Biden’s first week was a race to the left

His inaugural address was “grand and deeply intimate,” a “balm for a wounded nation.” Mr. Biden “took up the challenge” by simply appearing at his swearing-in “at a time of great national vulnerability.” One experienced observer admitted that he was “in a little swoon.” I’m sure it did.

Understandably, so many in the media hailed Mr. Biden’s ascension to the Oval Office. They hated the person he was replacing. But looking beyond the paeans, the new president starts off swampy, with too many differences between stated intentions and subsequent actions.

Mr. Biden often calls for duality, but this requires his leadership. He will have to work with Republican leaders to come to an agreement before he brings legislation to the surface. The president did nothing like the stimulus from Covid-19. Instead, he explained his initiative without consulting Republicans, adding several amenities and a $ 1.9 trillion price tag that he knew were unacceptable to GOP lawmakers. Now, instead of swiftly passing a bipartisan law strengthening vaccinations and giving the new government an early victory, we hear talk of Democrats bringing Covid relief during a party line vote using the reconciliation process.

This is reminiscent of January 2009, when President Barack Obama cut off GOP suggestions for his stimulus bill by telling House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, “I won.” That helped poison that government’s relationship with its loyal opposition and drove the GOP back to the majority of the House in 2010.

Mr Biden showed a similar approach to immigration. The Biden transition team has released a four-page overview of its bill, moving heavily towards citizenship for illegal aliens (it seems many could become citizens before some legally queue today) and light on border security. The latter is especially alarming after the president halted construction of the border wall. The Obama-Biden administration helped build the wall, but since President Trump advocated it, President Biden has now been against it.

Bipartisanship is possible even under difficult circumstances. After a controversial election, President George W. Bush left a major tax cut and childless education reform in 2001 with strong bipartisan support, the last with a democratic senate. He negotiated the package with the Democrats for the tax cut. For No Child Left Behind, he drew Democrats to shape the legislation before it was enacted. Mr. Biden has not tried either. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s first cabinet appointments are being approved by big bipartisan margins. Republicans show that they are open to finding common ground.

There are other disturbing differences between Mr. Biden’s rhetoric and his actions. Take the Department of Homeland Security’s guideline on disposal policy. It starts by saying that the US “faces significant operational challenges at the Southwest border” and “must move resources to the border to ensure the safe, legal and orderly handling” of illegal crossings. Therefore, it recommends an “immediate 100-day break on removals”. Huh? America has an immigration crisis and the answer is to say that olly olly oxen are free? No wonder a federal judge immediately blocked it.

The new administration has rightly taken a hardline against China, echoing the sentiments of the Trump State Department. But on Tuesday, Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island and the nominee for Mr. That was welcome news in Beijing.

Much of the praise for Mr. Biden is about how he is different from his predecessor. Warren Harding’s “normalcy” has its appeal. But it increasingly appears that the new president is speaking calming words about duality and then enunciating policies favored by the left.

It is early. Mr. Biden has been in office for a week and is still finding his sea legs. But he has to decide: will he act on the central theme of his campaign, duality and unity? Or will he allow Democrats in Congress and regulators to drive government policy hard to the left?

Early signs point towards the latter, which could mean the greatest expansion of federal power since the Great Society, and institutional changes that confer progressive dominance over American politics. Let’s hope Mr. Biden changes direction by finding the actions that fit his reassuring words. If not, Republicans will need to find ways to rein in his movement to the left.

Mr. Rove helped organize the American Crossroads political action committee and is the author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).