In a White House meeting with presidential historians, President Joe Biden offered an expansive vision of what he hopes to achieve in office – as big, or even bigger, than those of presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.
According to Axios, Biden talked about making “historic changes in America:”
People close to Biden tell us he’s feeling bullish on what he can accomplish, and is fully prepared to support the dashing of the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow Democrats to pass voting rights and other trophy legislation for his party.
He loves the growing narrative that he’s bolder and bigger-thinking than President Obama.
This temptation to go even bigger, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell insists, will create such a fissure between the parties that he compared it this week to “nuclear winter.”
But we’re told Biden won’t hesitate. Just as he passed the $1.9 trillion COVID rescue package with zero Republican votes and zero regrets, his team sees little chance he’s going to be able to rewire the government in his image if he plays by the rules of bringing in at least 10 Republicans.
Presidents have frequently thought of themselves as history-making figures, called by destiny to transform the nation. We cannot afford to indulge the gold-plated schemes of yet another imperial presidency.