Whatever the future brings, we must never forget the eternal debt we owe President Biden. He enabled our country, as only he at the time could have, to avoid the damage and scourge which another four years of Donald Trump would have inflicted on our Nation and the world. And with the confidence foreign leaders had in him, President Biden has brought together an allied front to thwart Russia's invasion of Ukraine as few if any other leader could have done. And there is much more he will be recognized for in the retrospect of history, including the bi-partisan infrastructure bill which has been too little celebrated and expanded health care.
But it could have been so much more!
Biden campaigned under the banner of restoring the "Soul of America". There was never any doubt he meant it; that he intended to do it. Nor was there any doubt how urgent is was to do just that. Yet that vision of restoring a unified view of what we aspire to as a Nation is more distant today than perhaps any time in my 80+ year life. And that makes me very sad.
I don't know if was possible to have made progress against that vision. It was certainly an uphill battle from the start, given the Republican election deniers, led by Trump himself, asserting in the face of all the facts that Trump should be President. And, equally, given those countless Republicans who knew better, like Rob Portman of Ohio and so many others, who failed to step up publicly, emphatically and repeatedly to assert the truth.
Still, recognizing all those realities and I could cite many more, I don't believe President Biden gave it his best shot. I attribute this to two things.
1. He moved forward immediately with an agenda which was too varied and revolutionary; an agenda which failed to recognize the very slim Democratic majorities in Congress; an agenda which was too beholden to the interests of the Left wing of the Democratic party and which did not benefit from and reflect sufficient consultation with the middle of the Republican party. Again, I am not sure such consultation would have resulted in a better outcome. But I am convinced it should have been tried.
I argued from the start that Biden should have appointed some Republicans to the Cabinet and Senior Adviser positions, as Lincoln did in 1860 and as Churchill did in 1940 and as FDR did as well. I argued from the start that Biden should have started his Administration on Day 1, by bringing the Congressional leaders together in the Oval Office to start to define the key issues (economy, immigration, Covid, health care, etc) that needed to be tackled and how he hoped they would work together to make progress to resolve them.
2. He has failed to address the Nation as OUR PRESIDENT, not just as the head of a political party or strong advocate of specific issues such as abortion, the integrity of the Supreme Court, gun control, immigration, etc. To be sure any President must speak out and advocate strongly for the specific measures he or she believes are essential to the future of the nation's citizens. But they must do more if they are are to have any hope of bringing the country together, of building confidence, of "restoring the Soul of America".
They need to speak to the American public as THEIR PRESIDENT. They need to explain the state of the Nation, realistically, warts and all. They need to articulate a coherent and non-partisan vision of where we want to be.They need to recognize the polarization of views objectively without demonizing either side (even while not agreeing with them). They should try to explain the origins of this polarization and what each of us can to to address it. They need to put key issues, like inflation and crime and immigration in context and relate them to a common vision for the country.
I am under no illusion. Done as well as possible this will not result in some golden era of all people being together. There will always be outliers. But we dare not allow this fact to deter us from pursuing a bold uniting vision. A majority of people, perhaps a vast majority will unite behind a leader who they are confident has a vision worthy and befitting the nation we love, a credible set of prioiites to achieve that and who above all knows and believes that it will require ALL of us working together and respecting one another to achieve it.
I write thinking of the future not simply to lament missed past opportunities. I write this continuing to be convinced that President Biden has it in his mind and heart to lead this way. It will undoubtedly be even harder to lead this way in the next two years given the likely Republican leadership of the House and maybe Senate after the mid-terms only ten days away. But I hope he will try. He still is our President. Like no one else, he can bring people together. He can speak in a different way to the Nation; "fire side"chat conversations if you will. He can act as the People's President.
Our nation desperately needs this. Of that I am sure.
John Pepper
Thank you for sharing this!
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