Biden offers a path of unity for the nation and NC. Join him, Republicans

President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

To millions of Americans, those words feel as reassuring today as four years ago the words “President Donald J. Trump” felt surreal. A bankruptcy-plagued real estate mogul turned reality TV star had assumed the office once held by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Americans were unsettled - and as it turns out, rightly so.

The nation is turning from disruption, division and unrest to a leader who promises to pursue unity and restore competence to the highest levels of the federal government. It is a promise that our nation desperately needs to see fulfilled.

After Biden took the oath in Washington Wednesday on a brisk and windy day, he spoke to a nation engulfed by storms. More than 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. Millions more are struggling from the resulting economic damage. Tens of thousands of troops were assembled in Washington to protect the transfer of power from domestic terrorists emboldened by Trump’s false claim of a stolen election.

But for all that burdens the nation, Inauguration Day has brought the relief of a burden lifted. We have a president who is determined, as John F. Kennedy was 60 years ago, to “get the country moving again.” But first he must get the country united again. Biden said he will be a “president for all Americans” and will “fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.”

North Carolina has much to welcome in the new path being offered by Biden. The first and most urgent change will be his commitment to ending the pandemic through an intense push to speed vaccinations. North Carolina’s vaccination rollout got off to a bumpy start. An infusion of federal support and a president who takes responsibility for the rollout will help the state catch up.

North Carolina voted for Trump in November as it did in 2016, but its concerns will be much better served by the plans and priorities of a Biden administration. Among the key areas are these:

• Public schools. The pandemic has been a disaster for North Carolina schools that were already struggling from a lack of funding. Biden’s pandemic relief proposal calls for billions of state education aid that will help North Carolina’s public schools meet staffing needs and upgrade air and heating systems to allow for a safe reopening of schools.

• Immigration. Biden will ease bottlenecks for businesses seeking to hire skilled foreign workers and farmers in need of seasonal laborers. He also wants to offer a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas. North Carolina is home to more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants, including more than 24,000 Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. as children.

• Climate change. North Carolina is feeling the effects of climate change as it copes with more frequent storms and rising sea levels. Biden will take on the threat Trump denied. He will provide support for infrastructure changes that will make North Carolina more resilient to high winds and flooding.

Biden’s presidency may also bring an easing of tensions in North Carolina politics. He says he will be president of all the people and state Republicans – stunned by the U.S. Capitol invasion – appear prepared to take a more conciliatory approach to the state’s business. We hope the Republican members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation can move from being automatically opposed to Democratic proposals. They are there to accomplish things by working together, not against.

As the 2021 legislative session opened, Senate leader Phil Berger delivered a message to legislators similar to Biden’s message to the nation. “I intend to work with all to find, develop, and expand common ground where it may exist, and I know many of you feel the same way,” Berger said.

In North Carolina and across the nation, many do.

This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Biden offers a path of unity for the nation and NC. Join him, Republicans."