On Wednesday morning, I described the way that an alternate version of Joe Biden could have spent the first day of his presidency. He could have used part of his inaugural address to urge every worker to join a labor union and called out every business owner who stood in the way. He could have taken the opportunity to reverse his long-standing opposition to Medicare for All. And then he could have signed an executive order later that day to extend Medicare eligibility to every person in the United States, using the argument that COVID-19 counts as an “environmental exposure” as discussed in Section 1881A of the Social Security Act.

Would this order survive the inevitable legal challenges? Maybe not. But even if it didn’t, “the president tried to give every single person health care” would have been both an amazing start to a progressive presidency and one hell of an opening argument for the 2022 midterms. Similarly, a Day One call for universal unionization issued from the presidential bully pulpit would have been a badly needed boost for organizing campaigns around the country. It would have called the bluff of pseudo-populist Republicans like Josh Hawley who claim they want the GOP to be “a working-class party” yet systematically undermine unions. And it would have confirmed the hopes of those liberals who think Biden has the potential to govern like a second FDR, overseeing transformative new programs to tackle economic inequality.

The speech he actually gave on Wednesday, and the executive orders he has actually signed, largely show that his ambition is to be a second Barack Obama. And we already know how that story ends.