Abstract
On the campaign trail and at his inauguration, Joe Biden pledged, above all else, to be a uniter to restore the soul of America. At the end of his first year in office, many campaign promises have been met, but unity has not been one. Far from transcending partisanship as promised, Biden has embraced the levers of presidential discretion and power inherent within the modern executive office to advance partisan objectives. He is not just a victim of polarization, but actively contributes to it. This is not unexpected. Rather it is the culmination of a decades-long reorientation within both major parties: the rise of an executive-centered party-system, with Democrats and Republicans alike relying on presidents and presidential candidates to pronounce party doctrine, raise campaign funds, campaign on behalf of their partisan brethren, mobilize grass roots support, and advance party programs. Like Barack Obama and Donald Trump before him, Biden has aggressively used executive power to cut the Gordian knot of partisan gridlock in Congress. Even pandemic politics is not immune to presidential partisanship; in fact, it has accentuated the United States’ presidency-centered democracy, which weakens the public resolve to confront and solve national problems.
About the authors
Nicholas F. Jacobs is an Assistant Professor at Colby College. He conducts research on federalism, presidential politics, and public policy. He is co-author with Sidney M. Milkis of What Happened to the Vital Center: Presidentialism, Populist Uprisings, and the Fracturing of America, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022).
Sidney M. Milkis is the White Burkett Miller Professor of the Department of Politics and Faculty Associate at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. He is co-author with Nicholas F. Jacobs of What Happened to the Vital Center: Presidentialism, Populist Uprisings, and the Fracturing of America, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022).
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