The New York Times - USA (2020-11-09)

A18 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

N

TO THE EDITOR:

Re “Biden Beats Trump” (front

page, Nov. 8):

I am writing this with tears of joy

streaming down my face. The long

national nightmare is over, as Joe

Biden and Kamala Harris scored a

victory over the Trump-Pence

ticket. My family and friends are

sharing their elation and joy over

the American people’s decision to

change the course of this nation,

right the ship of state, and return

decency and compassion to govern-

ment.

Of course President Trump is

challenging the results, but the

people have spoken, and no court

will dare attempt to override the

will of the people.

As wonderful as it is to be a part

of a Biden-Harris win, it appears

that the Democrats may not flip the

Senate, which will make the new

president’s job that much more

difficult.

In the days between now and the

inauguration, Mr. Biden and Ms.

Harris will set about establishing

their choices for cabinet positions

and for the vital institutions of

government that Mr. Trump has all

but destroyed. I am confident that

they will surround themselves with

dedicated public servants, some of

whom I hope will be Republicans.

Hope springs eternal that 2021

and beyond will restore America to

its rightful place as that shining city

on the hill.

HENRY A. LOWENSTEIN

NEWPORT, R.I.

TO THE EDITOR:

Re “At a Festive Drive-In, Biden

Makes Pledge to Govern for All

Americans” (news article, Nov. 8):

Despite my joy and relief at the

Biden-Harris victory, I worry about

all the disaffected people out there

who voted for President Trump.

Joe Biden’s speech was just what

America and the world needed to

hear. Bravo! “Let’s give each other

a chance.” That line rings in my

head. I hope the 48 percent who

voted against Mr. Biden will at least

do that. I want to better understand

why those who voted for Mr. Trump

felt this country could survive

another four years of him. Only

when we listen to each other can

the red states and blue states be-

come the United States again.

PHOEBE HUANG

STONINGTON, CONN.

TO THE EDITOR:

When you consider the extremes to

which President Trump went to

avoid his defeat, it’s borderline

miraculous that Joe Biden was able

to prevail. From voter suppression

to the Postal Service delivery scan-

dal, voters had to be vigilant, dedi-

cated and aggressive in executing

our most precious of privileges.

Joe Biden was elected by a coali-

tion of Democrats, Republicans and

independents that we rarely see,

and it took that massive partner-

ship to evict Mr. Trump from the

White House on Jan. 20.

We as a country are so much

better than what the world has seen

the last four years, and in this

election, we proved it.

JAY MARGOLIS, DELRAY BEACH, FLA.

TO THE EDITOR:

When I heard the great news that

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had

been declared the victors in the

election, while I was anticipating

such an outcome, I didn’t expect to

get so emotional.

This is a big step forward for our

country. These last four years have

been so fraught with deceit, incom-

petence, misogyny and overt rac-

ism, enabled by the silence of the

Republicans.

I look forward to an intelligent

approach to governing and to not

screaming at the TV and furiously

writing letters to The New York

Times to express my outrage at this

president endlessly.

We have lots of healing that

needs to take place in our country,

and I know that Joe Biden will see

this as his top priority. He will be

president of the entire country; of

this I have no doubt.

Onward we go!

JANE CARLIN, STAMFORD, CONN.

TO THE EDITOR:

Welcome back, dear United States.

I wish you all health, happiness,

justice for all and prosperity. Please

take good care of one another,

regardless of your politics. We’ve

been worried.

SHARON GRIFFIN, OTTAWA

TO THE EDITOR:

As president, Joe Biden will cer-

tainly move quickly to reverse

many of President Trump’s execu-

tive orders and regulations. But

without control of the Senate, Mr.

Biden’s legislative agenda will be

blocked, as will court appointments,

Supreme and otherwise. Tax re-

form, expansion of Obamacare and

Medicare, comprehensive immigra-

tion reform and all other proposals

for progress will run into Mitch

McConnell’s brick wall.

