Many high notes in Biden speech
It will take some time to measure the effectiveness of President Joe Biden's inaugural address. As delivered, however, it was largely an optimistic call for unity and cooperation for a divided country.
Biden's swearing-in took place on the same site where two weeks earlier, rioters had sought to interrupt Congress' work of formally accepting the results of Biden's defeat of Donald Trump on Nov. 3. The new president noted this early in his speech, saying the day was a celebration “not of a candidate but of a cause, the cause of democracy.”
At the place where violence “sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation,” Biden said, “we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power. We set our sights on the nation we know we can be and must be.”
The overarching themes of the speech were carried over from Biden's campaign — a desire for the country to come together, and his pledge to be a president for all Americans.
Biden noted that the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic, job losses, racial strife and other concerns that, by themselves, would present formidable challenges for a new administration. Trying to tackle them simultaneously, he said, “requires so much more than words, it requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy — unity.”
It's a message directed to those on the other side of the aisle, but should also apply to members of Biden's Democratic Party, such as those who have called for “lists” to be kept of Trump administration staffers who are now looking for work elsewhere. There is nothing unifying about that.
Biden acknowledged that what he was calling for could seem like a fantasy, given the tenor of the times, but that it is possible.
“History, faith and reason show the way, the way of unity,” Biden said. “We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors, we can treat each other with dignity and respect. … Politics doesn't need to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.”
His call to lower the temperature and soften the rhetoric was on point, as was his plea for those who did not vote for him to give him a chance. “Take the measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree, so be it,” Biden said. “That's democracy. That's America.”
However, “Disagreement must not lead to disunion,” he said.
Biden's finest moment came when he declared, “We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility …”
Again, time will be the ultimate arbiter, and it falls to Biden to lead through actions and not just words. But his first message to the country as its 46th president hit many high notes.