4L3p

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 21, 2024

Ah, yes – it took a Donald Trump presidency to spur a run on toilet paper. The good old days, when asking the employees at Dollar General when they expected the next truck.

Maybe we are actually better off now?

Jason Miciak is an editor at large for Occupy Democrats who freelances for friends at Political Flare.