By Peter Isackson

Before his surprising decision to withdraw from a campaign he promised to conduct to the bitter end, Joe Biden had achieved one uncontestable distinction. Even without a second term, he had become the oldest occupant of the White House in US history.

Although some, including Biden himself, deem him “a great” president, a group of historians less impressed by his achievementsranked him as the 14th best president. The man who inherited a number of often contestable policies put into practice by his three predecessors — George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — did very little to distinguish himself as the first to do much of anything really memorable.

Biden’s three predecessors will be remembered for their distinctive roles in 21st century history. Bush was the first to invade multiple countries using the original concept of “preventive war.” Obama was the first black person to be elected president. And Trump distinguished himself by being the first “stable genius” seeking to innovate in so many interesting ways. His most spectacular contribution to US political culture was to demonstrate that one could govern by tweeting. In contrast, Biden, who had promised to become the new FDR, in the end simply prolonged existing policies, even the contestable ones, already in place.

It was therefore edifying to learn from Biden’s own testimony that he believes he’s first in one area that seems to have escaped most people’s notice. “I’m the first president this century,” Biden read from a teleprompter, “to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.”

Today’s Weekly Devil’s Dictionary definition:

To say something that may or may not be true, which, if the speaker happens to be a politician, is more likely to be the opposite of true.

Taken literally, Biden is telling the truth. He’s undoubtedly the first president to “report” that America is not at war anywhere in the world. The reasons other presidents before him didn’t do so lies in the simple fact that such a “report” would have appeared to be a bald-faced lie. A quick review of US history tells us that during the terms of every other president — with the........

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