Biden’s unity pledge hasn’t aged well a year into his presidency

Biden was preoccupied with appeasing his base as opposed to the general public during the 12 months of his administration, according to Republican strategist John Feehery.

“From the vaccine mandate to the ridiculous voting reform rhetoric to the failed [Build Back Better] strategy, the president has proven to be a divider, not a uniter,” Feehery told the Washington Examiner.

And a majority of the poll respondents agree. Fifty-six percent of people told Fox News researchers last October and November they disapproved of Biden’s attempts to unify the country. People approving of Biden’s unity push dropped from 41% to 36% between the same surveys.

Biden has been criticized by Democrats for breaking a long list of campaign promises as his party remains in disarray over his $2 trillion social welfare and climate spending bill, as well as his voting reforms advocacy. COVID-19 also hampers everyday life as the pandemic enters its third year.

But reporters repeatedly needled Biden over his unity pledge during his second stand-alone White House press conference on Wednesday. The press conference, a botched reset opportunity, coincided with Biden adopting a harsher tone toward former President Donald Trump and Republicans in his Jan. 6 commemoration remarks and a voting rights speech in Georgia.

“Based on some of the stuff we’ve got done, I’d say yes, but it’s not nearly as unified as it should be,” he said when asked if the country had become more unified under his leadership.

Instead, Biden blamed Republicans for causing the congressional gridlock stalling his agenda before November’s midterm elections. Biden borrowed from former President Barack Obama’s playbook after his old boss complained that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was fixated on ensuring he became a one-term commander in chief rather than his own policy priorities.

“I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” he said. “They weren’t nearly as obstructionist as they are now.”

Simultaneously, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis cited Biden’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal and $2 trillion coronavirus response proposal as evidence of the president’s success at achieving a semblance of unity.

“What our party needs to do now is continue to pass legislation to make a substantial and immediate impact on people’s lives. Then, campaign heavily on it to win the midterms,” he said. “We need to pass Build Back Better, help ease inflation, take action on student loan debt, and more. If we do that, we can buck the tide and win the midterms.”

It was Biden who set himself up to fail with his lofty unity objective. He used the word eight times during his inaugural address and again when pressed on his Day 1 message to the world at the end of his inauguration parade.

Biden referenced the idea more recently during his eulogy for former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole at the 1996 Republican presidential nominee’s memorial service last month.

“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” he said. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth. But the truth of the matter is as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus — the only way.”

And Biden mentioned unity in November during his remarks before signing the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act into law and even to a crowd gathered on the South Lawn, celebrating 2021 NBA Champions the Milwaukee Bucks.

“In sport and in a democracy, unity, perhaps, is the most elusive thing and the most necessary thing. But that’s who this team is. They’re unified. That’s who we are as a nation,” he said. “There’s nothing stopping us when we work together.”

While Republicans have been outraged that Biden apparently compared their opposition to Democratic voting bills to racist figures such as George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis, it is division among Democrats that has proved to be more problematic for the president.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has dismissed disunity concerns as part of “a messy sausage-making process.”

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“The president is bringing people of a range of viewpoints on big, important packages that are going to make their lives better, here to the White House, to have a discussion about it,” she said last fall. “He’s rolling up his sleeves. He’s welcoming them to the Oval Office. He’ll have some COVID-safe snacks.”