"We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed." - Joseph R. Biden, 46th President of the United States
Yesterday, an exhausted nation finally exhaled. Yesterday, the worst human being ever to occupy the Oval Office left Washington D.C. and was replaced by a man who has more on his plate than any incoming president since FDR.
Joe Biden delivered a moving inaugural address that captured perfectly what the country had just gone through and, sadly, what it has to look forward to. There were no "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" or "ask not what your country can do for you" moments in it. This was not a time for preaching; it was a time for leveling with a population that for the last four years has had to contend with the gross incompetence of a con artist who was in over his head from day one.
Yes, democracy may have prevailed, but it had one helluva close shave. The insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol building January 6 damn near succeeded in their coup attempt. Had it not been for the swift response of a handful of police officers and secret servicemen who ushered all 535 members of Congress and the vice president to safety, Donald Trump might very well have been sworn in for a second term yesterday afternoon.
That's why it was so reassuring that while calling for unity in his address, Biden laid down a marker:
Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.
It was the closest Biden would come to calling out his predecessor by name, but those words weren't just meant for Trump. More than 140 Republicans in the House and Senate voted to overturn the election results in two states. They defended the lies of a corrupt president, and in so doing, aided and abetted in this coup attempt. Biden may have to work with these people, but rest assured he is not going to put up with their "alternative facts." He won, he won legitimately, it's time to move on.
But how? How does he move on when roughly one third of the country believes the election was stolen?
By governing, that's how. In the end, the vast majority of these people may never come around. That cannot stop Biden from doing what he was elected to do. For if one third of the country is hopelessly trapped in a lie; the remaining two thirds aren't. For their sake - and that of the nation's - he must not fail.
His biggest challenge will be how he deals with the Coronavirus pandemic. We now know that the Trump Administration had no plan at all for distributing the vaccines to the general public. It will now be up to the Biden Administration to come up with one, and fast. The longer it takes to get the public vaccinated, the longer it will take for the economy to bounce back. The two are interconnected.
And speaking of the economy, the Administration's $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill will require a lot of heavy lifting on Biden's part to get passed. This is where his 47 years of Washington experience will be put to the test. Being a creature of the Senate, my hunch is that he will leverage the relationships he has with members of both parties in an attempt to get it through the upper chamber first. Instead of a gang of eight, he might end up with a gang of twelve: six senators per party. Supposedly, Biden is meeting with a group of them on Friday. That is encouraging.
Joe Manchin - who's suddenly become a very powerful man - will be the key on the Democratic side and Susan Collins and/or Mitt Romney will be the key on the Republican side. If he's smart - and he ran one of the most disciplined campaigns I've seen quite possibly in my lifetime - he'll look to replicate the kind of bi-partisan deal-making that led to the first Covid-relief bill that passed last December. Though far from perfect, it had overwhelming support in both parties. Get used to hearing names like Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey, Rob Portman, and, yes, even Ben Sasse. They, along with Collins and Romney, will have a hand in whether that and other bills bills make it out of the Senate.
Also get used to a term that hasn't been around since the '90s: triangulation. It was a strategy employed by then president Bill Clinton to get Republican support by embracing policies that appealed not only to them but centrist Democrats, as well. It had the (un)intended consequence of boxing in the more ideological senators who just wanted to see Clinton fail. The overall goal was to get 60 or more votes and it was integral in balancing three consecutive budgets.
As for the House, progressives are going to have to accept the fact that the more aggressive items on their agenda like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal are never going to become law. That's because the votes just aren't there in the Senate, where the filibuster is here to stay, no matter what Chuck Schumer and Democrats want. While we're at it, you can also forget about packing the court. Manchin is already on record as being opposed to it.
And then there's the impeachment trial, which looms over everything. Depending on when Nancy Pelosi delivers the article to the Senate and whether the Parliamentarian rules that the Senate can conduct normal business in the morning and hold a trial in the afternoon, will determine how long it takes to confirm Biden's nominees. I cannot stress this enough: it is absolutely critical that this administration be fully staffed, so it would behoove Schumer to spend as little time as possible on a trial that, at this point, is still a long shot at best of getting the necessary 67 votes for a conviction.
Bottom line: we have a deeply divided country and a polarized political system. The most experienced politician since LBJ is now president, which is reason enough to be hopeful. Whether Biden can convert that hope into something tangible and mend the fences that have been broken for well over a decade remains to be seen.
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