Biden is simply Mr. Fix-It

Even the official titles of Joe Biden’s initiatives — Rescue Plan, Jobs Plan and soon-to-beunveiled Family Plan — are anodyne, like plumbing blueprints.

The reason is that Mr. Biden wants Americans to feel confident that he’s taking care of the biggest problems but doesn’t want to create much of a stir. The country is so bitterly and angrily divided that any stir is likely to stir up vitriol.

Talk too much about combating climate change and lose everyone whose livelihood depends on fossil fuels or who doesn’t regard climate change as an existential threat. Focus on cutting child poverty and lose everyone who thinks welfare causes dependency. Talk too much about critical technologies and lose those who think the government shouldn’t be picking winners.

Rescue checks and road repairs may be boring but they’re hugely popular. Sixty-one percent of Americans support the American Rescue Plan, including 59% of Republicans. More than 80% support increased funding for highway construction, bridge repair and expanded access to broadband.

Mr. Biden has made it all so bland that congressional Republicans and their business backers have nothing to criticize except his proposal to pay for the repairs by raising taxes on corporations, which most Americans support.

This is smart politics. Mr. Biden is embarking on a huge and long-overdue repair job on the physical and human underpinnings of the nation while managing to keep most of a bitterly divided country with him. It may not be seen as glamorous work, but when you’re kneedeep in muck, it’s hard to argue with a plumber.