Unity. It’s a word we’ve all heard a lot of these past few months and probably will be hearing a lot more of as we move further along into 2021. It is not just a word at this point but a goal. It is key goal of the Biden administration as it takes over from the Trump administration and the furthering  political polarization in America that was almost a direct consequence of it.

Through Wednesday’s inauguration we felt this goal come to life. American flags flown all across Washington D.C. helped to portray this unity in action as well as the fact that the Biden administration made sure to invite several different speakers and performers for the inauguration that represented all classes, age groups, and races of Americans. The inauguration screamed unity from the rooftops of D.C. on Wednesday but as we move later into the week we are seeing this unity slip away and reality beginning to set in.

Political polarization has become an exponentially increasing issue in America over the past couple of years and it will not be something that will just disappear as quickly as it came. The New York Times points this out in an article titled: In Biden’s Washington, Democrats and Republicans Are Not United on ‘Unity’. This article points out that there is still political divide and that each party defines unity differently making the public relations efforts of Biden’s team to directly tie his administration to unity in crisis.

Biden’s campaigns key phrase or selling point was to unify a divided America. He mentioned this several times but continuously saying the word “unity” over and over until it was ingrained in every American’s brain and mentioned that he would be a president for “all Americans” no matter their party. While this may have been a good platform to run on and was overall a successful public relations effort to appeal to the audience of politically divided Americans, it may have run its course. If a divided congress and a divided senate are unable to back Biden on this he may see his entire platform crash and burn before his eyes, becoming another politician who failed to follow-through with his promises. For this reason, it may be time for his public relations team to go back to the drawing board and decide what efforts they can do to make this unity appear to work or come up with whole new platform and catch-phrase entirely.