Joe Biden has only been in office for three weeks, but the rave reviews are already in. He’s returned the United States to “normal,” gotten the customary comparisons to Franklin D. Roosevelt he’s been reaching for, and even former Biden critics are dazzled by his performance.

Especially when compared to his predecessor, Biden has indeed done genuinely good things, many of which warrant the praise. Yet this is also a political climate in which, long before Biden was even inaugurated, let alone started putting pen to paper, a political press basking in a sense of relief has sometimes acted more like a cheerleader than a watchdog.

For the average news consumer, it can be hard to figure out: Is Biden really crafting the most progressive agenda in US history? Or is this just spin from a media determined to wash the Trump years from collective memory?