GREENSBORO, N.C. — As then President Donald Trump was holding a send off event Wednesday morning, Republican leaders of Congress Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were instead at a Catholic Mass with then President-Elect Joe Biden. That's a huge shift according to UNCG political science professor Thom Little.
"Frankly they've turned the page. And they realized they've gotta work with the Biden administration," Little said. "They are saying we've gotta look to the future. We are now minority leaders in the house and senate. We've got to work with that administration and we can't look back."
Professor Little says President Biden's message of unity echoes another famous inaugural speech in American history.
"He views himself and this administration very much in a similar mode as Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, coming in at that point in in the deepest depression of our history. In a time of crisis. Well we're in a time of crisis now. I think there's a crisis of confidence in the government. I think he's going to come in and try to reinstate some of that confidence in American government," Little said.
One reason of Roosevelt's keys to success is he was able to work with Congress to get stuff done. How will Biden be able to do that?
"That's the key question. I think what we saw this morning is the beginning of that," Little said. "He and McConnell have a long and good history together. I would argue the relationship between him and McConnell is better than McConnell and any other Democrat in the Senate. He (McConnell) just got reelected. He's got 6 years. I can't imagine he's going to run for reelection in 6 years. So this is going to be his legacy. And I think as a pragmatic leader he's going to want to go out with some success."