President Biden has a short window of time to take the lead. Here's what I think he could do:
My Fellow Americans,
As President of the United States, I have many responsibilities and privileges. And one of the most sacred of those is what some have called, the “bully pulpit.” It is the platform I have to speak to you and to the world about the matters that face us. It is a pulpit because it is akin to a church pulpit with a preacher exhorting his parishioners to adopt a certain kind of life. And it is called “bully” because unlike a preacher, I am invested with actual powers to make things happen and get things done. And so today, I am speaking to you urgently and humbly from my bully pulpit with a message we all desperately need,
Yesterday, my political rival, former President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt at one of his rallies. We do not yet know all of the details about the shooter or his motives. But what we do know if we live in a cultural atmosphere of increasing mutual contempt, suspicion, and distrust. And more than that, we frequently use incendiary rhetoric to describe people of different political convictions. All sides of the debate are guilty of this.
But before I go into that, I want to set an example by looking at the man in the mirror. I need to look at myself and my own rhetoric towards my political opponents. I have been guilty of hyperbole and of fear-mongering. I have been too quick to suggest that our very democracy is at stake if Donald Trump were to be re-elected. The reality is that Donald Trump was President before and our democracy did not end. Quite the contrary. The country duly elected me as a response to his first administration.
And so I want to confess that I have not always done well and commit to doing better. I will endeavor to keep the rhetoric focused around the issues. And where I have concerns about Trump’s character as a leader, I will do so without vitriol, contempt, and disdain. It is possible to do this and I will help lead the way.
To my fellow elected officials on both sides of the aisle, we need to help turn down the thermostat in America. We can do this by ending the notion that a certain policy or group of policies will usher in cataclysm. Whether the issue is abortion, or fossil fuels, or education - we can pursue a discussion without demonizing the motives of the other side or engaging in all-or-nothing thinking. Our system is designed to facilitate this dialogue, but we have to lead the way. If we don’t, the public will continue to lose confidence in our very institutions - and that is the threat to democracy we face.
And to the media - I understand you have jobs to do. It is your job to challenge power and those who want to hold it. It is also a reality that you are in businesses that need to make money - so the temptation to fear-monger to attract eyeballs, clicks, and ratings is very strong. But I implore you to save your most fiery rhetoric for when it is most needed. When the constant drum beat of the media feeds fear and anger - this shapes our culture. Please help us by being more thoughtful, analytical, and slow to condemn. The reality is that the public will take cues from your reporting and editorializing, so please approach your vocations with a sense of the sacred place it plays in our democracy.
Finally - to the public. My friends - we have many challenges and many opportunities. We have many strong disagreements and valid concerns about the role the government plays in our everyday lives. And I hope that each and every one of you becomes more engaged in your communities and in our process of governing this great nation. But please do it remembering what we hold in common - we are a great country that aspires to bring out the best in people. We have a political structure and process to help us navigate our disagreements and reach difficult compromises. If you feel a particular issue that is dear to you has lost in the legislative process - all is not lost - democracy is not lost. We will and can move forward and it is important to be peace-makers in the middle of contending for our convictions.
I was a Senator during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. And the good Lord knows that I didn’t agree with a lot of what he did. But there is a relationship he had that I always appreciated. The Democrat Speaker of the House during part of his administration was Tip O’Neil. They were not on the same page politically. But they were friends. In fact, after the assassination attempt on Reagan, one of the first people Reagan allowed to visit him in the hospital was Tip O’Neil. It is said that they would ask one another, “Is it after 6pm?”, as a way to signal it was time to be friends and stop the political battles.
My friends - we can do this. We can be like that. Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow can hang out. Michael Moore and Steve Bannon can do a podcast. Let’s turn the temperature down. Give each other a hug. Pray for one another. And let’s go to work rebuilding trust in each other and our great country,
God bless you and God bless America
So well written, Brett. Thank you.