Like Obama before him, Biden has chosen “unity” as his brand. Predictably, the GOP has already started to use it against him. Their objective will be to try to force him to govern to the lowest common denominator, which, as the 2009 precedent shows, is very low, indeed. They may even try to argue that their belated acceptance of his legitimacy entitles them to a legislative program that looks something like Trump without tweets.
The ultimate purpose of this, of course, is to try to show that left-center government can’t work, thereby demoralizing the Democrats and winning GOP majorities in 2022. It is important for Biden to resist this. “Unity” means not treating your opponents as mortal enemies and working hard to solve problems like the pandemic that are as significant to the right as to the left. It also, in my opinion, means dialing back on the culture wars. It does not mean abandoning Democratic priorities on health care, the environment, and inequality just because the GOP opposes them, either out of principle or (more likely) opportunism.