President-elect Joe Biden is summoning our better angels. Will we listen?

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President-elect Joe Biden’s short speech on Nov. 7 laid the first stones of a foundation for a governing philosophy: The president-elect says he wants to put you and me front and center — and not himself.

"I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify," he said. "Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States. And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people."

That thread of modesty ran through Biden's speech; it also ran through his entire campaign. He listened to public health experts and limited his appearances, he wore a mask, he talked about average people. His tweets were calm and reassuring.

Biden will be tested by a caustic national political climate. His political opponents may not cooperate, and even some in his own party may prefer division to unity.

But the chords that Biden touched in his victory speech and his consistent message of unity could begin to change this. Many Americans are ready for less noise from the chief executive, and a steadier hand.

Biden's words echoed other presidents elected in a time of crisis.

Helping a nation heal

“To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies.” Biden said. “We are Americans.”

As the nation was cleaving south from north in 1861, Abraham Lincoln said something similar in his first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends.”

But it's not Lincoln I was thinking about as I listened to Biden. It was another president who rose to power at a time of national disillusionment.

In August 1974, Jerry Ford took the oath of office as the Nixon presidency ended in disgrace after the Watergate scandal and coverup.

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Ford is not remembered as a great president but he did a great thing. He helped the nation heal.

On the day he took the oath, Ford modestly asked Americans to help him:

"I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers," he said. He called his remarks "just a little straight talk among friends."

Later, Ford said: “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”

Ford faced withering criticism a month later when he pardoned Richard Nixon to ensure that our “national nightmare” truly ended. He was accused of hatching a deal with Nixon — of trading a pardon for the White House. Of letting a crook like Nixon off the hook. It's one reason Ford didn't win a term of his own in 1976.

And yet years later, the JFK Library in Boston awarded Ford one of its “Profiles in Courage” for his "controversial decision of conscience.”

That award was well deserved because Ford’s decision was the right one — the only one that could end the Nixon era and spare the nation many more months of political recrimination.

President Gerald Ford reads a proclamation in the White House on Sept. 8, 1974 granting former president Richard Nixon "a full, free and absolute pardon" for all "offenses against the United States" during the period of his presidency.
President Gerald Ford reads a proclamation in the White House on Sept. 8, 1974 granting former president Richard Nixon "a full, free and absolute pardon" for all "offenses against the United States" during the period of his presidency.

Partisanship in the service of political goals is no vice. Political battles make the country stronger when they are fought with integrity and purpose. It's how we reach consensus.

But political viciousness is no virtue. These last few years of Twitter-screams and brimstone have left us more divided than ever and close to ungovernable.

Biden is offering a different kind of politics.

"We stand again at an inflection point," he said. "We have the opportunity to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We can do it. I know we can. I’ve long talked about the battle for the soul of America. We must restore the soul of America.

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"Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses.

"It is time for our better angels to prevail."

If Biden can do this one thing — help us touch once more the “mystic chord of memory,” as Lincoln put it — then perhaps we can discover our better angels.

And whether or not he turns out to be remembered as a great president, he will have accomplished a great thing.

David D. Haynes is editor of the Ideas Lab at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where this column originally appeared. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidDHaynes

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: President-elect Joe Biden is summoning our better angels.