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Biden Has Called For Unity, Not Bipartisanship; There's A Big Difference Between The Two
- 'Biden has called for unity, not bipartisanship. There's a big difference between the two.' Daily Kos, Jan. 31, 2021.
During his inaugural address, Joe Biden returned to the central theme of his campaign, the message that earned him millions more votes than any other presidential candidate in history: unity. In his speech, Biden invoked the word no fewer than eight separate times. With unity, he said, we can do great things. Important things. Just as notable, there was one phrase Biden didnt utter even once: bipartisanship. Its easy to conflate the two, and Republicans have done so in bad faith, seeking to weaponize Bidens own mantra against him.
But theres a very good reason why Biden has emphasized unity rather than bipartisanshipits because the two words mean very different things.
So what exactly does unity mean? Biden and his team have defined it very simply: Its the act of coming together to do what the American people want. In this way, it lays out a future guided not by whatever the largest number of politicians are able to agree on, but instead by the desires of the people those politicians were elected to represent. It reroots our democracy in the very soil that gives it life in the first place. Its no surprise that Republicans resent this. Bidens priorities are very popular, while to the extent Republicans even have any sort of affirmative agenda, their proposals are anything but.
This is why they dont want to see Biden succeed, lest a president who passes popular initiatives grow more popular still.
To prevent such an outcome, Republicans are pretending that unity is indeed an interchangeable synonym for bipartisanship and using it as a bludgeon to cow Democrats. By demanding that Biden only pass legislation acceptable to them, only the most watered-down measures could ever become law. More likely, nothing ever would. If Democrats were so weak-willed as to be fooled by this bullying, it would leave the party with no accomplishments to show to voters in two or four years timeprecisely what Republicans dream of.
But todays Democrats, Joe Biden included, are far tougher and savvier than their easily intimidated forebears. They know precisely what game Republicans want to play and refuse to participate. As White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki noted, if Republicans want bills to pass with bipartisan support, then they can vote in favor of what Democrats are proposing. Republicans have agency, after all. Democrats are not the only party with the power to make bipartisanship happen...
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/31/2013099/-Biden-has-called-for-unity-not-bipartisanship-There-s-a-big-difference-between-the-two
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Biden Has Called For Unity, Not Bipartisanship; There's A Big Difference Between The Two (Original Post)
appalachiablue
Feb 2021
OP
Laelth
(32,017 posts)1. 3 out of 4 Americans want BIG-TIME federal stimulus ... now!
Thats unity. Joe called for unity, and he got it. The American people are ready for it. The Republicans are just holding us back. Theyre the ones resisting unity.
-Laelth
appalachiablue
(41,197 posts)2. That's right, and as Janet Yellin said, 'It's time to go big.'