USA TODAY International Edition
What should be done in 100 days
The 46th president must fix economy, stop COVID- 19 and, oh, end racism
The USA TODAY Opinion section asked members of our Board of Contributors, “What is the most critical priority for President Joe Biden to succeed on in his first 100 days?”
Navarrette: He needs to listen
The most important thing that President Biden can do in his first 100 days is listen. It’s the most important form of communication — and the least utilized, especially by politicians. It’s also a good way to get informed, defuse tension and disarm critics. While many of those who run for president boast that they will know how to do the job on Day One, that is rarely true. Biden starts with a sizable advantage over others who have stepped into the job because he was vice president just four years ago. But a lot has happened in the past four years. Biden will need time to survey the landscape, post- Trump. Listening — particularly to critics — will also help Biden calm the country’s anxieties. Trump supporters are worked up something fierce at the moment because they feel no one hears them or cares about their concerns. Giving them a hearing will take the steam from their engines. They expect to be ignored. Biden mustn’t give them the satisfaction. President Biden will have plenty of time to get things done. But listening will teach him what needs doing and how to do it.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a syndicated columnist and founder of the Navarrette Sonic Podcast Network.
Torres: Boost vaccine rollout
Above all, Biden must remedy the lagging COVID- 19 vaccine rollout. In the race to get 100 million shots into 100 million arms in the first 100 days, the administration must redouble its commitment to racial and economic justice, learn from past failures and respond to bottlenecks with lightningfast precision to ensure vaccination efforts don’t devolve further into a chaotic free- for- all that reach only a privileged few. Getting a shot in most of the country resembles something like a rush for coveted concert tickets in prepandemic days. But this vaccine “golden ticket” could save your life. The botched rollout has seniors lining up at health departments and scouring the internet for scarce appointments. It’s easy to see who’s going to be left behind in this mad scramble: those who lack access to technology and transportation, who live with disabilities and in “pharmacy deserts,” who don’t speak English and who need trusted information about vaccine safety. The pandemic has exposed America’s festering inequality and cracks in our crumbling public health infrastructure.
Stacy Torres is an assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Social Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.
Lipman: Pass COVID relief plan
If forced to choose the single initiative in which Biden must succeed, it would be his rescue package. Not necessarily the full $ 1.9 trillion, but two essential elements. First, the $ 1,400 stipend. We are in a crisis of epic proportions, with raging unemployment and more than 25 million Americans who don’t have enough to eat, according to U. S. Census Bureau data. Second, the measures that most impact women, including support for child care and paid family and sick leave. The coronavirus economic fallout has hit women far harder than men — there’s a reason it’s called a “shecession” — and people of color far harder than whites.
Joanne Lipman, the Distinguished Journalism Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, is author of “That’s What She Said.” She is a former editor- in- chief of USA TODAY.
Rutledge: Fight against racism
Although COVID- 19 and the economy are both significant problems that must be addressed, these problems are facing global citizens everywhere. America has another critical issue that is being used by our adversaries to tear us apart. That issue is racism. The major issues facing this country — the coronavirus pandemic, health care, the economy, criminal and justice reform, and domestic terrorism — all intersect with racism, which makes those issues particularly daunting. Loving a country that continues to grapple with racism is like loving a father who continually disappoints you. As I loved my father, I also continue to love my country. I am fully an American citizen and a patriot. I am also fully a Black woman. I am painfully aware that in spite of the progress and promises, my race dictates to many how I should be viewed and treated. Addressing the country’s problems with racism will not be an easy fix, but acknowledging it as a problem is the first step toward change.
Njeri Mathis Rutledge is a professor of law at South Texas College of Law Houston and a former prosecuting attorney.
Beehner: A humble foreign policy
COVID- 19 has forced the USA to realign its foreign policy. It’s not simply enough for Biden to rejoin a few treaties and alliances and dial the clock back to 2016. The world’s balance of power is profoundly different, and so he needs to dial back American expectations and recalibrate U. S. strategic priorities. He needs to put forth a new foreign policy that is more humble yet not throw away the baby with the bath water when it comes to jettisoning Trump’s policies. Biden should double down on Trump’s cajoling of allies to pay their fair share of collective defense. He should keep pressure on China to be a responsible stakeholder in international institutions while respecting its neighbors’ territorial rights, intellectual property, and human rights of its various ethnic minorities and of Hong Kong citizens. At the same time, the new president must not allow the gravitational pull of so- called great power competition to drain all the oxygen out of other U. S. priorities and threats, or in becoming a self- fulfilled prophecy. China’s rise will be competitive but peaceful. Biden should order a top- down review of whether our defense priorities are being met by our whopping $ 700 billion budget and look to slash programs that are either misaligned, wasteful or needlessly bureaucratic ( beginning with a rethink of Trump’s fascination with a Space Force).
Lionel Beehner, a former assistant professor at West Point, is co- editor of “Reconsidering American Civil- Military Relations: The Military, Society, Politics, and Modern War.”