When it comes to Negotiation, Biden is as Underrated as Trump is Overrated
By Grande Lum and Andrea Kupfer Schneider
America deserves a commander-in-chief whose persuasion impulses seek to unify rather than divide, to protect rather than hurt, to collaborate rather than extort, and to be tough when needed. We are negotiation and conflict resolution scholars and practitioners. Over thirty years, we have taught negotiation to hundreds of students. Biden’s negotiation style will be ideal to help this country heal from its wounds after the past four years. Having traveled his own journey to find purpose through tragic personal loss, he has been able to relate to those he would have to negotiate with as president — Republican politicians, world leaders, and the American people. He is the negotiator-in-chief we should trust to take us forward and he has the repertoire of negotiation skills to actually get that done.
Voting for a president is akin to hiring an agent. He will be a negotiator on your behalf and for many others. And it is easy to understand why many in this country believed that hiring a person who sold himself as a fierce, take-no-prisoners negotiator would resonate with those who felt that politicians and the American system had left them behind or had ignored their needs. After all, no one wants an agent who can’t be trusted to take care of you on what…
