Press: Biden must go big and bold

As America turns the corner from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, the big question is not what most people are talking about: How much clout will Trump still have over the Republican Party from his perch at Mar-a-Lago? The big question is: Did Joe Biden learn anything from his presidential apprenticeship with Barack Obama?

After all, as it turns out, the election of November 2020 brought about a tectonic shift in American political power. Democrats not only won back the White House, reducing Donald Trump to a failed, disgraced, one-term president. They also maintained a (bare) majority in the House of Representatives and, after winning two runoffs in Georgia, took back control of the Senate.

Which means that Biden starts off his presidency as Obama did: with a huge popular and electoral vote advantage, and with Democrats in control of the White House, House and Senate. Unfortunately, Obama failed to take advantage of that power. As he himself admits in his memoir, “A Promised Land,” naively believing he could become the first “post-partisan” president, Obama wasted too much time trying to make deals with Republicans. Before he realized they were just stringing him along, unwilling to cooperate on any issue, Obama had lost control of the House in the 2010 midterms and his ability to get any major new legislation through Congress.

It’s a mistake Democrats historically fall into. Having won power, they hesitate to use it. Like they almost feel guilty about it. They go squishy, retreat to the middle, and become fervent disciples of “bipartisanship,” as if the American people care. Don’t they realize? All the American people want is to get things done to improve their daily lives. If they entrust you with power, they expect you to use it, not hold back. Americans want another FDR, not another Jimmy Carter.

President George W. Bush understood that from day one. Even after losing the popular vote and becoming president only through the intercession of the Supreme Court, Bush charged into the White House as if he had a mighty mandate. He simply ignored Democratic opposition, made no attempt to win them over, and within five months rammed a $1.5 trillion tax cut through a Republican-controlled Congress, benefiting mainly the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and wiping out the federal surplus left behind by Bill Clinton.

As he takes over, Biden should imitate President Bush, not President Obama. He starts off with the trifecta. This is no time to be timid. This is the time to go big and bold. This is no time to try to accomplish one thing at a time. This is the time for Biden to push his entire agenda across the board — by legislation, executive order or new regulations. This is no time to wait. This is the time to score. And to do it now, because who knows what will happen in the 2022 midterms.

Fortunately, Biden’s already shown signs of his intent to assert power from Day One, telegraphing plans to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days, give families $2,000 relief checks, rejoin the Paris Climate accords, rescind Trump’s ban on Muslims, and eliminate the federal death penalty, among other priorities.

By continuing to act strong, Biden may well prove to be, not the transitional president many predict, but the transformational president American needs and wants. He should have the words of Chicago architect Daniel Burnham inscribed over the West Wing door: “Make no little plans, they have no magic in them to stir men’s blood.”

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”