Mr. Biden should have given Mr. Trump credit

President Biden addresses a joint session of Congress on April 28. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Regarding the April 29 front-page article “Biden says U.S. is ‘on the move again’ ”:

I believe President Biden missed a golden opportunity last week to take at least a small step toward unity. I was taught as a young man to try to catch a person doing something right. Though many of us strongly dislike former president Donald Trump, any reasonable person would have to acknowledge that his Warp Speed coronavirus vaccine initiative was a great success and has helped immensely in fighting the pandemic. Mr. Biden spent a significant amount of time in his speech to Congress discussing the success his administration has had in getting people vaccinated.

Almost 50 percent of voters voted for Mr. Trump. If Mr. Biden had given Mr. Trump credit for Warp Speed, the rest of his speech would have been much more widely accepted. Mr. Biden did a great job when he looked the American people in the eye and said we can win the battle against China and Russia if we work together and not against each other. He did this really well with emotion and sincerity, and he is right. Maybe he wanted to give Mr. Trump credit but was talked out of it by people who don’t realize that most people want the parties to work together. Mr. Biden could have led this charge.

John White, McLean

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