Managing Expectations
by George Alfred Kennedy
The countdown to Election Day November 3 is now measured in double digits, and each passing day brings this country 24-hours closer to the hoped-for day of reckoning. I, too, include myself among the hopeful. We in this country are not alone in our disappointment, despair, desperation – take your pick, or add your own. The current President and his enablers have tested the strength of American democracy, adherence to the rule of law, and respect for the Constitution – and we fear for the future. Our faith has been weakened. The dam representing laws and norms behind which we have taken refuge for the last several centuries is unstable, and we’ve got to shore it up. We have fewer than 100 days to do it. And then what?
Millions of Americans would vote for a ham sandwich as the alternative to the current occupant of the Oval Office. If the voters are chastened by the prospect of four more years of darkness, indecency, incompetence, and immorality, what are their expectations of the alternative? If Joe Biden wins on November 3, the country’s – no, the world’s – collective sigh of relief will be audible. Perhaps less so from Moscow.
Almost immediately, aided by the media, we will begin to project our expectations onto the Biden team. We are so desperate for change, we will be looking for immediate relief. This presupposes a President-Elect Biden shares our sense of urgency and, fortified by his vast experience, is prepared to seize the moment and harness the power of his presidency to provide the relief that meets our needs.
I believe the looming challenge for the most desperate in this country – especially if they still dare to hope – will be to manage their expectations of what a President-Elect Biden may be prepared to fight for. Solutions to the myriad problems families, communities, and businesses in America face daily vary in kind, scope, and timing.
We have been here before: 2008. We were expecting the end of an old order and the emergence of its new and improved replacement. Will the Biden team – if elected – be better prepared in 2020 than the team was in 2009? I am assuming Biden’s senior advisors, cabinet picks, and his kitchen cabinet/major donors were less buffeted by the fallout from the current Administrations’s failures than the rest of us. Some of the veterans from 2009 – 2016 may be returning for an encore. We may recommend surgery (legislatively) to rescue the economy, heal the racial divide in the country, and confront the COVID-19 Pandemic, for example. Biden’s history in the Senate and as a former vice president suggests he is less likely to pursue surgery, but more inclined to discuss palliatives, encourage patience, and pursue dialogue with his detractors. He is an institutionalist. Some may suggest the world is at the dawn of a new era, that the times create the leadership required, and that I am being unfair to Biden. That may be true, but Biden struggles to generate a pulse on the enthusiasm meter, and that influences perceptions of what we may expect from him.
Part of our challenge as voters will be to manage the gap between where we are on the patience-solutions’ scale with where a Biden Administration perceives itself.
Should the Democrats retake the White House, recapture the Senate, and retain control of the House, how aggressive a legislative agenda is Biden likely to advocate – insist upon? Again, we’ve been here before. Will Biden’s emphasis be on the transformative change voters are expecting, or on repairing the existing order?
Early on, we gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, that he would grow into the job, mature politically, harness his vaunted business experience, and the rest of that rot. The situation is more urgent now; four years later, we’re staring into the abyss, and it’s staring back.
Is it realistic to expect meaningful change in response to the crises we confront? Or, will we have faith that a Biden presidency knows what it wants to achieve and has coherent, viable plans to do it. He has been more specific with his platform more so than the President. For example, he has said we must continue to provide federal support for the unemployed and the uninsured. Also, in terms of the racial divide, he has tried to maintain his support from African-Americans and has acknowledged that Latinos share many of their cultural and racial advantages. Biden has, therefore, committed to choosing a woman vice presidential candidate, preferably of a minority group. He acknowledges as well that until the country can coalesce around a coherent plan to contain the Coronavirus and continue to seek a vaccine, none of the issues facing us can be resolved.
So what can we do as the electorate? First and foremost, we must exercise our right to vote, and those that would be prevented from exercising their democratic right are aggressively supported in going to the polls, or having their ballots mailed to them.
Second, in order to be sure that should Biden win, he can only follow through on his promises to the most disadvantaged populations, but we all can make sure that everyone in our influence circle has filled out the Census forms because Trump has cut the Census term by an entire month to cut those people out of representation.
Third, as voters, we all need to do our homework and interrogate all of our state and local candidates.
Fourth, once the election is over, no matter who wins, we need to bombard every office with communications delineating not only what we need at each level, but also exactly how they should do it.
It is not enough to tell your elected officials what we the people need, but also give them the tools for providing it.
