WASHINGTON – When President Joe Biden seeks to fulfill his urgent call for unity, he will face dissonance between the two parties’ definitions of the word and will likely be forced to choose between fighting for a bold agenda and forging bipartisan agreements.
Republican leaders have presented a vision of unity in which Biden refrains from actions that antagonize his voter base, which, according to polls, falsely doubt the legitimacy of his election, give former President Donald Trump high approval ratings and want its leaders resist Biden’s agenda.
The tension was apparent on Wednesday when House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Welcomed Biden to the Capitol, saying, “Our task as leaders is to heal this nation’s wounds.” Two weeks ago, McCarthy voted with a majority of House Republicans to block the counting of state-certified electoral votes for Biden after a violent crowd incited by Trump looted the Capitol trying to overturn the result.
Biden presented a progressive agenda that includes trillions of dollars in new investments and a reform of the country’s health and immigration systems. And with Republicans resisting most of his platform, he has narrow Democratic majorities to work on and obstacles to overcome, like the obstructive power of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Dan Pfeiffer, who handled a similar dilemma as President Barack Obama’s senior adviser, said Biden’s obligation would be “to reach out to Republicans in Washington in good faith” but not to sacrifice progress toward unity.
“Ultimately, if Mitch McConnell decides to be an obstructionist, it’s his fault, not Joe Biden’s,” said Pfeiffer. “There will be a trend among many journalists and experts to condense Biden’s promise to heal the nation’s soul in nothing more than appease Republicans in Congress. The Biden team will need to resist this dynamic and set expectations accordingly.”
Biden takes office with high approval ratings for his post-election conduct and substantial political capital to run his party. The direction he chooses will take great risks to the lives of millions of Americans and to the prospects of Democrats in their first half-term elections, when the ruling party has historically been beaten.
Some Democrats believe that the wisest path is moderation.
“The key is to ensure that we govern from a more reasonable and moderate place and to show that we can work with Democrats and Republicans to get things done,” said Representative Josh Gottheimer, DN.J. in a recent interview. “If we demonstrate that, we will be rewarded for that. If we spend the next two years fighting with each other and letting the extreme left of our party dictate our agenda, it will be a very difficult couple of years ahead.”
Biden’s inauguration on a cold day came at a time of daunting challenges – a violent pandemic that killed more than 400,000 people in the United States and paralyzed the economy. He took the oath on the West Front of a Capitol that was invaded two weeks ago by a pro-Trump crowd.
“For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury, no progress, only exhausting indignation, no nation, just a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. And unity is the way forward,” he said. Biden. “Listen to me clearly: disagreement should not lead to disunity.”
It is not at all clear that Biden’s calls for unity will soften an opposition party that responds to a base of voters who, according to polls, want their leaders to fight against him.
A Pew Research Center survey this month captures the asymmetry. Democrats said by a 25-point margin that Biden should work with Republicans to get things done, even if it means disappointing some of his constituents. But Republicans said the opposite: by a 21-point margin, they said Republican leaders should “face Biden” on big issues, even if it makes it more difficult to deal with critical problems.
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“Republicans are saying, ‘We can’t do anything to you if you’re radioactive with our base, so please don’t say anything that makes you radioactive for our base,'” said Republican consultant Michael Steel, a former leadership of Helper chamber.
Some Republicans are asking Biden and Democrats, in the name of unity, to reject the House-approved impeachment article that accuses Trump of inciting insurrection.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., said in a letter this week to the new Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., that holding an impeachment trial would be “an act of political revenge”, and he warned that “will incite more division.”
But Schumer made it clear on Tuesday that the trial will take place.
“We all want to leave this terrible chapter of our nation’s history behind,” he said. “But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and responsibility, not sweeping such a severe accusation and terrible actions under the rug.”
