by Rajan Philips
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took their oaths as President and Vice President last Wednesday, January 20. It was a peaceful transition of power in America, as it has been every four years for over 200 years. The difference this year was that the transition took place in a highly fortified capital, in a socially distanced and politically divided country. Modifying Bill Clinton’s old line, the new President said in his inaugural speech: “We’ll lead not merely by the example of our power, but
by the power of our example.” The example was there in the peaceful transition of the nation’s political power, except this time it needed the deployment of the state’s coercive power to keep it peaceful. It was a swift turnaround after Trump’s failed self-coup (auto-golpe, as in original Spanish) two weeks ago. But the shadow hung heavy over Washington. Biden’s inaugural poet, the 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, captured the moment, asking “Where can we find light /
Glenn Ickler
“President Biden. How sweet the sound, that saved us from a wretch like Trump.”
Those are the words I sang when Garth Brooks invited us all to join him on the last verse of “Amazing Grace” at Wednesday’s presidential inaugural ceremony.
While people all over America were joyfully celebrating the triumph of Democracy over lies and violence, our only twice-impeached president, having slunk out of the White House without ever having the courage to speak to his successor, was taking his last ride on Air Force One. He was on his way to sulk in delusion and self-pity at his Mar-a-Lago retreat, even though the neighbors have told city officials that they don’t want him living in their midst.
THE show must go on and American politics lived up to its billing. Democracy regrouped this week in the wake of the seditious storming of the Capitol Building. The US Presidential Inauguration was outstanding theatre in which the costumes alone deserved a standing ovation. But embedded in its story of democracy renewed was a quiet metaphor about the power of schooling. So, for all those frustrated home-teachers out there who would rather be watching Call My Agent than trying to explain trigonometry to a feckless brat, breathe deeply and reflect on the quiet authority of Dr Jill Biden. The new first lady will break with all previous protocols and continue her day job. She teaches English composition at Northern Virginia Community College (Nova), where she worked throughout the Obama administration when she was already the wife of the vice-president. Reports have it that Jill Biden was so determined to maintain normality that she requested that the Secret Service agents who a