President Biden ran for president on a “return to normalcy.” His challenge is that there are three competing definitions of normalcy for him to contend with.
Biden didn’t use the slogan “return to normalcy.” But, as numerous political observers (including yours truly) noted during the campaign, that was both Biden’s implicit appeal and his best shot at victory. As Jonathan Martin and Sydney Ember of The New York Times wrote in March 2019, “Biden, in speeches at home and abroad, has used much of the first part of this year pledging to restore the dignity he believes that the country has lost in the Trump years, promising a restoration rather than a revolution.”
For much of the primaries, the competition among his Democratic opponents was over who could offer the most radical agenda. When it became clear to rank-and-file voters — and a few key Democratic leaders — that such radicalism could cost them the general…
