What a president-elect must deal with

Joe Biden won’t become President of the United States for a few weeks yet, but it’s fair to say he’s already feeling the pressures of the office. I think being president-elect may be the second hardest job in the world. 

For one thing, as president-elect he’s encircled by people who want something from him: appointments, jobs, internal disputes settled. Political players of all sorts —people who supported him, people who opposed him, interest groups of all kinds and descriptions — are angling to get his ear. 

We’ve already seen what else lies in store, as President-Elect Biden announces cabinet picks: he will be analyzed backward and forward and criticized as being too liberal, too conservative, too timid, too bold, too committed to elites or not committed enough to expertise. This welcome-by-fire happens to every incoming president.

There’s also the realization that he won’t get to make easy decisions. Every decision a president or president-elect makes is tough, because the easy ones have been dealt with before he even sees them.

It’s hard to know exactly what the key policy issues will be, but one thing is for certain—setting priorities will come down to the president and his closest advisors: that is, after all, what presidents do. The federal bureaucracy is huge and filled with talented people and resources. Focusing it on the big things is a major part of the president’s job.

President-Elect Biden also has another set of challenges on his plate. He has said that he wants to “restore the soul of America” and to help our “better angels prevail.” We face serious concerns about the health of our democracy and its institutions, and about government agencies’ ability to perform effectively and without political interference. He has talked about bipartisanship throughout this year and will have to find a way to make it a reality in the face of determined opposition from Republicans and serious doubts among Democrats. Moreover, he has to restore the dignity of a presidency that has suffered withering attacks on its norms and prestige.

In the end, perhaps his most important task will be to refocus the nation’s political will on the many challenges we face, and to project a sense of optimism that as a country we can address and solve them. Americans understand their complexity. What they want is a leader who can bring us together to work on them.

Lee Hamilton is a Senior Advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies; and a Professor of Practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.