Why Biden’s tack to center should come as no shock

In his first two years as president, Joe Biden surprised and delighted the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

Early on, he enacted the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus law aimed at pandemic relief. He signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and the first gun control legislation in decades. He is attempting a massive student debt relief initiative, now before the Supreme Court. And last August, he signed landmark climate change and health care legislation.

“Biden has gone left wing,” conservatives essentially screamed from the sidelines. 

Against this backdrop, President Biden has taken a series of recent steps that counter the liberal narrative: He OK’d a major oil drilling project in Alaska. He rolled out a budget heavy in deficit reduction. He helped Congress overturn a crime bill passed by Washington, D.C., countering the city’s statehood movement. And he is reportedly considering reinstating a Trump-era practice of detaining migrant families that cross the southern border illegally. 

What gives? In fact, none of these latest moves should come as a surprise, say longtime Biden-watchers. As a decadeslong Washington fixture, both in the Senate and as vice president, he was a creature of the middle, often willing to work across the aisle and make deals. 

“This has been his real strength throughout his career,” says Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver. “He always manages to find whatever the center of the Democratic Party is, and kind of be there.” 

The “center,” of course, is an ever-evolving place, depending on where the two parties stand. And today, amid intense political polarization, it has grown smaller and harder to define, as the parties themselves sort out sharp internal disagreements. 

Historically, Mr. Biden has at times pushed the envelope in a liberal direction, as in 2012, when he endorsed same-sex marriage before his then-boss, President Barack Obama. In the other direction, Mr. Biden famously once had good relationships with segregationists, and as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, he gave short shrift to charges of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

Now, Mr. Biden seems to be getting ready for an expected 2024 reelection campaign, and with no sign that he will face major opposition for the Democratic presidential nomination, he can focus his messaging right at mainstream general election voters. 

That reality may well be playing out as the president grapples with turmoil in the banking industry, sparked by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. On Friday, Mr. Biden urged Congress to take actions aimed at strengthening accountability for senior bank executives. 

“Him signaling that he favors more regulation and that the Republicans are keeping us from it – that seems like pretty good election positioning right there,” says Professor Masket, author of the book “Learning From Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020.” 

While calls for more banking regulation seem in line with the public’s lack of trust in financial institutions since the 2008-2009 economic crisis, other new elements of Mr. Biden’s agenda could risk alienating the activist left – those who don’t just vote but also work to get out the vote and perform other vital party functions. 

This week, climate activists staged protests against the Biden-approved plan to allow ConocoPhillips to drill in federal land in Alaska. And if the Biden administration goes ahead with renewed migrant family detentions, expect more protests from relevant interest groups. 

So far, the goodwill that Mr. Biden has built up with progressives seems to be standing him in good stead – and may have even won him a bit of forbearance as he tacks toward the center.

“We very clearly continue to see Biden as the people’s president,” says Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn.org. “First of all, he received more than 80 million votes in 2020. We know that he has a wide range of constituencies that he has to be mindful of.”

And what of the recent departure of White House chief of staff Ron Klain, a decadeslong Biden aide who was a fixture on Twitter and seen as a White House emissary to the left? Mr. Klain was replaced by Jeff Zients, touted for his executive ability but who is less politically oriented. 

That observation reflects an “inside the Beltway” mindset, Ms. Epting says, and ignores more important context: The Democrats no longer control both houses of Congress, having lost the House in November’s midterm elections. 

“It’s a different governing moment,” Ms. Epting says. “The administration is likely pivoting toward campaigning, more so than trying to drive a legislative agenda in Congress.” 

She also expresses confidence that Mr. Biden’s remaining top advisers know what they’re doing. Many of them are veterans of both “Biden world” and past Democratic White Houses. 

Expect, too, to hear a lot of this “Bidenism” – “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” – as he prepares to run again in 2024, potentially against former President Donald Trump.

To longtime moderate Democratic activist Jim Kessler, a co-founder of the group Third Way, Mr. Biden is simply moving to where Americans are on key issues, including crime and immigration. 

“I put those at the top of the list,” Mr. Kessler says. “Democrats have been saddled by the far-left slogans of ‘defund the police’ and ‘abolish ICE,’” he adds, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“If you’re in a cobalt blue district, you can just shrug those off,” he says. “But if you need to win the middle of America, ideologically, then you need to take corrective action.”