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Biden Galls for Unity
‘END THIS UNCIVIL WAR/ THE NEW PRESIDENT SAYS
By Laura Olson and Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON—Calling on Americans to
bridge the widening divisions in the coun
try, Joe Biden became the 46th President
of the United States on Jan. 20, complet
ing the peaceful transition of presidential
power on the same stage where a violent
mob just two weeks before had sought to
prevent him from taking office.
Standing before an unusually small SI
crowd due to the pandemic and secu- £
rity concerns, Biden pledged to work g
on behalf of all Americans, not just 3
those who supported him. The former ^
vice president and Democratic senator
from Delaware said those who did not
vote for him can still disagree and dis
sent, but added: “Disagreement must
not lead to disunion.”
“We must end this uncivil war that
pits red against blue, rural versus
urban, conservative versus liberal,”
Biden said. “We can do this if we open
our souls instead of hardening our
hearts.”
Moments beforehand, the coun
try witnessed a historic first, when
Kamala Harris became the first
woman, and first Black and South
Asian person, to serve as vice pres
ident. She was sworn in by Justice
Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina on the
Supreme Court.
Harris, who stepped down as a U.S.
senator from California on Monday, will be
the tie-breaking vote in an evenly divided
Senate. The addition later that day of
two new senators from Georgia brought
the chamber to 50 Democrats and 50
Republicans.
As he gave his inaugural address, the
78-year-old Biden, a former vice president
under Barack Obama and longtime U.S.
senator from Delaware, looked out not at
a sea of supporters, but at a bleak scene.
Members of Congress were seated in
socially distanced chairs; a massive force of
National Guard members and huge metal
barricades were present, following the Jan.
6 pro-Trump attack on the Capitol; and a
display of flags stretched to the Washington
Monument, representing the more than
400,000 Americans who have died of
COVID-19 and could not be there in person.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a
Democrat, told a press-pool reporter before
the ceremony that he was saddened by the
massive security presence around him.
“It’s a military camp,” Wolf said, his voice
breaking.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said
in a phone interview afterward that the
event felt “very safe” as a result of both the
security measures and the COVID-19 pre
cautions, which required attendees to have
a COVID-19 test beforehand. But, he added,
it had a quiet, subdued atmosphere. “It
almost had a feel like you were in someone’s
backyard, rather than a presidential inaugu
ration,” Fitzpatrick said.
Vice President Mike Pence was in atten
dance, but for the first time since 1869, the
departing president did not watch as his
successor took the oath. President Donald
Trump and his wife, Melania, left the White
House hours ahead of Biden’s swearing-in
ceremony, with Marine One flying past the
Capitol as it ferried him to his flight home
to Florida.
Trump, speaking to a small group before
his final ride on Air Force One, thanked
supporters and touted his administration’s
accomplishments before wishing “the
new administration great luck and great
success.”
“I hope they don’t raise your taxes, but if
they do, I told you so,” Trump said, conclud
ing with a promise that he “will be back in
some form.”
As Trump exited Washington, Biden
headed to a church service at the Cathedral
of St. Matthew the Apostle with top con
gressional leaders from both political
parties. He’s the nation’s second Catholic
president, after John F. Kennedy.
The challenge before Biden and Harris
is a stark one: healing a country that’s
economically strained, rampaged by an
unchecked virus and facing ever-deepen
ing political divisions. He immediately
embarked on his policy agenda, signing
more than a dozen executive orders and
other directives Wednesday. Those orders
will require mask-wearing on federal prop
erty and will extend pandemic-spurred
protections against evictions and foreclo
sures and a pause on student loan interest
and payments. Biden also began to undo
Trump’s immigration actions: reversing his
ban on travel from some Muslim-majority
countries, halting construction of the bor
der wall, bolstering the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program and ending the
enhanced immigration enforcement under
the Trump administration. He had the U.S.
rejoin the World Health Organization and
the Paris Climate Accord and began review
ing the Trump administration’s rollbacks to
environmental regulations.
