Colley: After fulfilling promises, Biden’s challenge is the next four years

Mark Colley

Unlike any other president in recent times, President Joe Biden’s promises to Americans were immediate: 100 million shots in the first 100 days; a COVID-19 stimulus bill in the first 100 days; immediate action to repair America’s future.

So far, he’s done what he said he would. Last week, the US crossed the threshold of 100 million vaccine doses in the arms of Americans, with almost 27 percent of adults having received at least one dose.

While the Biden administration set the goal of administering one million doses a day, it has doubled that rate. On March 12, according to the White House, it nearly tripled that rate.

And Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, even if it is not the prudent financial approach for a nation already bouncing back, has already yielded checks in the pockets of Americans, just as the president promised.

Now, for Biden, comes the hard part: Finding a new challenge to surmount. In some respects, the first 100 days of the Biden administration were always going to be the easiest.

While each promise made by the president had its own inherent challenges, the direction the administration was moving was clear: away from Trump and towards a financial recovery fueled by vaccines. Biden had a clear target, a clear vision and clear end goal.

Nearly 60 days into the Biden administration, not all of those goals are accomplished — 45 of his 61 promises have yet to be kept — but the tenor and momentum of what the White House wants to accomplish is clear.

The concern, however, is what happens when the White House stops to take a breath. When this 100-day sprint is over, what direction does the administration embark in? What do the next 1,000 days of the Biden presidency look like when recovery is complete, when Trump is no longer a forefront figure in the American psyche?

Biden could become a president in search of a crisis. That’s not to say he will go about creating problems to solve for political gain — quite the opposite. After such concentrated efforts on COVID-19 and COVID-19 only, when the road widens and the full potential of a vast policy landscape opens, this White House could lose its way.

That’s not to say it will. There’s nothing stopping this administration from turning its full attention to climate action or gun control of income inequality and bearing down full force on that issue with success. But even the most ardent supporters of the president must be mindful that after the first stage of the Biden administration is complete, the road will get far more bumpy.

For the sake of the American people, the hope is it doesn’t. The hope is Biden continues to fulfill his promises. Whether conservative or liberal, one thing Americans can embrace is a competent and productive president.

Even though appearances give every indication of that being the case, things could change after COVID-19 is in the rear-view mirror.

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