When I signed up for the District and State conventions, the Iowa Democratic Party required me to sign off that I supported Joe Biden for president. I did and I’m guessing there was a similar process in enough states for him to win the nomination at the August convention no matter what. In fact, I know he has enough delegates to be nominated. Biden has not changed substantially since then, so what is the hullabaloo? It is a media-driven distraction.

In a recent Washington Post article, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer report progressives in the Congress continue to support Biden’s candidacy for reelection. Specifically, progressive bastions Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Greg Cesar (D-TX), and Ayanna Presley (D-MA) support the president’s reelection. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the authors, “Biden is one of the ‘more progressive’ presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

It’s not just Sanders. “Despite their criticisms, many of them say Biden has been the most progressive president in generations. They point to his investment in infrastructure, his work to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, an aggressive antitrust division at the Department of Justice and his willingness to appoint Lina Khan, a consumer advocate, to lead the Federal Trade Commission. They also champion acting labor secretary Julie Su, whom Biden has kept in place despite lacking the votes for Senate confirmation,” reported the Post. According to this progressive caucus, Biden is getting things done. He is also the president who will defend Social Security and Medicare from Republican wants and desires to fundamentally change the programs.

While these legislators differ with Biden’s approach in some areas, when they lobby for changes in policy, they feel Biden is listening, according to the Post. Biden’s staff is left-leaning, so when a member of the squad calls the White House, they find a sympathetic ear despite Biden’s history of being centrist in his politics. It is Biden who makes this positive reception of progressive ideas possible.

Who is publicly calling for the president to step aside? Senators who have had presidential aspirations themselves were the first: Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO). Part of this may have to do with state polling showing some weakness for Democrats in these malleable states. Christina Bohannan and Sarah Corkery, Iowa Democratic candidates for Congress called for Biden to step aside July 11. I don’t see how this helps their campaigns in a state Trump is expected to win and deliver coat tails for their Republican opponents. Everyone should be concerned about the results of the November election. The idea that Biden can’t do the job falls flat because he IS ACTUALLY DOING THE JOB EVERY SINGLE DAY. Biden’s performance in many areas of his administration is what progressives seek in governance.

What we have here, and progressives in the Congress appear to see it, is an ability to jump on the post-debate bandwagon as journalists, donors, and Democratic operatives appear to be doing. The Congressional Progressive Caucus appears to be able to see through the noise and focus on what is important in the Congress: getting work done for the American people.

We have to thank them for that.