The Daily Orange is a nonprofit newsroom that receives no funding from Syracuse University. Consider donating today to support our mission.

President-elect Joe Biden jogged out on stage Saturday night to address a deeply divided nation. Although the United States is facing unprecedented challenges, from the worsening COVID-19 crisis to the racial reckoning taking place across the country, Biden optimistically spoke to the American people about unity, hope and decency. His victory speech instilled hope in American democracy and the values that our country was founded upon.

Biden spoke clearly on uniting the country. “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unify. Who doesn’t see red states or blue states, only sees the United States,” he said.

Throughout his lifelong commitment to public service, he has prided himself on finding common ground between Republicans and Democrats to move the U.S. forward. Mike Sozan, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, believes Biden is the man to bring our partisan polarization to an end.

“Biden seems comfortable talking to any member of Congress of either party, In fact, he thrives on it,” Sozan said.

The long-standing tradition of U.S. presidents offering messages of unity and decency to their people is something that has disappeared under President Donald Trump’s administration. With his divisive and norm-breaking rhetoric, the once pure democracy of the U.S. has faded under Trump. Due to the public’s distrust in U.S. leaders, international researchers now consider the country to be a “flawed democracy,” not a full one.

While the U.S. has turned away from its “full democracy” status since 2016, Biden’s victory speech was the first glimpse of hope that our country can get back to the pure democracy of the past. Biden proved that he’s the right man to lead our country back from the issues plaguing it.

He’s a man who became best friends with Republican Sen. John McCain, and he knows how invaluable cross-party cooperation is and how detrimental political polarization is to democracy.

“To make progress, we must stop treating our opponent as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans,” he said in his speech.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are undoubtedly going to struggle with the problems they will inherit on Jan. 20. But Biden will unite and bring hope, and after seeing his victory speech, he will undeniably focus on maintaining what makes the U.S. special: our core values of democracy.

Nathan Fenningdorf is a sophomore political science major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at nlfennin@syr.edu.

Published on November 10, 2020 at 11:48 pm

Contact Nathan: nlfennin@syr.edu