Victory is ours! Let the disap-

pointments begin!

MICHAEL J. PRIVAL, WASHINGTON

TO THE EDITOR:

I voted for Joe Biden. But, how can

I celebrate when Lincoln’s words “A

house divided against itself cannot

stand” echo inside my head? How

can I be overwhelmingly happy

when the real problems — fear,

tribalism and mutual suspicion —

still pervade public and political

discourse?

This is no time to celebrate. Take

down your Biden-Harris (and

Trump-Pence) flags and put up an

American one. This is the time to

reflect on how we got here, how

we’ve come to hate our neighbors.

We should hush our excitement

(and egos) and extend a hand of

empathy and respect to those who

are frustrated and scared for what

the next four years mean for them.

To any American distressed by

the election outcome: I promise

that I will seek to understand you,

respect you. I will stand with you,

and together we will work toward

an America that is good for you and

is good for me.

Let’s all make that same promise

to one another.

KELSEY GRANT, LONGMONT, COLO.

TO THE EDITOR:

I’ve seen on TV, in newspapers and

on the internet a call to unite be-

hind Joe Biden. As a Trump sup-

porter, I agree 100 percent that we

should support Joe Biden in the

same fashion that Hillary Clinton

supporters and the mainstream

media supported Donald Trump

from the day after the 2016 election.

BERNARD MARRAZZO

OLD BRIDGE, N.J.

TO THE EDITOR:

Message to Donald Trump: For a

“ghost town,” there were certainly a

lot of high spirits in New York City

after your defeat was announced.

MARY-ELLEN BANASHEK, NEW YORK

TO THE EDITOR:

If Joe Biden is to have a successful

presidency, he must have a differ-

ent majority leader in the Senate.

That means his highest priority

must be to see two Democrats

elected to the Senate from Georgia

in the January runoff. He and Ka-

mala Harris should spend quite a

few days in Georgia saying, “If you

voted for us, you must vote for the

Democratic senatorial contenders.”

BEN ANSBACHER, BURLINGTON, N.C.

TO THE EDITOR:

Joe Biden has been elected presi-

dent of the United States in large

part because of support by African-

Americans. To put it another way,

we all owe preservation of our

freedom to the descendants of

American slaves. This fact is not

merely ironic. I find it significant

and deeply moving.

EDWARD MARCUS, NEW YORK

TO THE EDITOR:

It does not matter if I voted for

President Trump or Joe Biden. It

does not matter what party I belong

to. What matters is that I am an

American and we must have a

smooth transition from President

Trump’s administration to Presi-

dent Biden’s administration.

I am concerned that President

Trump will sabotage the White

House in a way that will be detri-

mental to the country. I’m hopeful

that Republican leadership, specifi-

cally the Senate majority leader,

Mitch McConnell, will help the

Trump administration understand

the importance of a smooth transi-

tion for the sake of the American

people. All codes, all keys, notes,

documents and historical informa-

tion must be handed over to the

incoming administration in a man-

ner that will help us move forward

and keep our country safe.

We have been through so much

this year — Covid, racial unrest,

riots and economic crises. A smooth

transition is critical in helping to

heal and unite the country.

JULIE SHERMAN, PETALUMA, CALIF.

TO THE EDITOR:

I’m not given to mystical ideas, but

still I can’t help but think that in all

those failed Biden candidacies Fate

was whispering, “Not now, Joe,

we’re saving you for something

much more important!”

ORIN HOLLANDER, JAMISON, PA.

