Biden must bridge wide political split to heal the nation

Joe Biden is now the president- elect. But the narrow margins in state after state and nationwide highlight the country’s deep political split and the enormous task the former vice president faces as he begins the process of national healing.

This presidential election was not the repudiation of Donald Trump that Democrats had been seeking, nor was it the vindication that Republicans expected. Tuesday’s election makes clear the extent to which we are a house divided.

That was also displayed in the congressional results. In the House, Democrats lost seats and will likely barely hold on to their majority. In the Senate, Republicans will narrowly control unless there’s a runoff upset for two seats from Georgia.

How well our divided house stands in the next four years depends on the degree to which Biden and Congress can channel the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln and seek common ground on issues with “malice toward none.”

That means that for the nation to make any progress, Biden and congressional leaders, starting with Republican Sen. Mitch Mcconnell, will need to govern from the center. Whatever hope of success will hinge on both parties, especially the extreme ends of each, softening their positions to find common ground.

Republicans in the Senate will have to decide whether to become the obstructionist party once again, as they did during the Obama administration, or work with a sitting president for the national good.

Democrats from the party’s left wing should consider whether they want to risk losing even more seats in the next election by trying to push the party further left. Here in California and especially the Bay Area, this election once again taught us that rest of the nation doesn’t share the state and region’s dominant progressive politics.

It will take a cooperative effort to heal this nation. The depth of its division was illuminated in the exit polling from Tuesday’s election.

It shows that 76% of people voting for Trump believe opening the economy should be the nation’s top priority, while 80% of those voting for Biden identified stopping the coronavirus as their No. 1 concern. Seventy-two percent of those voting for Biden report experiencing financial hardship from the pandemic; only 26% of Trump supporters do.

The polling shows similar divides between Biden voters and Trump voters on practically every significant issue facing the country, including climate change, the economy, racism, health care, criminal justice and abortion.

The challenge for Biden and congressional leaders will be to find ways to achieve solutions with mutual benefit. Coronavirus is the obvious first place to start. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 isn’t just a Democratic Party priority. Nor is reopening the economy as quickly as possible only a Republican Party goal.

It’s imperative that Biden remain committed to sciencebased health guidelines. But that shouldn’t stop him from working with Republicans on a plan to reopen schools and the economy as soon as it is safe to do so.

Widespread bipartisan support should be achievable for a national strategy that encourages universal maskwearing, free and timely testing, increased production of personal protective equipment and aggressive moves to support small businesses and families hit hardest by the crisis. Those goals are in everyone’s interest.

Progressives might balk at the notion of governing from the center. And far right conservatives won’t like any moves from Republicans toward bipartisanship. But the alternative is government by executive order, which will only serve to widen the current fissure.

America works best when leaders of both parties listen to each other and find working compromises. That effort can’t start too soon.