Boring Is Better

Joe Biden has a real shot at being a boring president. It will require constant work. Many forces of commerce and human nature are arrayed against him, and countless obstacles stand in his path. But if the country is lucky, entire days will pass without the president's activities agitating the public mind.

Success in the presidency can be measured in many ways. After Donald Trump, a new one might be the ability to thin the ranks of the agog. We need a president who can reset the norms of the office and address our current crisis over the nature of truth, giving the public the information it deserves. Biden can show those who didn't vote for him that he respects them enough to seek to persuade, rather than drowning them out with untested assertions.  

Calvin Coolidge famously set out to be boring. According to his secretary, he did not wish to “go ahead