Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris for winning the historic 2020 elections with highest vote count (~75 million). Congrats to American voters for participating with highest turnout (% of eligible voters) since 1900. This is what makes democracy and nation stronger. President Trump - despite his style got over 70 million voters (second highest of any candidate received ever). There was no blue wave as predicted by pollsters losing their credibility once more. Democrats lost few seats in house and did not flip senate yet. Georgia is new battleground with 2 runoff senate races on Jan 5 which would decide control of senate. That could become $300 million election. Georgians have the power to decide the course of nation for this decade.
Joe Biden's VICTORY can also be his agenda for next 4 years! Let's break it down the VICTORY agenda
Virus Control: COVID-19 Pandemic changed the world, narrative of the election and American President. Without Virus and President Trump's handling, Biden had little chance of winning the election. Now that Biden is going to be president, he would have all the power to implement the policies of healthcare professionals and experts. He should seek out experts like Dr Fauci, Bill Gates and many others to really bring this virus under control (without shutting down the economy - more on this later). Unfortunately while Americans were electing their new President, they also saw highest number of infections (over 130,000) per day. So ending Pandemic should be #1 priority for President Biden.
Infrastructure and Immigration: Two most important bills President can pass would be Infrastructure bill to rebuild America's infrastructure and generate most needed jobs. This would be an excellent stimulus for American Economy. On immigration, 11 million immigrants are still waiting. Do what President Reagan did in 1986 and create a consistent policy for skilled immigrants. Both these bills would do a world of good for both America and World.
Climate: Earth needs America to take lead in climate control. Join the Paris Accord and implement nationwide policies which progressive states like California are already implementing. While it does have short-tern pain for some industries (like oil and coal), help the companies and people to transition. His statement about transition to green economy in 2nd debate almost costed him election. Now make it happen.
Trade: President Trump did identify the problem of world taking advantage of easy American trade policies. There used to be lot of dumping of steel, cars and many other goods costing real jobs. He tried to fix it by his abrupt policies and tough anti-China and anti-Europe stance. He questioned WTO for right reasons. Now that the door has opened, Biden should continue to be tough to implement reciprocal trade policies but also encourage free and fair trade across the world. Trade generally is good as long as its fair and reciprocal. Any soft stance on this would open the door for criticism (which would be fair) and revival of Trumpism during 2022 elections.
Opening the Economy: Candidate Biden needs to transition to President Biden when it comes to shutting vs opening the economy. Controlling virus would be easiest if you shut down the economy for 3 months. But that has major costs to livelihoods of working people (non high-tech). Many experts praised Europe on how they locked down the economies and controlled the virus. As of now, Europe is seeing twice the number of infections and hospitalizations compared to USA despite locking down major economies at expense of major costs to jobs and economy. So President Biden needs to avoid the temptation of nationwide lockdown and keep the economy open with sensible policies of mask, social distancing to control the virus.
Respect: One attribute which was missing during Trump presidency was respect. It was due to Trump's personality - ego, selfishness, divisive nature. I was most hurt when Trump called India filthy in 2nd debate. Last 4 years, world lost respect for American President and America. Joe Biden had always shown respect thru his nearly 5 decades of career. President Biden can restore the respect and honor of office of President of United States of America and also offer respect to all people despite their race, gender, income, sex and country of origin. President Biden had to work hard to regain the trust, confidence and respect from world.
Yes We Can: I still remember the fond memories of Obama's 2008 slogan "Yes We Can". Simple but elegant. It's time for President Biden to mobilize and unite the country with "Yes We Can" slogan. As Americans, we can all come together and Make America Normal and Great Again!
Happy Diwali to All!
/Shyam
Comments