Michael Clifford: Biden's triumph of democracy trumps American carnage
President Joe Biden giving his inauguration speech on Wednesday: The only downside was the rare absence from a Biden speech of an airing of a few lines of Irish poetry. Picture: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Let the healing begin. Joe Biden introduced his term as the 46th President of the United States with a speech designed to reclaim an America held captive for the last four years.
He set the tone for his administration with words designed to heal, unify and strengthen. Nowhere did he mention his immediate predecessor, but the whole narrative was drenched with repudiation of the warped principles of Trumpism.
Where Trump stood on the same podium in 2016 decrying “American carnage”, the current incumbent appealed to America’s better angels.
Where Trump was all about himself, Biden referenced the ideals of America.
Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy… at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”
There were many firsts for a January inauguration in Washington. Did any of his predecessors ever single out white supremacism as a force to be defeated? Certainly in recent centuries none underwent inauguration in front of such a small crowd.
The curtailed gathering reflected two of the big challenges Joe Biden faces. Flags replaced the thousands who normally congregate in front of the Capitol for the occasion. The pandemic has extracted a greater toll on the USA than most countries and the new president repeatedly referenced it, calling for a mobilisation to leave politics behind and face into this “winter of peril”.
Despite the absent crowds, security was iron-clad, with row upon row of military personnel in battle fatigue ready to turn their guns on any threat to the occasion. The recent assault on the seat of government by the Trump-inspired mob had left things a little shaky. An indication of the distance the country has fallen was that the peaceful handover of power without incident was considered something of a triumph.
That backdrop highlights Biden’s second biggest challenge – closing the wounds that were exploited by his predecessor. Trump didn’t create the huge chasm between “red and blue, urban and rural” that appears to define America today, but he did exploit it for all it was worth.
Biden stepped forward with his bedside manner.
Today my whole soul is in bringing Americans together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. Uniting to fight the foes that we face, anger, resentment, hatred, extremism, disease, hopelessness, joblessness.”
He mentioned race three times, repeatedly signalling that racial justice is to the forefront of his agenda. And he sent out the word that the USA wants to hook up once more with the global friends and allies who had been jettisoned by Trump.
Despite the absence of a crowd, the fare on view managed to straddle the divide between solemnity and celebration with sufficient aplomb.
Lady Gaga did her bit with the national anthem, togged out in a tented red dress that could have hidden an army and a cap of hair lifted from the Statue of Liberty.
J-Lo gave a few bars of Woody Guthrie’s socialist anthem This Land is Your Land and at one point lapsed into Spanish to sing: “One nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” After the inauguration speech, Garth Brooks had a cut at Amazing Grace. On exiting, he defied pandemic rules to run over and give George W Bush a hug.
The only downside was the rare absence from a Biden speech of an airing of a few lines of Irish poetry. Still, all the indications are that the aul country will be well got in the White House over the next four years, and nothing surer but our leaders will milk it for all it’s worth. God, it would seem, has restored His blessing on America.
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