‘DAY OF HISTORY, HOPE’
Assuming the US presidency, Joe Biden calls for ‘unity’, urges nation to focus on ‘cause of democracy’
WASHINGTON: America’s new President Joe Biden on Wednesday vowed to end the “uncivil war” in a deeply divided country reeling from a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people.
“This is democracy’s day, a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve,” said the Democrat president, who has replaced Donald Trump at the White House.
With his hand on a five-inch thick heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the oath of office administered by US Chief Justice John Roberts that binds the president to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asianamerican to serve as vice-president after she was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.
“Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause: the cause of democracy... At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said in his inaugural address.
While his predecessor Donald Trump skipped the function, top Republicans including vice-president Mike Pence and the party’s congressional leaders attended it along with former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton.
Biden takes office at a time of deep national unease, with the country facing what his advisers have described as four compounding crises: the pandemic, the economic downtown, the climate crisis and racial inequality. He has promised immediate