Less than three months ago, President Joe Biden stood in front of the U.S. Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots and delivered his inaugural address. He called for unity, and Americans who see a politically fractured country welcomed it. He could have then put together an agenda that would have accomplished many of his goals while also helping heal the country. On COVID-19, infrastructure and other matters, there was a road to garnering massive bipartisan support. We focus a lot on disagreements, but in each of these areas, average citizens share a broad consensus that Biden could have reached.
Biden pushed through a thoroughly partisan COVID-19 bill. The lockdowns smashed the livelihoods of many Americans. There was broad bipartisan consensus to provide further relief to small businesses and individual Americans. There was also support for further funding to speed vaccine deployment. By focusing on these core COVID-19-related areas, Biden could have achieved the first major bipartisan success in many years.