As a precaution against additional insur
rection, more than 25,000 National Guard
members are stationed around the Capitol
and throughout D.C., a number that grew
dramatically following the Jan. 6 attack on
the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of pro-
Trump supporters. Lawmakers, staffers and
journalists had to barricade themselves for
hours until law enforcement officers were
able to secure the building. Even after that
horrifying event, Biden and his transition
team said they felt secure in continuing to
hold the swearing-in ceremony outside on
the West Front of the Capitol, its traditional
location.
Other than the masks obscuring the
faces in the audience, much of the cere
mony itself felt normal. Former presidents
Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
were there to mark the occasion, and musi
cal icons Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and
Garth Brooks performed.
The youngest inaugural poet, 22-year-
old Amanda Gorman, echoed Biden’s own
themes in describing “a nation that isn’t
broken but simply unfinished.”
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) said
to reporters that she felt Biden’s
speech about unity and Gorman’s
poem about resilience and equity
were important for Americans to
hear. “I’m full of joy and inspira
tion,” she said, according to news
reports. “I’m excited to be working
with this next administration and
honored to be here on behalf of
Michigan.”
Sen. Roy Blunt, (R-MO),
who as chairman of the Joint
Congressional Committee on
Inaugural Ceremonies was emcee
during the ceremony, said the
attack on the Capitol “reminds us
that a government designed to bal
ance and check itself is both fragile
and resilient.”
“This is not a moment of divi
sion; it’s a moment of unification,”
Blunt said. “A new administration
begins and brings with it a new beginning.
And with that, our great national debate
goes forward.”
Georgia U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, a Tifton
Republican, offered a hopeful message in
a statement Wednesday. “President Biden
has vowed to work for all Americans, and
if he holds to that promise, America will
prosper,” Scott said. “More unites us than
divides us as Americans, and I will continue
to fight for policies that make our state and
country a better place for everyone.” ©
These stories originally appeared in the Georgia
Recorder, georgiarecorder.com.
Hours after Vice President Kamala Harris carved out her own
place in history, she helped cement two historic firsts for
Georgia.
Harris, who is the first woman to serve as the country’s vice
president, administered the oath of office to Jon Ossoff, who is
Georgia’s first Jewish senator, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock,
who is Georgia’s first Black senator. At 33, Ossoff is also now
the youngest member of the Senate.
The pair, who were sworn in Wednesday afternoon on
the Senate floor, were elected in the nationally watched Jan.
5 runoffs. Their upset victories over Republican Sens. Kelly
Loeffler and David Perdue split the balance of power in the
formerly GOP-controlled Senate, giving Harris a tie-breaking
vote.
“This is a great day for Georgia and for our country,”
Warnock said in a statement following the ceremony. “Today,
my father, a veteran and son of south Georgia, would have
been 104 years old. Today, our country’s first Black, woman
Vice President swore in his son, Georgia’s first Black United
States Senator. That this is even possible is a testament to the
promise of our democracy and the covenant we share with
one another as Americans.
“At the same time, our nation faces multiple crises brought
into sharper focus by a once in a century pandemic,” he
added. “Congress must get to work immediately to over
come the challenges impacting the lives and livelihoods of
Georgians, and people across the country.”
The two candidates, who ran as a unified team, often refer
enced the historic ties of Atlanta’s Black and Jewish commu
nities when on the campaign trail. Warnock is the pastor of the
historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, which Martin Luther King Jr.
once led. That symbolism continued Wednesday. Ossoff was
sworn in using a book of Hebrew scripture once owned by the
late Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, who was a civil rights activist and
ally of King. Warnock used the Bible given to him by his con
gregation when he became senior pastor.
Ossoff was elected to a six-year term, making him the first
Georgia Democrat to be elected to a full term in the Senate
since 1996. Warnock will serve out the rest of former Sen.
Johnny Isakson’s term, which expires in 2022. Loeffler was
appointed to the seat by Gov. Brian Kemp, and Warnock will
appear on the ballot with Kemp in two years, when both are
up for reelection.
Harris also swore in a third senator, California’s U.S. Sen.
Alex Padilla, who was appointed to replace Harris and who is
the first Latino to represent California in the Senate. [Jill Nolin]
6 FLAGPOLE.COM | JANUARY 27, 2021