If the rematch were held today, Trump would have a good chance of winning, but Biden has eight months to turn his fortunes around. Agreeing to all the Cabinet Office priorities and liberal interest groups’ wish list will not change the narrative. Sadly, a preview released by the White House press shop on Friday suggests that’s what’s coming. It says, among other things, the president will advocate protecting abortion rights and IVF, reining in big tech, curbing fentanyl, supporting veterans, ending cancer, paying more taxes for the wealthy, and lowering health insurance premiums. He plans to speak. He is to unite the country and “save our democracy.”
These are all worthy goals, but this moment of gravity demands something grander. Mr. Biden needs to rethink the well-worn format and step up to the bully pulpit to make a case not for himself but for his worldview. He must push back against the self-defeating isolationism, xenophobia, and protectionism of the “America First” movement. His ideas are as dangerous today as they were when they were tried and failed in the 1930s.
Conventional wisdom holds that politicians should emphasize issues where they have an advantage (such as abortion in the president’s case) and de-emphasize issues where they have a disadvantage. But Biden will lose re-election if he does not address the southern border issue. Immigration has become a major concern for the nation. A Gallup poll released Tuesday found that 28 percent of Americans think this is the nation’s most important issue, the highest response ever. According to the same poll, Congress’ job approval rating has fallen to 12%. Biden has 38%.
It is fair to accuse Republicans of nullifying a sensible bipartisan border agreement, as Biden did when he visited a Texas border town on Thursday, but it is insufficient. He understands that many see millions of border crossings as a failure of one of the federal government’s core responsibilities, and he questions how executive authority can be used if Congress does not stop it. It is necessary to provide an overview of how border crossings will be prevented.
Mr. Biden should take a cue from President Harry S. Truman’s strategy. As the 1948 election season began, Mr. Truman looked as vulnerable as Mr. Biden now. But he won his full term by using a “do-nothing Congress” as a foil to rally the country to address post-World War II geopolitical challenges.
President Truman said in the 1948 State of the Union, “The two world wars of our generation have taught us that we cannot be isolated from the rest of the world.” “We have learned that a loss of freedom in any part of the world means a loss of our own freedom, and a loss of independence by any country directly increases the security of the United States. ”
Mr. Biden could make a similar argument about the need for the United States to help democracies like Ukraine avoid existential threats. This is more than just a slogan. When it comes to Israel, what’s happening in the Gaza Strip is tearing apart the Democratic base, as are vulnerabilities on immigration, as are Biden’s views on what he thinks and what he’ll do to prevent broader wars in the Middle East. It has become even more important to explain what we are doing. To ensure a peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis.
Far from representing the silent majority, Trump’s America First philosophy reflects the mindset of the noisy minority. Two-thirds of Americans want to maintain or expand U.S. involvement in NATO, according to a new Gallup poll. Only 12% want the US to leave the alliance.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Biden will need to make this State of the Union address shorter than his previous three addresses to Congress. Truman spoke for 41 minutes at the 1948 State of the Union Address. Biden spoke for 73 minutes last year. Quick, remember what he said? (You can’t do a fair Google search.) In what Biden has called an “inflection point” in history, being inclusive is more important to Biden than anything else. , it’s much more important to be persuasive.