A tough clean up act for biden harris

A tough clean up act for biden harris

Joe Biden has achieved his goal. As President Donald Trump spent his time raising unfounded allegations of voter fraud and intimidation of Republican Party poll observers at counting stations, votes cast by Americans in key battleground states kept adding, as they got counted, slowly but surely, to Biden’s tally, to give him and Senator Kamala Harris the 270 electoral votes they need to make theirs the fourth-ever presidential campaign to oust an incumbent president. But President Trump has left a legacy that will not disappear in a hurry.

Over 47% of Americans voted to re-elect Trump, whose conduct in office should have discredited him in the eyes of anyone with a democratic sensibility. Civility, basic honesty and competence and a capacity to give voice to the nation’s conscience and empathy in times of suffering and assert moral purpose in times of disarray — these are minimal expectations from the nation’s leader. Trump failed on these counts, repeatedly, sought to deepen divisions and profit politically at the expense of a section’s hurt.

Mismanagement of the Covid pandemic, appeals to nativist passions in the face of racial tensions, wanton willingness to feed global warming to pander to the fossil fuel industry, readiness to disparage long-standing US allies and curry favour with dictatorial opponents and use international ties to further re-election chances — all these did not deter nearly half of America from rallying behind Trump. This defines the size of the challenge before President Biden, to fix the flaws of America’s polity, economy and geopolitical positions.

India can expect steady improvement of bilateral relations and for more coherent opposition to China, under a US president who can marshal allies — President Trump had antagonised them. India must engage the Biden team to persuade the US to hasten slowly on withdrawing from Afghanistan.

US re-entry into the Paris Agreement on climate change, the World Health Organisation and the Iran nuclear deal would be welcome, as would US steps to re-energise the World Trade Organisation.