Biden must stress American values and success
Speaking on Friday about the unemployment numbers and the economy more generally, President Biden said, “Right now, things in Washington, as you all know, are awfully noisy. Turn on the news and every conversation is a confrontation, every disagreement is a crisis.”
The president is aptly describing the media environment in which he operates. The content of bills gets far less coverage than the fights about top-line numbers. When it comes to securing our democracy, too often, the conversations are about subpoenas for former government officials or the filibuster rather than the struggle to preserve democratic elections.
Biden has the world’s largest megaphone, and he can use it to good effect. Instead of responding to the news cycle or getting into the play-by-play for negotiations as though this is a sports competition, the White House can make a much stronger case about fighting for American values and success.
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Take the Jan. 6 committee’s work. Asked about the subpoenas and assertion of executive privilege, White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained, “The administration takes the events of January 6 incredibly seriously, as the president said on its six-month anniversary. That day posed an existential crisis and a test of whether our democracy could survive. It was, in many respects, a unique attack on the foundations of our democracy.” She continued: “The president is dedicated to ensuring that something like that could never happen again, which is why the administration is cooperating with ongoing investigations, including the January 6 Select Committee to bring to light what happened.”
That’s fine, but Biden should be talking directly to the country about this assault on democracy and about threats to our democratic way of life. (“Way of life” is a whole lot more concrete than “democracy.”) He should be giving major addresses on the need for all Americans to defend the sanctity of elections and to eschew violence. He should be condemning politicians who want to protect themselves from accountability by empowering themselves to override professional, nonpartisan election officials. And yes, the president should denounce a party that does not want to find out who participated in the attempted coup and adheres to the “big lie” — a setup for future violence.
Not enough Americans know about the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, during which Biden’s predecessor tried to strong-arm the Justice Department and force state officials to reverse election results. The president needs to let Americans know how close we came to disaster. He can preview a range of policy responses (e.g., reform of the Electoral Count Act, standards for impartial audits), but he really should be talking about preventing the crown jewel of America — its democratic elections — from harm. The American way is not to resort to violence when you lose, but to concede graciously. The American way is not to bully the people who count the votes but to celebrate their devotion to duty. He could consider presidential democracy awards for Americans who defend elections, peaceful transfers of power, and respect for law and order.
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Is this an implicit rebuke of Republicans? Sure, but it is long past time that Democrats seize the high ground on values — including fair play, honesty, respect and nonviolence. In truth, a party that winks at violence and tries to undermine faith in elections is anti-American and anti-democratic. Biden needs to say so.
On his domestic agenda, Biden has begun to talk more about what is in the reconciliation package, including on Friday. It’s a lot of detail to absorb. He would do well to return to a theme he touched on in the campaign: These items — subsidized child care, sick leave, universal pre-K, etc. — are neither “entitlements” nor “welfare.” They are ways to make it easier for Americans to work and to get ahead.
As former auto industry czar Steven Rattner explained last week, outlays on social spending “are about one-fifth of our gross domestic product.” That turns out to be close to Canada and Britain but “wildly short of other major European countries, particularly France, Italy and Germany.”
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And when it comes to workers with children, Rattner wrote, Americans really get the short end of the stick: “While France spends about $8,400 per year on education and care for each child 5 years old or younger, we spend just $2,600, putting us last among major countries. … While every other major country offers paid maternity leave — the United Kingdom ranks first at nearly 40 weeks and other countries are typically at a dozen weeks or more — we provide none.”
Why do working parents in France and Germany get a better deal than Americans? We have the best workers in the world, and we should make it easier and more lucrative to work.
Biden needs to stress work as the foundation for his proposals and make clear that his focus is on helping Americans be the most productive and best-paid workers in the world. Instead of “Build Back Better,” Biden would get much further talking up plans to “Help Workers Get Ahead” or “Help Families Make Money.”
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To sum it all up, the White House and country face a real threat to democracy. This president has an enormous agenda designed to help workers. Instead of letting the media drive the discussion or descending into the weeds on the Jan. 6 committee and the multiple aspects of the reconciliation deal, Biden needs to take the lead as defender of our democratic way of life and of humane and productive capitalism.
Hold Republicans accountable when they rationalize violence and denigrate the importance of elections. Take them to task as anti-work and anti-family for opposing necessities such as subsidized child care for working parents or paid family leave to take care of parents. That’s how Democrats can achieve consensus (if not unity), cast themselves as defenders of American values and put Republicans on defense.
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