President Joe Biden has gotten the same troubling questions from worried world leaders, ones that he never thought he would hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs America going to be all right?\u201d they ask. \u201cWhat about democracy in America?\u201d<\/p>\n
While Biden has tried to offer America’s allies assurances, he has only occasionally emphasized the gravity of the threat to democracy from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the repeated lie from the man he defeated, Donald Trump, that the 2020 election was stolen.<\/p>\n
Now, as the anniversary of that deadly day nears, the president is being urged to reorder priorities and use the powers of his office to push voting rights legislation that its adherents say could be the only effective way to counter the rapidly emerging threats to the democratic process.<\/p>\n
The tension in Biden’s approach reflects his balancing of the urgent needs of Americans to make progress on the highly visible issues of the pandemic and the economy and the less visible, but equally vital, issue of preserving trust in elections and government.<\/p>\n
The president plans to deliver a speech on Jan. 6 focused on sustaining democracy \u2014 voting rights won\u2019t be part of the remarks but will be the topic of another speech soon, White House aides said.<\/p>\n
In his recent commencement address at South Carolina State University, Biden\u2019s tone on the need for voting rights legislation took on added urgency.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like the unrelenting assault on the right to vote. Never,\u201d Biden said, adding, \u201cThis new sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion, it\u2019s un-American, it\u2019s undemocratic, and sadly, it is unprecedented since Reconstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the world is taking notice. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also has said that the riot at the Capitol has altered the view many countries have of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cJan. 6 has had a material impact on the view of the United States from the rest of the world, I believe from allies and adversaries alike,\u201d Sullivan said recently at the Council on Foreign Relations. \u201cAllies look at it with concern and worry about the future of American democracy. Adversaries look at it, you know, more sort of rubbing their hands together and thinking, How do we take advantage of this in one way or another?\u201d<\/p>\n
In contrast, Republicans in numerous states are promoting efforts to influence future elections by installing sympathetic leaders in local election posts and backing for elective office some of those who participated in the insurrection.<\/p>\n
White House officials insist Biden\u2019s relative reticence should not be interpreted as complacency with the growing movement to rewrite history surrounding the Jan. 6 riot. Rather, they say, the president believes the most effective way to combat Trump, election denialism and domestic extremism is to prove to the rest of the country \u2014 and to the world \u2014 that government can work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know progress does not come fast enough. It never has,\u201d Biden said last fall. \u201cThe process of governing is frustrating and sometimes dispiriting. But I also know what\u2019s possible if we keep the pressure up, if we never give up, we keep the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Biden\u2019s view, many of Trump\u2019s voters didn’t wholly embrace Trumpism. Instead, Trump exploited long-standing dissatisfaction with the nation\u2019s political, economic and social systems to build his coalition.<\/p>\n
So Biden tailored his first-year domestic agenda to combating what he believed to be the root causes of the unease \u2014 the shaky economy and the pandemic\u2019s drag on it \u2014 essentially to prove that government can work effectively.<\/p>\n
He has directed federal law enforcement to shore up security at national institutions and improve communication systems and procedures that were in part to blame for U.S. Capitol Police being left overwhelmed for hours during the mob assault.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department has undertaken the largest prosecution in its history, charging more than 700 defendants and still looking for more.<\/p>\n
But it is voting rights that many Democrats and activists concerned about what may happen in 2022 and beyond are urging the president to make a key priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe insurrection was part of a larger movement to suppress elections and overthrow our democracy,\u201d said Christina Baal, a longtime organizer and the executive director of Public Wise, a group that researches and publishes information on candidates running for office who support the election lies.<\/p>\n
Baal said efforts to discredit election integrity not only galvanize Trump supporters, they also make other voters less likely to vote. \u201cWe know \u2014 we\u2019ve done some research on trust in the system \u2014 if voters don\u2019t trust elections, they may not vote. This is part of a larger movement of voter suppression and why it\u2019s so necessary for Biden to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The House has approved far-reaching voting rights legislation, but Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have been impediments, saying they oppose changing Senate rules to get around a GOP filibuster of the bill.<\/p>\n
That legislation would restore the Justice Department\u2019s ability to review changes to election laws in states with a history of discrimination, a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. According to the Brennan Center, 19 states have recently passed laws making it harder to vote.<\/p>\n
Manchin and Sinema have helped draft separate voting rights legislation, but it lacks enough Republican support to overcome the filibuster.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are taking sides as opposed to looking at what the institutional threats are to maintaining our democracy,\u201d said Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, a candidate to replace Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who announced his retirement.<\/p>\n
Welch was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and the violence that day is etched in his memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe norms that have been the bedrock of our democracy, the free and peaceful transition of power and the renunciation of violence, they\u2019ve been shattered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After Biden’s speech in South Carolina, Senate Democrats renewed their push to pass voting rights legislation early in 2022. And the president said in an interview with ABC that he supported creating an exception to the Senate filibuster if that’s what it takes to pass voting rights legislation.<\/p>\n
For Biden, who served four decades in the Senate, it was a remarkable concession and underscored the gravity of the threat. And, he acknowledged, he knows the world is watching to see how the nation responds \u2014 and wondering if the country’s democracy will survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever think you\u2019d be asked that question by another leader?\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Joe Biden has gotten the same troubling questions from worried world leaders, ones that he never thought he would hear. \u201cIs America going to be all right?\u201d they ask. \u201cWhat about democracy in America?\u201d While Biden has tried to offer America’s allies assurances, he has only occasionally emphasized the gravity of the threat to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[503,2519,1236,822],"class_list":{"0":"post-236564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-joe-biden","9":"tag-meet","10":"tag-rights","11":"tag-voting"},"yoast_head":"\n