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With nearly half a century in Washington behind him, Joe Biden has waited a long time for this moment. But when he lays his hand on a Bible, repeats a 35-word oath, and is sworn in as America’s 46th president at noon on Wednesday, the backdrop will be nothing like what he had imagined.
Biden’s inauguration on the steps of the U.S. Capitol will be among the strangest in U.S. history due to the one-two punch of a coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country and increased security in the wake of the murderous violence of the mobs at the Capitol itself.
In this intimidating situation, he will try to find the words to begin to heal a bitterly polarized nation. But it’s quite possible that nothing in Biden is as important as the symbolism of Vice President Mike Pence and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama coming together to witness a peaceful transfer of power.
Many are hopeful the bipartisan board will herald a return to political norms and a page turn after four years of unrest under Trump, who announced he would be the first president in 150 years to boycott the handover ceremony to his successor.
“The most important person there will be Vice President Pence,” said Elaine Kamarck, senior researcher at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. “Between Pence and Bush, it’s a powerful message to at least part of the public that not all of the Republican Party is the Trump Party.”
The pandemic had already guaranteed it would be a clean inauguration, with organizers urging the public to stay away and watch TV, a far cry from Obama’s first inauguration, where more than a million people filled in. national shopping center. Around 2,000 people are expected to attend wearing masks and physically distancing themselves.
Then came last week’s pro-Trump insurgency in which rioters swarmed the Western Front of the Capitol, even climbing on the scaffolding and bleachers built for the inauguration. Fear of yet another assault means Biden will now become the most powerful man in the world in an environment that looks more like Baghdad’s green zone than an open city of boulevards and monuments.
The Secret Service is carrying out what is called a “zero failure mission”. Barricades, checkpoints and a 7-foot (two-meter) high fence were erected around the Capitol with National Guard troops stationed on the perimeter. Some 20,000 such troops will be deployed and half of them will be in the city by Saturday in case protests erupt over the weekend.
Streets near the Capitol have been closed, the National Park Service has closed the Washington Monument to visitors, and home-sharing company Airbnb has said it is canceling all reservations in the Washington area to discourage protesters from staying in the area. city.
On Wednesday, as he was indicted for inciting a mob attack, Trump posted a video message urging calm. “I unequivocally condemn the violence we experienced last week,” he said. “Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement. There must be no violence, no violation of the law, or vandalism of any kind. “
But worrying messages have appeared in discussion forums and far-right forums about potential problems. The recently deleted Patriot Action for America website called on supporters to surround the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court days before “to prevent the inauguration of Joseph Biden or anyone else at all costs. democrat ”.
The capital is at its end. Larry Saturday, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, which has attended all the openings since 1976, said, “We’ve had strange ones for two hundred years, but none of that and what’s really sad, is that people are nervous.
“I would say a lot of people are hoping to move it indoors. You can’t put anything above these people and they clearly spoke of assassination – there’s no other way to say it. These people are crazy and they have been legitimized by Trump.
Biden, who at 78 will be the oldest person ever to be sworn in as US president, said last Monday: “I’m not afraid to take the oath on the outside.” But security measures forced him to cancel his plan to take a 90-minute trip from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington by train, mimicking his daily commute during his 36 years as a senator.
Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice president, admitted: “It breaks my heart because there are very few officials in this country who deserved a traditional investiture more than Joe Biden and sadly it won’t location.”
The theme for the opening will be “America United,” a stark contrast to Trump’s dark and controversial event four years ago. Biden, his vice president, Kamala Harris, and their spouses will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. They will be joined there by Clinton, Bush and Obama and their wives in a very deliberate manifestation of consensus.
The organizing committee also announced plans for a large public art exhibit spanning multiple blocks of the National Mall that will feature 191,500 American flags and 56 pillars of light to represent every state and territory and “the American people who can’t. travel ”to the Capitol.
Traditions such as the Inaugural Parade and Inaugural Balls will move to a virtual format, and actor Tom Hanks will host a 90-minute prime-time special called Celebrating America and featuring a variety of celebrities.
Lara Brown, director of the graduate school of political management at George Washington University in Washington, said during a briefing to foreign press centers: “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they set up, say in the East Room of the White House, a space where you can see President Biden and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, do a dance in the ballroom. In other words, they would film it as a virtual event.
But the relative lack of pomp, pageantry, and other distractions means the inaugural address will be even more than usual. Former presidents such as Abraham Lincoln (“heal the wounds of the nation”), Franklin Roosevelt (“the only thing we need to fear is fear itself”) and John F. Kennedy (“don’t ask what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country ”) rose to the challenge.
David Litt, a former Obama speechwriter, said: “If you think about the number of crises that Joe Biden takes office, it’s pretty staggering. I’m not sure if we’re going to come back to this as a matter of rhetoric and say it was comparable to Lincoln’s second inauguration or FDR’s first, as those are very high bars, but it’s hard to imagine a president taking office at a higher level. takes time for America. “
Biden’s speeches last year at the Democratic national convention and after his electoral victory have been well received. He’s again likely to focus on the themes of redeeming America’s soul, rebuilding trust in institutions, and governance for all citizens, not just those who voted for him. .
Aaron Kall, debate director at the University of Michigan and editor-in-chief of I Do Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugural Addresses of the Last Fifty Years, said: “He has his own speechwriter and will likely have help from people. of its administration, even perhaps of people. outside like [historian] Jon Meacham and others who are very good blacksmiths.
“They’ve probably gone back to the drawing board. Normally these drafts are done around the pre-Christmas holidays but, considering everything over the last week or two, it’s almost like starting over. “
But Kamarck, who as an official in the Clinton administration was on the podium for his second inauguration in 1997, will not be awarding marks for poetry, zingers or burgeoning rhetoric to this swearing-in like no other.
“With the country at breaking point at different levels, we just need skills,” she said. “I don’t care if he’s inspiring or not and I don’t think anyone else is. After the last four years of absolute Trump bullshit, straightforward pragmatism is exactly what the moment calls for and I think it will. And frankly, it will be inspiring.
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