This country’s soul needed Wednesday.
All of the formality, pomp and lofty words. The sight of presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, the former first ladies, outgoing Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen, members of Congress and the Supreme Court, the January sunshine, the Washington Mall stretching into the distance, and the U.S. Capitol in the background.
It all mattered.
The nation and world needed to hear a new president of the United States — experienced in facing hardships — implore his fellow Americans to “open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”
Joe Biden vowed in his stirring inaugural address to “be a president for all Americans.”
One of the most gut-wrenching of this country’s 245 years has resulted in 400,000 residents dead from the COVID-19 coronavirus, healthcare workers and hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic, the economy reeling from small business closings and job losses, unrest and reckoning over racial injustices, and political turmoil from a chaotic presidency that resulted in Congress twice impeaching Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
Then came the last thing America needed — months of Trump claiming he’d won the bitter Nov. 3 election, despite officials of both parties in all 50 states and courts stocked with Trump appointees affirming Biden’s substantial win.
His repeated falsehoods stoked the ugly violence of Jan. 6, when Trump-loyal rioters invaded and vandalized the Capitol building to disrupt Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes. The insurrection left five people dead, including a police officer, injured dozens of other officers, and desecrated the seat of democracy.
The seditious mob wreaked havoc, but didn’t stop democracy. As Vice President Pence said that day, “Violence never wins. Freedom wins.”
It was important to see Pence, a Republican, sitting on the stage Wednesday with the former presidents of both parties as Biden, a Democrat, took the oath of office as the 46th president. It happened a couple hours after the 45th flew off to Florida, skipping the inauguration and disregarding yet another tenet of democracy — the humble act of passing the reins of leadership to a successor. Humility isn’t Trump’s thing.
People in developing, unstable and war-torn countries envy America’s peaceful transition of power, every four years.
Sadly, that transition looked more third-worldly this year.
Threats of more violence from extremist groups backing the Jan. 6 uprising caused the capital city to be locked down for Wednesday’s inauguration and occupied by 25,000 National Guard troops. The day was already going to be unusually solemn, with attendance limited to prevent even more spread of COVID-19. Those threatening more acts of terror added to the anxiety of Americans, but the nation’s hallmark virtues happened anyway.
Biden took office, remembering the lost and offering hope. He reminded all listening that the country has survived wars, crises and division. “In each of these moments, enough of us — enough of us — have joined together to carry us forward,” Biden said.
Moments before taking his oath, Kamala Harris took hers as vice president — the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to do so. Millions of young girls, women, Black Americans and South Asian Americans now see themselves represented in the White House, too. Every American needed to see that.
Harris and Biden face mind-boggling tasks, along with Congress, states and communities. Just as John Kennedy famously called on Americans to selflessly ask what they could do for their country, Biden made an equally powerful plea, custom-fit for this era.
“Let’s begin to listen to one another, hear one another, show respect to one another,” he said Wednesday.
The country needed to hear those words. Reviving spirits, especially among the weary, is essential to face our bundle of simultaneous problems. So is decency.
“We’re going to need each other,” the new president said.
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