A New Beginning

Achieving Unity

To fulfill his promise of unification, Biden must bypass the partisan members of Congress and concentrate his efforts on the American people.

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

“To overcome these challenges — to restore the soul and to secure the future of America — requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity. Unity.”

- Joe Biden

Like our newest president, Barack Obama came into office promising to bridge the partisan divide. His outstretched hand was slapped back by an opposing party that was obsessed with making him a one-term president. Still, Obama ignored his overwhelming majority in the Senate and crafted a stimulus bill that jettisoned the money for infrastructure projects that he preferred and replaced them with tax cuts that Republicans demanded. For his efforts, not a single Republican voted for the package. Americans paid the price as the final result was much too small and caused a shallow recovery.

Not having learned his lesson, Obama spent months trying to craft a bipartisan health care reform bill. What started as a plan for universal health…