Joe Biden. Photo: VCG

The New York Times reported on Saturday that president-elect Joe Biden plans to start his administration with "dozens of executive orders in his first 10 days on top of a big stimulus plan and an expansive immigration bill." Yet after the executive directives are revealed, one starts to hope the new US administration will not end up doing a bunch of pretentious, but useless things. 

According to The New York Times, the Biden administration's day one agenda includes: rescinding the Muslim travel ban, rejoining the Paris climate deal, extending a moratorium on evictions and student loan payments, a mask mandate for federal property and interstate travel, and ordering agencies to plan to reunite children that were taken from their parents after crossing the border. 

Unfortunately, one can hardly see the urgency to battle the COVID-19 epidemic in the orders. There are no surprising actions in his plan - all the new administration will do is to continue on the path of its well-choreographed playbook. 

The biggest characteristic of the playbook is "fulfilling easy tasks," - picking the low-hanging fruit, rather than the right ones, to handle first. Based on the executive orders the new administration will roll out, it can be seen that when the team actually faces the big test, it did not really read through the questions, but put the answers it has already memorized on the paper in haste. The orders are simply about fulfilling the promises made during the campaign. 

Yet what the US needs the most is not the Paris climate deal or rescinding the Muslim travel ban. Many of the problems the country actually needs to resolve, including that the public health system in each state is on the verge of collapse, are supposed to be priorities. 

Anyone who follows US current affairs can sense the crises of social governance, public health and economy that the country is confronting. But the new administration touched upon lightly and in a limited way when it comes to the resolutions people are expecting - it unveiled a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Or in other words, it is about to tackle some of the problems through printing more money, another easy way to go. It is a classic, deliberate show of US politicians - flaunting the tasks they will handle while securing not to lose any votes. 

For instance, the new team in the White House plans to offer legal status on Biden's first day in office to an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The move is obviously gaining itself 11 million more supporters. Their citizenship will be awarded by the Democratic Party - it is natural those people will vote for the party in the elections four years later. 

Another example to prove the same thing is the appointment of Xavier Becerra, former Democratic attorney general of California, as the new secretary of health and human services. Politico put it bluntly, "Becerra has little experience managing a bureaucracy as large and diverse as HHS. He also has little background in public health, a drawback that could raise questions about his readiness to direct a pandemic response and vaccine distribution campaign." Yet US media outlets suggested the choice was made amid pressure to add diversity to the new cabinet and that the move could win better ties with the Latino community. 

A mask mandate is among the new orders, but only during interstate travel and when people are on federal property, instead of a mandate in all public places. It sends a signal that US elites' health are precious, and government employees, or those who work in federal properties, should be protected strictly from being infected while it does not matter that much when it comes to ordinary people. 

Political reconciliation is not mentioned in the executive orders. If the new administration really wants to unite the most forces to tackle the crisis, it might consider doing something like pardoning some of the people who were arrested for storming the Capitol. There is not a single word about future China policy either, because this is another hard decision to make and thus will be avoided down the line.  

Someone new in a position of responsibility usually tends to pursue a powerful beginning. Today, when both the House of Representatives and the Senate are under control of the Democratic Party, its executive actions for the first 10 days after assuming office are mostly easy missions. It will only be less likely that the new team will conquer tough obstacles in the coming years. 

As people pin high expectations on the Biden administration, they may now find the prospects are quite dim.  

The author is professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn