San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
With Biden, there is hope for healing
The voters have spoken and Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, and California Sen. Kamala Harris, dressed in suffragette white Saturday night, will be a ceiling-breaking vice president.
Both willmake history with their ascent to the two highest elected offices in our land. Biden, who will soon turn 78, is the oldest person to be elected president. Harris, is the first woman, first Black, and first Asian who will serve as vice president.
This transition will be choppy. The Trump campaign
has already filed legal challenges. Misinformation abounds across social media. President Donald Trump has falsely claimed voter fraud and theft.
This is not true. All of this is designed to sow doubt. But a keystone to democracy is having the losing side accept election outcomes; and in making baseless allegations about fraud and theft, Trump has failed this essential norm.
Biden succeeded this election by offering a sharp contrast to the president in tone and demeanor.
He repeatedly has vowed to be a president for all Americans, and as a longtime senator and as vice president in the Obama administration, Biden was adept at making deals with Republicans. We expect him to lead in this way, regardless of the makeup of the Senate.
Biden has already taken a crucial step in restoring confidence in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a teamof scientists andmedical advisers to craft policy for when he takes office. We also see an opportunity for Biden to negotiate a deal on economic stimulus for workers and industries hard hit in this pandemic. Finally, this new administration, which has shown the power of possibility and unity, can lead in creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers.
Inherent in each of these issues is Biden’s greatest task, which is to heal a fractured nation. He is uniquely positioned to do this with unquestionable empathy, compassion and dignity. This is a presidential ticket that received more than 74 million votes, appealing to liberals and conservatives, lifted up by African Americans, grounded in a pledge to govern in a way that restores national unity.
As Biden said in his victory speech Saturday night: “For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I have lost a couple of timesmyself, but now let’s give each other a chance. It is time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans.”
In his book, “The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels,” historian Jon Meacham writes, “In a twenty-first century hour when the presidency has more in common with reality television and professional wrestling, it’s useful to recall how the most consequential of our past presidents have unified and inspired with conscious dignity and conscientious efficiency.”
Of course, no one knows if Biden will be a consequential president, but as a presidential nominee and now president-elect, he’s been consequential in restoring norms and modeling dignified leadership. Again, from his victory speech:
“Let this grimera of demonization in America begin to end here and now. The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not somemysterious force beyond our control. It’s a decision, a choice we make. And if we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate, and I believe this is part of a mandate given to us from the American people. They want us to cooperate in their interest, and that is the choice I will make.”
This is how presidents speak and lead. This is why the Biden-Harris ticket has soared to great heights.
The sooner we transition to this dignified leadership, the better for our nation. May this be a new chapter of national reconciliation, and the next step toward a more perfect union.