Yes, I get that we all have agendas and passions, urgent causes, and reasons we voted for Joe and Kamala. Yes, I know what we want and need is urgent, and everything from COVID relief and managing the crisis, international relations, racism, the economy, the SCOTUS, getting protection for healthcare workers, dealing with climate change, animal welfare, progressive causes, moderate causes, healthcare, supply chain issues, education, election security and voting rights, policy brutality, reversing the horrendous idea that destroying our national parks for profit is a good idea, horrible treatment of Native Americans, immigration nightmares, judicial inequalities, disablility protections, LBGTQ+ protections and equality, financial crimes, and whatever else I left off that matters to you is important.
Yes, I know we all want these things addressed right now, and it is natural for us to be disappointed if they aren’t fixed the day Joe and Kamala take office. Hey, you bothered to vote for them even if that meant hardship, and they promised you so many changes! You saw how important this election was, and maybe you even donated to their campaign, so you expect them to come through, and that is reasonable up to a point.
I say “to a point” because I predict that what I call “post-election cynicism syndrome” will kick in soon after they are sworn in. It always does, but this time I would bet that it will be worse. That is also normal up to a point, but I think it will be essential to the success of the new administration and democracy itself that we all take a breath and be patient. That is helpful at the change of any administration actually, but this time it will be essential, and here’s why.
Biden was elected at a very unique time in U.S. history. We have a disturbed President who is actively sabotaging any attempts to smoothly transition to the new administration, and although Biden can work on what he plans to do, the team can’t actually get anything in motion until he takes office. Even an amazing leader can’t do everything in one day, and if there are obstructions it will take much longer.
There will be obstructions at every turn, of course. McConnell is already promising to block all nominations for admin positions that need it, the Senate will be basically useless if we don’t get Georgia Senators, and none of the GOP seem to care about the people’s needs. We have Trump sycophants in the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of our government, and he fired many of the experts who actually did care about doing the job for the people. So expecting Biden to magically solve all of the problems that made you passionate enough to get out and vote in a few weeks just isn’t reasonable.
In fact, if the Senate doesn’t flip this time I wish the new administration luck getting much done through legislation. True, Biden is the perfect person to be President right now, and he actually is great at negotiations, but expecting it all to go the way we want immediately isn’t helpful or reasonable. He won’t be a failed President if he can’t reform all branches of government, cure the virus in a month, achieve all Progressive, Moderate, and Conservation Democratic goals while replacing all the awful Trump people, reversing climate change, reforming immigration and educations, fix the economy that Trump broke with his denial, and do all of the other things we might want in six months or even a year.
He will likely be fought tooth and nail for every baby step he makes forward, and while Kamala can help, neither are magical saviors and shouldn’t be expected to be. There will be things that he can’t get from Congress, times he can’t make a deal with people who truly don’t care if we all die as long as they stay in power and make money, and times when he will be too progessive for some and way too conservative for others. That is okay. It is how democracy works, and we haven’t had much democracy to remind us of “normal” for several years yet.
He may have to compromise to get some things done, and we may feel disappointed, but that is normal in government. We may not get everything we want, or even most of it, but that is normal as well. It doesn’t mean Biden wasn’t the right choice for President, either. He wasn’t elected to make you happy personally, and it isn’t all about what I want either. It’s time to take some deep, slow breaths and remind ourselves that Joe and Kamala are taking office to protect democracy and do the best they can to undo the horrific damage Trump and his minions have wrought upon this country and its people and institutions.
Yes, we need to remind them of their promises and expect them to do all they can, but they aren’t magic and saving and restoring a democracy takes years, not a few weeks. He wasn’t elected to be a Progressive, Moderate, or Conservative Democratic president. Just as he says, he is there to be President for everyone. So if we don’t get we want immediately we will be okay. First things first, and despite the obstacles they will do all that they can for the country. The wounds are deep, Trump and his followers will be instigating more trouble and throwing roadblocks into everything they can. They are angry and he taught them to feel entitled and denied, so I humbly suggest we give Joe and Kamala some time to sort the million issues they are inheriting. Take a breath, support democracy however you can, and know that you will be taking many more breaths before this is sorted out. At least we haven’t lost our democracy yet, but it could still happen. Let’s don’t take it for granted this time.