‘Tears of Joy’ for the New President

LETTERS

BARACK OBAMA— his policies and his
posture — just won a third term.
Joe Biden will be president because of
his close association with Barack
Obama, because he espoused many of
the same centrist policies and posi-
tioning and because of public nostalgia
for the normalcy and decency the Obama
years provided.
Biden is a restoration president-elect,
elected to right the ship and save the sys-
tem. He is not so much a change agent as
a reversion agent. He is elected to Make
America Able to Sleep Again.
He doesn’t see his mission as shaking
things up, but calming things down.
But, just as was the case with Obama,
many of the people who made Biden’s
win possible are far to the left of him. As
Biden told a Miami television station last
month: “I’m the guy that ran against so-
cialists, OK. I’m the guy that’s the moder-
ate. Remember, you guys were all talk-
ing, you’d interview me and say, ‘Well,
you’re a moderate, how can you win the
nomination?’ It’s who I am.” But pro-
gressives are not likely to be as silent
now as they were during the Obama
years.
Obama faced intense, often unfair, re-
sistance from the right on every front, so
many who wanted to push him in a more
progressive direction held their criticism
or limited it for fear of adding to the dam-
age being done to him by his conserva-
tive opposition.
But many progressives emerged from
that unhappy or downright angry. They
are not likely to repeat what many con-
sider a mistake.
As my colleague Thomas Edsall as-
tutely observed last year, the Democrat-
ic Party is actually three different par-
ties: the most progressive on the left, the
“somewhat liberal” in the middle and the
majority nonwhite moderates on the
right.
The most progressive, who are also

the most vocal, have yet to have a true

champion in the White House. Although

Biden and the Democrats need their en-

ergy and can sometimes tack in their di-

rection, these people know that the right

uses them as the boogeymen of whom

voters in the center and on the right

should be afraid.

And many centrist Democrats accuse

the most progressive of doing damage to

the rest of the party with their rhetoric

and policy ambitions.

As The Intercept reported last week,

House Democrats held a conference call

in the wake of the election in which “cen-

trist after centrist lambasted the party’s

left for costing it seats in the lower cham-

ber and threatening its ability to win the

Senate.”

Senator Bernie Sanders last month

told the Squad — Representatives Alex-

andria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar,

Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib —

that the first order of business for pro-

gressives was to defeat Donald Trump

by electing Biden. But, he said, the sec-

ond order of business was to push Biden

into becoming “the most progressive

president since F.D.R.”

Ocasio-Cortez chimed in to thank

Sanders for “normalizing bringing the

ruckus on the Democratic Party.” As she

explained: “That was not seen as OK for

a very long time. It was seen as ex-

tremely taboo for a very long time. And it

would result in so many people being os-

tracized, and targeted.”

These progressives aren’t simply go-

ing to slink away and be quiet, to sacri-

fice principles for decorum, nor should

they.

We are coming to the end of four years

in which Republicans have rampaged,

endangering our democracy and at-

tempting to use the courts to lock in their

power for a generation. Democrats are

meeting that with more happy talk of

unity and normalcy. The Republicans

know that we are at war; Democrats

think it’s a crochet class.

Democrats must think bigger and

more strategically. They lean far too

heavily on changing demographics, as if

population patterns make long-term

planning about the gaining and retaining

of power unnecessary. That could even-

tually be problematic. Although non-

whites still vote about two to one for the

Democrats, Trump this year got a larger

share of the nonwhite vote than any Re-

publican since 1960.

When they were frightened by the so-

cialist claim against Biden, frustrated by

what they thought wasn’t enough of a

Black agenda, had fallen victim to misin-

formation, or had simply decided that,

somehow, the Republican Party was

more attractive to them, they voted for

Trump.

Nothing is static in politics. You can

take nothing for granted.

Donald Trump got more votes than

any Republican in history. He will remain

a powerful force among conservatives.

The Republican Party is still his. There

has been some speculation that he could

start his own network that rivals Fox

News or exists to the right of it, if that’s

even possible.

He loves television and this would give

him the perfect perch to launch a four-

year-long assault on the Biden adminis-

tration and to influence Republicans in

Congress. He could in fact run again in

2024.

Republicans are playing hardball;

Democrats are playing softball. 0

CHARLES M. BLOW

Third Term of the Obama Presidency

Republicans know that

this is war. Democrats

think it’s a crochet class.

