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.