Yes, I know. Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., hasn’t yet taken the oath of office, much less delivered his sure-to-be rousing speech on how he plans to unify a broken and bitterly divided America. So how am I predicting that he will fail at Job 1?
According to Politico founding editor John F. Harris the answer will be not in his words but his deeds. One area where Harris sees hope for getting “all Americans” to “raise our sights and lower our voices” is in the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. Harris writes:
Many anti-government conservatives who watch Sean Hannity have something in common with many government-loving liberals who watch Rachel Maddow: Both want to be jabbed in the shoulder with a needle. Neither has an interest in continuing the clumsy early vaccine distribution that has marked the final weeks of the Trump administration.
It is true that confusion reins at the state level, where the micromanagement of the distribution by “health experts” like New York Andrew Cuomo has led to the squandering of thousands of doses of the precious vaccine. Yes, global instructions from the federal government might help — but only in theory. In practice, adding another layer of bureaucracy is likely to gum up the works even further.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
But the bigger challenge for Biden as uniter is overcoming the hand he has already played in the run-up to his presidency. When he wasn’t pledging unity and healing, he was boasting about heading up the most progressive and diverse administration in the history of the nation. How exactly is that meant to endear him to the plurality of Americans who view progressive as a dirty word? How in particular is it going to assuage Trump supporters who feel personally bruised and angry after watching the non-stop assault on the president waged jointly by the media, Big Tech, and Democrats? How is it going to persuade the 74 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump to disbelieve their lyin’ eyes that the election was tampered with?
You can’t have unity without compromise and a willingness to listen to other points of view. Where in Biden’s promise to “’reverse the gravest damages’ done to the country by … Trump” implicit?
I sincerely hope I’m wrong. I’m hoping that Biden’s plans, which include taming Iran into ceasing its production of uranium, crippling America’s gas and oil industries, and further socializing health care, don’t come back to bite him — or us. But I’m not holding my breath.
