If anyone canpull off this balancing act, JoeBidencan
I’m not a political scientist, college professor or pundit, but I do have some common sense. And I’d like to weigh in on the serious contentious issue already threatening a Biden/Harris administration.
It will be challenging to balance between the demands of the progressives of his own party and the desires of the Loyal Opposition Republicans. The celebrating crowds are flying progressive banners, and progressive spokespersons are loudly contending that they (alone?) were responsible for his victory. Apparently they’re readying their demands for Biden and the new Congress. And
Republicans are reminding everyone that 70 million of us voted for Trump and that they are not to be discounted (forgetting that Trump called his similar electoral college victory over Hillary a mandate and promptly declared all Democrats enemies).
If anyone can do this balancing, Biden can. As he repeatedly said, he can be president of all Americans and not look at Republicans as the enemy. He can build relationships with opposition congressional leaders, explain the reasons for his vision, his understanding of theirs, and his willingness to compromise. Some goals are common but with differing approaches. The ideas of fair trade, economic growth, the shared pain of taxation, safety and security, and energy independence would seem to be
universal.
Biden is also capable of explaining to progressives, in Congress as well as to outside groups, that sharing goals does not always mean immediate gratification. The world, especially the world of politics, doesn’t work that way. In my opinion, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
understands this, and that, progressive as she is, she can work to temper many immediate and extreme demands in favor of rational progress.
An analogy can be made to Biden’s remarks during the campaign on fracking. Was he for it or against it? What Biden said, reasonably, is that his long-term goal is to gradually wean us from dependence on fossil fuels in favor of clean energy that is growing here and around the world. In the meantime of course we’ll have all of the above.
So just as we surely but gradually transition with a common goal of clean environment with job security, so can we surely but gradually transition to a kind, inclusive nation where we are all respected and celebrated — not molded into some preconceived notion of American — which will again be the envy of the world.
Neither massive leaps nor unreasonable extremes are desirable, lest we polarize even more rapidly and deeply. We should take heart in being able to communicate and see the needle moving in the proper direction.
I’m a moderate trying to understand where both sides are coming from, but can’t abide extremism, however passionately demonstrated. In fact, most reasonable and moderate liberals and conservatives would be shocked to find themselves in a society of unbridled “progression” or “right-wing fanaticism.” Extremists on any side actually do their cause a disservice, because they demonstrate the worst of their ideology — what it can become if unchecked.
Life is a journey, so let’s keep calm and enjoy the ride.