David Brooks: Joe Biden and the case for optimism
The new president can move us away from our homegrown feudalism.
(Doug Mills | The New York Times)
President Joe Biden visits the Lincoln Memorial on Inauguration Day in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Every president sets the moral and cultural tone for the nation. We saw that in a terrible way over the past four years. Just by who he is, Biden sets the stage for a moral revival, David Brooks writes.
By David Brooks | The New York Times
| Jan. 24, 2021, 3:00 p.m.
Most calls to “national unity” are vacuous pap. They are unrealistic, kumbaya pleas to “come together” around nothing.
David Brooks column: The case for Biden optimism chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
But what does that page actually look like?
Trying to make sense of this moment in history is almost as difficult as trying to unravel the multitude of conspiracy theories about the election itself.
Some corners of America seemed to collectively exhale as President Donald Trump – twice impeached, banned from Twitter and yet still refusing to even mention Biden’s name or concede defeat left Washington for some measure of exile in Florida. But from other corners of the nation, the pulsating and pressurized steam of grievance still hissed with anger and distrust.
“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” he said in his inaugural address from the same U.S. Capitol portico where a pro-Trump mob tried to stop his elevation to the presidency only two weeks earlier.
Congressional Democrats’ rush toward impeachment has put Joe Biden in a difficult position before he’s even taken the oath of office. Does he follow the desires of his fellow Democratic Party leaders to punish Donald Trump for stirring up an angry mob that ran amok at the U.S. Capitol? Or does Biden heed his own oft-repeated campaign promise to weigh the desires of those Americans who voted against him as well as the historic numbers who voted for him?
The nation is struggling to pick up the pieces and come to terms with last week’s insurrection at the Capitol building by Trump-supporting extremists. At least five people, including one police officer, died. Hundreds more were threatened and terrorized. Another Capitol Police officer on duty that day died by suicide over the weekend, his family announced Monday.