Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims to follow in JFK's footsteps. Biden actually is.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decided he’s no longer a Democrat, but an independent. He claims the mantle of Kennedy and Camelot, but criticizes the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden as corrupt and ineffective.

At the same time, Biden is lambasted from the far right. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., finds him guilty of doing too much to help everyday Americans with things such as health care, education, poverty alleviation, food stamps, labor unions, urban problems, the environment, social infrastructure and even Medicare. She accuses him of “actually finishing what FDR started.”

Biden loves it. If anyone is upset that “what Biden’s doing is what Roosevelt did, what Kennedy did,” his response is a hearty “Well, yeah!”

On behalf of both our ancestors – Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy – we agree. We think Biden’s administration is doing exactly what is wanted and needed by struggling American families, to empower and create opportunity for them and their children.

Greene compares Biden to Roosevelt: Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Biden to FDR, LBJ. Thanks for the free campaign ad!

Like FDR, Biden inherited an economic mess and a democracy in peril. Not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic. And like FDR, he has rebuilt and strengthened the American economy, with three basic fixes: Get people back to work, and raise their wages; build infrastructure of all kinds; and build a fairer marketplace that does less harm to people and businesses.

Like JFK, Biden has aimed for bold, transformative, long-term progress. JFK aimed for unimaginable technological goals, like going to the moon – “not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is fundamentally transforming our energy economy, to create millions of new jobs and halt the devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

It definitely wasn’t easy, with a mere one-vote margin in the Senate. In honor of his late son Beau – and JFK – he launched his “Cancer Moonshot” to cut cancer death rates by at least 50% over the next 25 years. And he invested in the largest expansion of mental health services – to address the country’s mental health, opioid and homelessness crises – since JFK signed the landmark Community Mental Health Act in 1963.

And like JFK, some of his boldest and most transformative initiatives may take another term to bring to fruition. JFK poured his heart and soul into enacting Medicare and the comprehensive civil rights legislation championed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington 60 years ago – though these dreams had to be deferred to another administration after JFK’s assassination.

Biden needs a second term to finish the job

Biden has unfulfilled dreams, too, which may have to wait for another term – such as protecting elections and voting rights, protecting and expanding Social Security, meaningful action on gun violence and reproductive health care, and a raft of proposals to address income inequality, from restoring the child tax credit for low-income families to making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share of taxes.

But compared with both the FDR and JFK administrations, we think Biden’s record of accomplishment so far is stunning. As Bloomberg opinion columnists wrote, “Biden is well on his way to becoming the greatest jobs-producing president in US history,” having added about 12 million jobs. Unemployment has been cut to a five-decade low.

Wages have risen steadily, outpacing inflation this year. A recession once thought inevitable has been replaced by strong growth.

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Investment in the nation’s infrastructure is the largest since the New Deal. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is funding 35,000 infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, ports, airports and high-speed internet in thousands of communities. Plus the largest investment in clean energy in U.S. history, including helping families reduce their energy costs.

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Biden is helping lower consumers' costs

Consumers are benefiting from a fairer marketplace. Medicare can now negotiate for lower drug prices, and total annual out-of-pocket expenses have a cap for the first time. Hearing aids that used to require a doctor’s prescription and cost $5,000 are now available over the counter for a few hundred dollars.

An executive order took 72 steps to promote competition and lower costs for consumers, and essential fields of manufacturing have been revitalized, such as semiconductor chips.

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And at a perilous time of multiple global crises, Biden has restored American leadership in the world, as FDR did during World War II and JFK did during the Cuban missile crisis – even as others like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urge appeasement of Vladimir Putin.

So if Biden is to be indicted for following in the footsteps of FDR and JFK, we think he should plead thoroughly guilty and accept his deserved punishment – another term.

James Roosevelt Jr. is an attorney and grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Patrick J. Kennedy is a former member of Congress and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Republicans keep comparing Biden to FDR, JFK. Let's look at his record