Having peered into the abyss of autocratic nationalism, the
American people have chosen to step back from the brink.

The ballot counting will continue for a few days yet, but the
math is what it is: Joe Biden will have the 270 electoral votes
needed to win the White House, and likely many more. Presi-

dent Trump’s four-year assault on our democratic institu-
tions and values will soon end.

The contest generated intense passions. In a year marked
by the incalculable loss of life and the economic devastation of

a pandemic, Ameri-
cans turned out to
vote in numbers not

seen for generations,
starting weeks before

Election Day. Mr.
Trump still knows
how to draw a crowd

— albeit not always to
his advantage. In the
end, it was Mr. Biden

who captured more
votes than any presi-

dential candidate in
U.S. history, while Mr.
Trump captured the

second-most votes in
U.S. history.

The tally comes
with disappointment

on both sides: for Bi-
den supporters, who
hoped for a more re-

sounding repudiation
of Trumpism and for a

Senate ready to enact
their agenda, and for
Trump supporters,

who hoped for an-
other four years and

to chasten their crit-
ics. Fortunately for
America, Mr. Biden

promises to be a pres-
ident for both sides —
a welcome shift from

a leader who has
spent his tenure di-

viding the electorate
into perceived fans
and enemies.

While the coming weeks will most likely bring unexpected

moves and more dangerous disinformation from Mr. Trump,
it is worth taking this moment to raise a glass and breathe a
sigh of relief. America gives its citizenry the ultimate respon-

sibility for holding leaders accountable, for deciding what
kind of nation this will be. The broad endorsement of Mr. Bi-

den’s message of unity and healing is cause for celebration.
Americans have embraced that optimism and Mr. Biden as
their next president.

Now the real work begins.
Come January, Mr. Biden will take office facing a jumble of
crises. His predecessor is leaving America weaker, meaner,

poorer, sicker and more divided than four years ago. Recent
events have laid bare, and often exacerbated, many of the na-
tion’s pre-existing conditions: from the inadequacy of our

health care system to the cruelty of our immigration policies,

from entrenched racial inequities to the vulnerabilities of our

electoral system. Mr. Biden has pledged himself to big think-

ing and bold action in tackling these challenges.

The electoral map suggests recovery will be neither quick

nor easy. It is not yet clear what the precise composition of the

Senate will be, but Republicans may hold the chamber. The

government, like the nation, would remain divided.

Mr. Biden has made clear he wants to work across the aisle.

That is his nature

and his political

brand. But today’s

political climate is

not the same as it

was 50, or even five,

years ago. Even as he

seeks consensus, the

new president must

be prepared to fight

for his priorities.

Now is no time for ti-

midity.

The American

public should be pre-

pared to do its part.

People of good will

and democratic

ideals must not lose

interest simply be-

cause Mr. Trump

leaves center stage.

They need to remain

engaged in the politi-

cal process and de-

mand better from

their leaders if any

progress is to be

made.

Mr. Trump’s mes-

sage of fear and re-

sentment resonated

with tens of millions

of Americans.

Trumpism will not

magically disappear.

If anything, its ad-

herents will very

likely find renewed

energy and purpose

in marshaling a new

resistance movement committed to undermining and delegit-

imizing the incoming administration.

Republicans will have to decide whether they will continue

to wallow in political nihilism, or rise to meet the challenges of

the moment. How Republicans respond to this loss, whether

they seek to stoke or to cool partisan passions, will help deter-

mine the nation’s — and their party’s — path forward.

With the perspective of time, the Trump era is likely to be

viewed as an extended stress test for the American experi-

ment. The president did his best to undermine the nation’s

democratic foundations. They were shaken, but they did not

break. Mr. Trump exposed their vulnerabilities but also their

strength. It now falls to Mr. Biden to improve and safeguard

those foundations, to help restore faith in our democracy and

ourselves — to make America greater than ever before.

EDITORIAL

Victory for Joe Biden, at Last

DAMON WINTER/THE NEW YORK TIMES