In 2008, the then-Senator Obama introduced his running mate, Joe Biden, as the ‘man who got the train home every night’. Steady, reliable, perhaps even boringly predictable. That’s Amtrak Joe for you. Yet the last three months have felt more Apollo 11 than East Coast Mainline. Once renowned as the most vociferous Senate bipartisan, the 78-year-old has already encouraged trillions of dollars in federal spending for his American Rescue Plan, with little Republican support. Not only this, but his nominees to federal office are the most diverse to date. Forget ‘Sleepy Joe,’ so far this Presidency has run on rocket fuel (or some of Hunter Biden’s special stash… just ask Fox & Friends).

Of course, none of this should surprise us – anything other than diverse appointments by a Democratic White House would be shocking. Even the Senate’s least progressive Democratic voice – a man with less substance than bubble wrap, yet with more power than half the Cabinet – West Virginia’s Joe ‘Both Sides of the Aisle’ Manchin – favours (fairly) generous rescue spending. Hell, even Trump supported $2000 stimulus cheques.

“The domestic terrorists who besieged American democracy only 5 months ago have long been cleared from the Senate floor, but no amount of barbed wire fencing or National Guard squadrons can block duly elected MAGA Republicans from the House and Senate”

However, it’s the next three years that count. President Biden’s joint address to Congress was undoubtedly ambitious, but with a 50-50 Senate, getting things done will be far from straightforward. Biden faces stiff opposition to his American Jobs and Family plans. The 50 senators he needs to support H.R. 1, a crucial piece of legislation to protect against Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression, so far elude him. The challenge in front of the White House is huge, and that’s before we even mention the filibuster. Oh, and let’s not forget Afghanistan.

President Biden is, however, only one piece in the American puzzle. Having found some spare time – suppressing the African American vote and schmoozing Tucker Carlson keep a man busy, after all – Republican Senator Tim Scott offered the customary opposition rebuttal to the Senate. In his speech, the South Carolinian claimed that he is regularly ‘called Uncle Tom by progressives,’ only to add minutes later that ′America is not a racist country.′ But while logic may cunningly avoid the grasp of Republican Party politicians, their supporters exist in abundance. If conventional wisdom is to be trusted, the GOP have a fighting chance of retaking both the House and Senate in the 2022 midterms. Not only would this scupper Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda, but it would also place his courtship of the global community in peril.

Joe Biden likes to tell us that ‘America is back.’ But, for as long as the spectre of Trump’s Republican Party haunts American elected office, the US is as fashionable as skinny jeans and fedora hats. Anything the Biden Administration achieves, from nuclear non-proliferation to battling climate change, remains pointless if the Party of Lincoln remains the party of lies and conspiracy. Whether it be Trump, Cruz, or blow-dried Ted Cruz – otherwise known as Josh Hawley – the prospect of a Republican President in 2024 or beyond undermines any possibility of an enduring Yankee revival.

Joe Biden has vowed to ’restore the soul of America.′ As a man, the 46th President has known more suffering than most. His wife and daughter perished in a car accident days before his election to the Senate, and his beloved son Beau fell victim to cancer in 2015. President Biden understands pain, and pain is how Americans today understand the world. Charlottesville, Stoneman Douglas High, COVID-19. The images of the past five years are seared in national memory. Now, more than ever, America needs a Consoler-in-Chief, not a Commander-in-Chief. But the task ahead of President Biden is daunting, and requires actions far more ambitious than those outlined in his joint address to Congress.

It’s tempting to view the events of January 6th as an exception, a freak event, rather than the natural conclusion of four years of a Trump presidency. The domestic terrorists who besieged American democracy only 5 months ago have long been cleared from the Senate floor, but no amount of barbed wire fencing or National Guard squadrons can block duly elected MAGA Republicans from the House and Senate. In 2013, President Obama told us that ’We the People is the star that guides us still.′ But the people are divided, and it is for President Biden to unite them.

Liberals like to blame Fox News for the disunity of the past five years. This is a tempting proposition: a simple solution to a ghastly problem. The truth is far more troubling. Demand for hate in America now seemingly supersedes supply. When Fox News offered even a modicum of fact in the light of President Trump’s Stop the Steal farce, millions of viewers fled to the even more extreme OAN and Newsmax. This is a complex phenomenon, with no single cause, and no easy solution. Globalisation has a case to answer, as does the internet age. Beyond that, who knows?

Finding a vaccine for Covid-19 was a tough, but ultimately achievable battle. Scientists were able to recognise the source of disease, and figure out how to fight it. America is yet to truly understand the source of its illness. Some even refuse to believe the country is sick. For President Biden to heal the nation, he must first discover what ails it. Policy is pointless if politics is broken, speeches to the Senate meaningless if opinion trumps fact. President Biden has steadied the ship, but choppy waters lie ahead. Ambitious proposals bring with them fervent opposition. America’s soul remains crippled until the Republican Party has healed. So don’t stop the clock just yet – this Presidency is only just beginning.