WASHINGTON, DC (CU)_Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday (Jan 20), pleading for unity in a deeply divided nation.
In his inaugural address, Biden called on America to end its “uncivil war” amid an array of convulsing challenges. “This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge,” he said. “Unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail.”
With his hand on his thick family Bible and with his wife, Jill Biden, by his side, Biden recited the oath at a US Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier.
Moments before, history was made at his side, as Kamala D. Harris also took her oath of office, and became the country’s first female vice president, and also the first Black American to hold the nation’s second-highest office.
However, in an inauguration like no other, the ceremony unfolded within a circle of security forces evocative of a war zone, with 200,000 American flags planted on the National Mall to symbolize those who could not attend in person owing to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Biden replaces outgoing President Donald Trump whose single term was constantly dogged by accusations that he failed to uphold his own oath, especially in his final weeks in office, by refusing to accept his defeat in the last November’s election, trying to intimidate his Vice President Mike Pence, into violating the Constitution in order to overturn the election results, events which inspired a deadly attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.
Two weeks earlier, the platform on which Biden was sworn in, at the West Front of the Capitol, was overrun by a violent mob, who stormed the House and Senate chambers attempting to halt the affirmation of Biden’s election victory. However, Biden and Harris’ decision to still take their oaths outside at the capitol was seen as an act of defiance in the aftermath of the hours-long riot.
“We’ve learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile — and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said during his speech.
In his 20-minute inaugural address, He called on America to embrace a united front, appealing to the country’s more hopeful sentiments, in stark contrast to the dark and abusive inaugural address delivered by outgoing President Trump four years ago.
He promised to defeat the scourge of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, challenges that have taken on fresh urgency in the recent past.
“A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making, moves us,” he said. “The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. The cry for survival comes from planet itself, a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”
Biden, who at 78 is the oldest man to be sworn in as president, secured the office by pledging to undo much of Trump’s legacy, and used his first day in office to sign executive orders that reverse decisions of the Trump administration that affect a range of issues, including COVID-19 and climate change.
Biden signed a total of 17 executive orders and actions Wednesday, including a mask mandate for federal property, as well as moves to re-join the World Health Organisation and the Paris climate accords, after Trump had withdrawn from these global forums during his presidency.
Biden has also been trying to court members of Congress as he prepares to pitch an ambitious legislative agenda that includes economic relief tied to the pandemic, climate change initiatives, an immigration overhaul and infrastructure spending.
As the second Catholic to be elected president, after John F. Kennedy, Biden invited Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to attend Mass with him Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration. The decision by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to accept this invitation and skip Trump’s farewell event that took place around the same time, offered one sign that Biden’s approach may at least take some of the malice out of the policymaking process.
On Wednesday, Biden entered the White House and told reporters that there was “no time to waste”, as he not only signed a stack of executive actions, but also began staffing up his administration, swearing in top White House aides in a low-key virtual ceremony. Biden also told the reporters that Trump had left him a “very generous letter” in the Oval Office, although he declined to detail its contents.
Biden on Tuesday, bid an emotional farewell to his home state of Delaware, where he served as a senator for 36 years. With tears streaming down his face as he thanked a group that included long-time friends, as he said, “When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart”.
However, he left on a note of optimism, saying that “Anything’s possible”.
While he described America as a “place of hope and light, of limitless possibilities”, however, the scene surrounding his inauguration in Washington on Wednesday offered an intense reminder of the dark challenges he now faces.
In addition to the pandemic, which has the country’s economy buckling, the incoming president has also pledged to address climate change and racial justice.
“Coming in he’s got his hands full, obviously,” Christopher J. Dodd, a former senator from Connecticut and a close Biden confidant, said. “Any one of these issues alone would be a major problem. But combining all of them poses some real challenges.”
