Biden hopes to restore faith in government
Biden aims to use the levers of executive authority to create opportunities and break down barriers.
WASHINGTON >> As President Joe Biden preaches patience but acts with urgency, his vision of the powers of the Oval Office is quickly taking shape, modeled after Democratic predecessors who dramatically expanded the reach of government to confront generational crises.
In a recent meeting with historians and in private conversations with advisers, Biden looked to the examples set by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson as he aims to use the levers of executive authority to create opportunities and break down barriers.
Unlike Roosevelt and Johnson, who enjoyed formidable Democratic majorities in Congress, Biden has had to operate with a no-margin-for-error edge in fiercely partisan Washington.
Born soon after Roosevelt’s New Deal and having first run for office in the shadow of Johnson’s Great Society, Biden has long believed in government as an instrument for good. Now, with the COVID-19 public health pandemic and the economic carnage it wrought, that philosophy is being put to a fundamental test and Biden’s place in history is in the balance.
He has chosen momentous action over incremental, willing to cast aside visions of a bipartisan Washington in favor of tangible results Biden insists are resonating with Republican voters, if not their elected officials.
‘Crisis’
“The president was clear about the crisis of democracy and aware of the factors and forces that may try to undermine the American experiment if we are not careful to protect it,” said historian Michael Eric Dyson, who attended the recent session. “There was no question that the president was concerned about how we treat our fellow citizens and is keenly aware that the moral trajectory of the United States has made a difference in both domestic and foreign policy.”
Over his first two months in office, Biden has signed into law a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill and, this past week, proposed an even larger $2.3 trillion infrastructure and tax plan that is the first installment of a two-part legislative package meant to reshape the American economy.
His team’s guiding principle is that the United States must push past the pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol to rebuild the economy in an equitable way that shows the nation can still make good for its citizens as it faces a threat from autocratic states, including China, for global economic supremacy.
“There’s a lot of autocrats in the world who think the reason why they’re going to win is democracies can’t reach consensus any longer; autocracies do,” Biden said Wednesday when he announced his infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh.
“That’s what competition between America and China and the rest of the world is all about. It’s a basic question: Can democracies still deliver for their people? Can they get a majority?” Biden continued. “I believe we can. I believe we must.”
The president has urged action despite a very narrow Democratic majority in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate that requires Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties. No Republican lawmakers voted for the COVID-19 relief bill, although it was popular among voters of both parties.
No Republicans appear likely to support the infrastructure plan.
To this point, the White House has refused to entertain the debate that often bedevils presidents who know their party traditionally loses seats in their first midterm elections: play it safe to try to preserve power or go big?
The bet
Biden’s bet for the latter is clear, banking that voters will ignore big price tags and reward tangible results on vaccines, roads, broadband and more while forcing Republicans to defend a tax structure that benefits ultra-wealthy companies.
Even so, the progressive forces in the Democratic Party that helped elect Biden are already pushing the president to go bigger still, demanding immediate action on gun control, immigration and climate change.
Biden is asking for patience, keenly aware of the arithmetic of the Senate and the headwinds he’ll face on some issues. But the 78-year-old president also has pressed for urgency, knowing that his party’s hold on Congress is tenuous and believing that now is the moment to restore a wary public’s faith in government.
This past week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., framed Biden’s gamble as “in the tradition of America — to think big.”
Biden has indeed looked to history for guidance.
A month ago, he gathered more than a half-dozen historians in the East Room of the White House and listened to each speak about what made previous presidents successful and what lessons could be drawn for the present.
For two hours, Biden asked questions, attendees said, and reflected his own political role models.
“This is a president who obviously loves history and has used history all of his life and his career,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “He knows all about 1933 and 1965. We have seen evidence of that his whole career.”