Hope the United States can be trusted again

The inaugural events in Washington six days ago, coming as they did two weeks after the assault on the U.S. Capitol, presented a striking contrast.

Jan. 20 ushered in a welcome message promoting unity rather confrontation, reason rather than conflict and hope rather than despair.

Canadians no longer have to live next to an uncontrolled dumpster fire. The fouryear-long interlude of conflict, of incessant lies and hostility toward allies ended dramatically with the departure of a disgraced and inept president whose legacy will be a twice-impeached record of non-achievement.

The refreshing spectacle of goodwill and competence in Washington really began weeks before as Joe Biden appointed his outstandingly well-qualified cadre of cabinet and senior advisers and made speeches about how he planned to deal with the pandemic and the major policy challenges he foresaw.

Then the day before his inauguration, Biden and his Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, held a ceremony to turn on a light installation commemorating the more than 400,000 killed by the virus in the us. It was the antithesis of what Trump would have done; the focus was not on Biden or Harris but on those claimed by COVID-19.

The inauguration itself differed dramatically from Trump’s in 2017. We saw the contrast in both the impact of the virus — requiring masks and social distancing — and the conciliatory content of the speeches.

For me at least, the outstanding moment was reading of her poem by Amanda

Gorman, the first American to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She presented a new vision of hope and faith in her country and in democracy.

As Dwight Garner of the New York Times said, “With her canary-yellow Prada coat, her regal red headband, her thrice-scrubbed innocence and her exacting delivery, she was a one-person reminder that if winter is here, then spring cannot be far behind.”

And that is exactly what was needed — a positive youthful outlook towards the future.

The new administration faces a daunting set of challenges. First order of business is bringing the pandemic under control and improving the health care system in the U.S. Then there is the question of reviving economic activity and laying the foundation for a new forward-looking economy.

There is the challenge of getting Congress to actually function.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has for years stalled any legislation that threatened the solidarity of his caucus; the result was the only thing he did was make sure the federal judiciary was stuffed full of conservative Republicans.

Absent a conversion, he will have to be neutralized while his party figures out how to purge itself of Trumpism.

And I haven’t yet mentioned the overarching need to make an unrelenting effort to greatly reduce racism.

Internationally, Biden will work on rebuilding relationships that Trump abused in virtually every part of the globe. NATO will require some mending and relations in Asia, most importantly with China, will require great care.

There is, in the United States, great optimism that the new administration will bring about a more tranquil and reality-oriented set of policies and actions. But the divisions within the nation are extensive and quite frightening. The extremists on both right and left wings are growing in number and a great effort will be required to limit the detrimental impact they will have on the body politic in the next few years.

It’s truly sad that, for a nightmare period, the White House pedalled lies and fake remedies and treated friends like enemies. Now with Trump decamped to the golf course and his voice muted (since he is shut off from social media), telling the truth to the electorate and basing policy on solid evidence will become the norm again.

With America’s allies, trust can be reestablished.