In Biden's Washington, Democrats and Republicans Are Not United on 'Unity'

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WASHINGTON — In defining his mission for history as bringing together a divided country, President Joe Biden has made “unity” the watchword of his fledgling administration. But one thing that divides America is what unity actually means. In his inaugural address on Wednesday and in other public appearances, Biden reached out to Republicans with messages of conciliation, vowing to work together to tackle the nation’s enormous challenges — a starkly different tone than President Donald Trump typically took. But in Biden’s opening hours at least, the outreach was more about words and symbols than tangible actions. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times He did not appoint any members of the opposition party to his Cabinet, as Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama did, and many of the executive orders he signed in his first two days in office were aimed at reversing Trump’s policies and enacting liberal ideas, not finding common ground. He has offered no examples of Republican priorities he was willing to adopt in the interest of bipartisan cooperation nor described what compromises would be acceptable to win congressional approval of his initiatives. Biden and his allies, however, argue that unity means something different than concession — more of a change in culture, not splitting the difference on policy plans. After a presidency that salted the wounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and culture, then sought to overturn a democratic election leading to a mob assault on the Capitol, unity can mean a renewed commitment to the broadest values of America. The two sides will still wage vigorous battles over ideas, so this argument goes, but they should be debates of goodwill rather than search-and-destroy operations. “Ultimately, greater unity will require broader agreement on the value of government itself, which is precisely why Biden is emphasizing competent government action as the key to recovery from the pandemic