ONE YEAR IN

Today the Biden administration starts its second year in office and the President marked the occasion with a rare press conference, that, I think, was intended to demonstrate that the 79-year-old President is in full control of his faculties, does not evade the spotlight cast upon him by the Washington press corps, and has the stamina to stand on his feet, answering probing and sometimes hostile questions, for more than two hours. He did reasonably well in this endurance test, but his handlers must have known that their boss could not pull this off without some offering up some gaffes that the President is known for throughout his career in politics. In his press conference yesterday, he made two of them, which, combined with a lot of rambling, hesitation, and awkward silences, made for an unconvincing show of governance control and competence.

The worst gaffe he made was by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the next election(s) with the John Lewis voting rights act heading for defeat in the Senate. He can fend off any danger to a free and fair election outcome by working with Congress on a revamp of the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

The other gaffe came in answer to questions about Vladimir Putin’s intentions about the Ukraine, first by speculating that Putin may decide to invade and then by suggesting that ‘minor incursions’ would trigger a lesser response from America and NATO than a full-fledged invasion. He seemed to be saying that Russia would be permitted to trespass on Ukraine’s sovereignty as long as it stayed short of an occupation. I don’t think that he meant it that way, but it certainly came across that way in Washington, Kiev, and Moscow. On this topic, he should have stayed with warning Putin that he would come to regret any violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

In all of this we need to realize that Joe Biden is fighting two demons: He needs to pull the country away from the populist, anti-democratic, and QAnon wave, set in motion by the Trump ascendency in the Republican Party; and he needs to hold off the activist left wing within his own party which feeds the right’s narrative that under Democratic Party rule the country would descend into a socialist backwater. The way out seems obvious. He should reset his agenda and explore with the same Republicans who voted for his infrastructure bill, who voted to impeach Trump in February of 2021, and who voted for the Stopgap funding bill in November, which parts of his agenda can obtain bi-partisan support. If the Infrastructure Bill passed the Senate by a 69-30 vote and the Stopgap Bill by 69-28, isn’t it worth exploring what else can pass with at least 60 votes in the Senate?

The best President Biden can do for the country is forging a coalition that permanently closes the door on Trump and the Trump inspired anti-democratic movement. For that he will need the support of Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Joe Manchin, and, maybe, Mitch McConnell. Biden is the quintessential ‘middle of the road’ man. He now needs to build on his strength and craft a ‘middle of the road’ coalition of Democrats, Independents, and conventional Republicans.

Let’s find out what that kind of coalition can agree on. It is evident that voters need to be swayed, by effective governance, to not only show their confidence in their election integrity by coming out en masse when called to the voting booth, but also to convincingly defeat those who are actively subverting our democratic systems.

The President would be well advised to put the democratic (small d) credentials of the coalition partners to the test by asking them if they are for or against:

·        Automatic and same-day voter registration

·        Making Election Day a Federal Holiday

·        Increased accessibility to voting for Native American and Alaska Native citizens

·        Making it a federal crime to hinder a person from registering to vote or helping someone to register to vote

·        Universal and free preschool for all 3–4-year-olds

·        Childcare subsidies for low- and mid-income families

·        Paid family leave

·        Tuition free access to Community Colleges for children from low-and mid-income families

·        Perpetuating the expanded Child Tax Credit

·        Medicare’s authority to negotiate drug prices

·        Elder care subsidies for low-and mid-income persons

And then push forward with that part of this agenda that can gain a majority vote in the House of Representatives and 60 votes in the Senate. Any such push should include a prescription for how to pay for the proposed benefits. Don’t say it isn’t possible. Look at the 69 votes in the Senate that created the Infrastructure Bill and the Stopgap Bill of November of the same year.

Good public governance requires five essential hallmarks:

1.       A vision of where the country should be heading

2.       Competency at each component of the Executive Branch

3.       Avoidance of corruption and cronyism

4.       Excellence in execution and implementation

5.       Clarity and honesty in communication

If President Biden can avoid further gaffes, build a ‘middle of the road’ coalition, and lead his administration to gain high marks for each of these five hallmarks, he can look forward to a very successful one term presidency and America can dispel the specter of authoritarianism.