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Biden must build a bridge with the enemy
When Joe Biden lost almost everything, both his fellow players and his opponents embraced him. This is what can save America from total division.
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The future was bright when Joe Biden was elected senator in 1972, at just 29 years old. Then everything changed. The wife and daughter were killed in a car accident, both sons were seriously injured. Only the two surviving children gave Biden’s life meaning. Everything else was dark.
He considered resigning as a senator before starting. But then colleagues took action, across party lines, across ages, on most things. They hugged him, supported him and cared for him. Arrange for you to take the train home with your children to Delaware every night. A Republican in Congress, who had tragically lost his wife and children, told him that the only way out of the pain was to get over it.
Kynikeren McConnell
The Senate carried Biden through the most difficult years of his life. He has never forgotten. These years have shaped him, both as a human being and as a politician. He is probably one of the American politicians today who has collaborated the most, and best, with political opponents.
As the new president, Joe Biden has the opportunity to unite America. It may not succeed. But no one is better prepared for it now than he is. Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP
One of them is Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. This may surprise many. He is a cynic who for a long time did nothing to correct Donald Trump’s lies that Biden had stolen the election. This week alone, McConnell acknowledged that Biden won.
If you are going to build a bridge to an enemy, you must speak to him. Biden and McConnell have known each other for 40 years and have collaborated often. McConnell has called Biden “a friend” and one he trusts. He was the only Republican senator present when Biden’s son Beau was ousted in 2015.
Biden, not Obama
While Biden was vice president under Barack Obama, relations between Congress and the White House were exceptionally tense. McConnell made it clear early on that his main goal was to ensure that Obama only had one term as president. McConnell did what he could to destroy Obama. He used every trick in the book to sabotage.
But at times McConnell and the Republicans also had to deal with Obama and his people. Like when the entire state apparatus was closed because Congress did not approve a budget. It is said that when the situation was most critical, McConnell made direct contact with Vice President Biden, not with President Obama. Biden and McConnell spoke together, often without an audience, and they became the worst of the mess.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is cynical in his approach to politics. Photo: Rod Lamkey / POOL / CNP POOL
Biden strongly believes in institutions. Some would say he has an almost romantic view of the Senate and its role. But the last few weeks have given Biden the right. The post-election time has shown us precisely the power of institutions in American society.
Left wing pressure
The Supreme Court, as well as the lower courts, have rejected all of Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. Electoral boards across the country, with representatives from both parties, have opposed Trump. Even a man like Donald Trump, with his authoritarian features, has failed to run over American institutions. Democracy has been maintained. Barely.
But the election is not over yet. The state of Georgia is in a special position this year and will not elect its two senators until January 5. Then it is also decided which party will obtain the majority in the Senate in the next two years. If Democrats win both seats, they will control both the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House.
Paradoxically, it is not certain that it is only an advantage for the United States that the Democrats obtain a clear majority everywhere. In such a situation, the left wing of the party will put a lot of pressure on Biden. Many want a more radical policy than Biden himself wants.
Downtown – where it belongs
The left, for example, will expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. In this way, they will mitigate the effect of Trump’s turn of the court in a strongly conservative direction. Such a proposal violates Biden’s belief that institutions depend on stability and predictability. Many on the left also want more comprehensive healthcare reform than Biden wants and a more offensive fiscal policy.
A massive democratic majority can make it difficult to build a bridge to the other side. If, on the other hand, Republicans retain the majority in the Senate, Biden will have to go to the few moderate Republicans that remain. Like Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.
Former President Barack Obama can sometimes seem a bit instructive, unlike Joe Biden. Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
In that case, Biden should be more towards the center, where he really belongs. This can help cushion the strong contradictions in American society. If we remove the harsh words that go both ways between the two sides, I think most Americans agree quite a bit.
Opportunity in the United States
While Obama could at times be perceived as instructive and concerned with getting the opponent to agree with him, Biden is known as a politician who rather seeks what the opponent needs, what is in his interests. The concrete results of the policy, more than the ideological discussions. That is what the United States needs now, to get out of the war of words the country is in, where politicians no longer trust that the other side wants the best for the country.
America is a constantly correcting society. That corrects old mistakes before making new ones. Joe Biden is America’s chance to find a new community. It is not certain that it will. But at the moment there is no one better prepared for it than him.
