U.S. enters a new dawn
With the year just beginning, Biden’s new leadership will be a perfect chance for the country to wipe away its past smudges in history and start anew
As of this writing, Joseph Biden had been sworn into the presidency of the United States of America, with the US Capitol resembling a heavily fortified combat post. As many as 25,000 National Guard troops surrounded the area where Biden took his oath as the 46th US President.
Supplementing the National Guardsmen were police forces from the District of Columbia and surrounding cities. It was a presidential inauguration like no other.
But due to Covid-19 restrictions, the ceremony did not have the typical large crowds that usually grace the official welcome of the new American president. Due to violent pro-Trump protesters storming the US Capitol on 6 January, forcing the evacuation of legislators and the death of six people, the inauguration took a more laid back and sober approach as part of the new president’s security protocol.
What is sure is that Trump will leave office in total disgrace. He owns two of the four impeachments ever issued in the life of the American republic.
Interestingly, among those present in the inauguration were three former presidents: Barack Obama — whom Biden served for eight years as vice-president — Bill Clinton and George W Bush.
Trump refused to join the historic sworn-in, the first to not attend his successor’s inauguration since 1869.
As Trump took his final flight on Air Force One to his new Palm Beach golf club, he leaves behind a dramatic, tumultuous reign as the country’s leader.
What is sure is that Trump will leave office in total disgrace. He owns two of the four impeachments ever issued in the life of the American republic. He now has the lowest job approval ratings of all US presidents.
The banks that served him for years now refuse to do business with him. A major golf tournament scheduled in one of his courses has been cancelled. There is increasing possibility that he would face charges for instigating that insurrection at the Capitol.
Even the right-wing evangelical groups who supported extremely conservative Republican politicians are now engaged in profound reexamination of their political positions.
The Senate’s Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said the mob had been provoked by Trump and fed lies, and this was evidenced in both traditional and social media. Sadly, tragically and quite unfortunately, this is how he will be remembered.
Trump’s glairing failure is his lack of effective action against the world’s greatest threat in years, the coronavirus pandemic. On the last day of his presidency, America has logged already 400,000 Covid-19 deaths, a staggering number by any measure or count.
With the year just beginning, Biden’s new leadership will be a perfect chance for the country to wipe away its past smudges in history and start anew. He promises to carry on the good fight, and do a better job of it, in this war against the pandemic.
I know these are dark times, but there’s always light.
Biden is also expected to act quickly and urgently on other initiatives and measures, reversing Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate accord, cancel his predecessor’s travel ban on visitors from several mainly Muslim countries, and unveil a bill to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US.
Biden’s parting words during his last speech before the big day ring true for us all, not only in America, but applicable to all nations battling the global pandemic crisis.
Biden said, “I know these are dark times, but there’s always light. That’s what makes this state so special, that’s what it taught me… there’s always light.”
“Twelve years ago, I was waiting at the train station in Wilmington for a Black man to pick me up on our way to Washington where we were sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States of America,” he said. “And here we are today, my family and I, about to return to Washington to meet a Black woman of South Asian descent to be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States.
“As I told Beau on that station waiting for Barack, I said, ‘Don’t tell me things can’t change,’” he recalled. “They can and they do. That’s America. That’s Delaware. A place of hope and light and limitless possibilities.”
The precedent may have been tumultuous, with considerable lack of respect for American tradition shown in this transfer of power.
The greatest challenge for Biden, however, is to repair the malaise that now afflicts American democracy. This will be more difficult than fighting the virus. It will ultimately require bringing all Americans to a common table of reasonable discourse.
But as they say, time will heal all wounds and right now is the opportune moment to finally move on. This truly is a new day dawning for America.