Joseph R Biden or popularly known as Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States of America, was sworn in at a modest inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2021 held on the premises of the Capitol, which was invaded by Trump supporters two ago weeks. At 78, he is the president of the country who is the oldest to be sworn in: however, his arrival at this juncture is seen by many as momentous and much needed in light of the aftermath of Trumpism.
Not surprisingly, considering American society bitterly divided, President Biden advocated national unity and an end to uncivil war with the slogan “avoid division, embrace unity.” He explained that “ unity ” is necessary in view of the overriding need, which he called “ a desperate call for survival from planet earth itself, ” to counter the challenges of growing political extremism, the racism of white supremacy, domestic terrorism, and the pandemic that caused more damage in a year than the entire Second World War did to the United States. He declared that he was the president of all Americans, including those who did not support him or did not support him yet. The president said, “democracy is precious, democracy is fragile,” but continued optimistically that “today is the day of democracy” and that “democracy has prevailed.” There was much to heal and more to build, he pleaded.
The event was not attended by outgoing President Donald Trump as he announced a few days ago, he became the fourth president to do so in the presidential history of the United States, and the first to do so in the last more than one hundred and fifty years. However, Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence attended the ceremony and, significantly, was not present when Trump delivered his farewell speech at an air base before taking Airforce-1 to fly back to Florida. Trump has also earned the unique distinction of becoming the first US President to be impeached twice in the US House of Representatives. With Democrats establishing their presence in the Senate, his next moves would be watched closely. to permanently deprive Trump of all post-presidential privileges.
Previously, Kamala Harris was sworn in as US Vice President, becoming the first female Vice President, the first black person to rise to this position, and the first person of Asian (Indian) origin to assume this privileged position in the country. . The people of their original village in Tamil Nadu, India, celebrated this great occasion with prayers in the temples and distributing sweets in large gatherings. However, Kamala Harris, who is a liberal Democrat, is unlikely to take her Indian origins seriously and mix with the people as well as some of the most aggressive Hindu nationalist governments in the country. More good news comes from the rise of Kamala Harris, in terms of appointing more than 20 Indian-Americans to the Biden Administration, 17 of whom are in key positions. In fact, Biden had already strengthened his COVID-19 team with quite a few Indian-Americans who had the experience, and his call to ‘put politics aside, fight the pandemic’ augurs well for a country where around four hundred thousand people have lost their lives so far due to coronavirus infections.
President Joe Biden’s mission at this time is clearly to end Trump’s legacy as soon as possible and, as he said in his speech, to begin engaging the world for peace and democracy. To lead by example, the president took action on the first day of his office. He signed around 15 executive orders that reversed some of the crucial foreign policies and national security decisions made by his predecessor Trump. These orders include, significantly, the reincorporation of the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change, revoking the withdrawal of the country from the World Health Organization, making the use of masks mandatory, and rescinding the travel ban imposed on visitors to the United States. several Muslim-majority countries.
The president of the Democrats, basically the center of attention of all the peoples of the world with a democratic spirit, had said in his inauguration speech: “ Together we will write an American story of hope, not fear, unity, not division, of light, not of darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing and goodness ”. We hope that Joe Biden will be successful in his mission to make democracy safe and permanent in his country and on planet Earth. We also hope that this American story will inspire many in several major countries around the world where democracy has been under serious and growing threat.