Biden’s stirring call to end ‘uncivil war’
CNN Opinion contributors react to the most memorable moments of Inauguration Day. The views expressed in these commentaries are their own.
Jill Filipovic: ‘If only we are brave enough to be it’
It was an inauguration like none in living memory. There was a big first: The first woman, first African American and first Asian American was sworn in as Vice President. And there was a stark challenge: to inaugurate a new president at a moment of profound national vulnerability, after our democracy barely survived a domestic attack and when over 400,000 Americans did not survive a deadly virus.
President Joe Biden met the challenge.
Watching the pomp of the inaugural tradition, I was struck by the new meaning carried by the same words we hear every four years. When Lady Gaga performed the Star-Spangled Banner and sang, “and our flag was still there,” my heart caught in my throat — what a thing to take for granted, that our flag would always be there; what a call to gratitude, to note that yes, even after a mob tore down the stars and stripes and tried to replace it with the banner of an authoritarian, today, our nation’s flag flies.
We did not have a peaceful transition of power. But we did transition from an administration that ruled with vindictiveness, cruelty and prejudice to one that leads with sincerity, optimism and openness. Yes, inaugurations are performances. But this one told the world that while America was bowed by the Trump administration and by attacks from his supporters, we remain, as inaugural poet Amanda Gorman put it, “A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.”
As Gorman read her extraordinary poem, “The Hill We Climb,” she embodied the best of America: “A skinny black girl, descended from slaves,” she said, who dreamed of being president and was on stage to inaugurate one. A young woman who understands that this nation was not made perfect, but believes we can make it better. As the relief and ceremony of today recedes and the real work begins, her final lines offer a kind of North Star to orient us as we walk us out of the darkness:
There is always light.
If only we are brave enough to see it.
If only we are brave enough to be it.
Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion articles on CNN.
Scott Jennings: I’m a Republican and I’m glad for today
As a conservative Republican, I am under no illusion that I’ll be happy with most of what Joe Biden does as President. A few of his expected executive orders and appointments have already given me great concern that his calls for unity are just words to cover up an unwillingness to say no to the more fringe left elements of his base.
But as an American, I am glad for today as it showed, ultimately, that our system held. It was strained, particularly in the last few weeks by Donald Trump’s disgraceful handling of the post-election period, but we now have a new President, a new Congress and a chance, as we do every two years, to begin anew following a free and fair election.
There is relative equilibrium in Washington, with a tilt to the Democrats. Despite not controlling anything, though, Republicans do have an important role to play in guiding the country’s future. There is an urgent need for both parties to unify over two things: distributing the coronavirus vaccine to as many Americans as possible, as fast as possible, and standing against the scourge of political violence.
These are crucial matters. We can’t get back to normal life in America unless we get the vaccine to her people, and our democracy will be further imperiled if we look the other way when anyone — anyone — participates in or incites violence as a means to subverting the will of the people. We are all in this together, and that means accepting that our electoral system produces winners… and losers. It is an urgent matter for all Republicans to hear this message: we lost, but we can win again as long as we let go of the conspiracy theories that have driven too many people absolutely bonkers.
I wish President Joe Biden well and pray for his success. And I hope for a Republican Party that becomes a loyal opposition and presents itself as a viable, responsible governing alternative in the coming elections, even as it helps President Biden tackle the clear and present dangers to the American way of life.
Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor and Republican campaign adviser, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He is a partner at RunSwitch Public Relations in Louisville, Kentucky. Follow him on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY.
Roxanne Jones: ‘Joy comes in the morning’
“This is the first time in four years I’ve felt like wearing red, white and blue,” my neighbor Pat, a daughter of Kentucky, told me as we watched the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris together.
I know exactly how she felt. For so many years now, I’ve been angry at America. Ashamed of my country. Disgusted at the unrelenting hate and ignorance many of us have spread around the world.
But watching the inauguration today, I had so many reasons to be happy and full of pride for my nation. I’m proud of the record numbers of Americans who turned out to vote, despite the deadly risk of Covid-19. Proud to see Vice President Kamala Harris, our first woman and first Black Vice President.
Watching record numbers of Black Americans who when confronted with unimaginable horrors and injustice, refused to be intimidated and who instead, used their power to sway the presidential election — that makes my heart proud. Together, we even shifted the balance of power in the US Senate. We stood up, spoke up, ran for office and convinced our allies and people around the world that Black lives must matter. That equal justice must matter.
Today a majority of Americans rejected the politics of White power and insurrectionist ideas. And for the first time in four years, I’m comfortable sitting down with my White neighbor from Kentucky and singing “Amazing Grace” together with hope in our hearts for America.
“Weeping may endure in the night, but joy comes in the morning,” President Biden said, quoting from the Bible, in his inaugural speech.
Amen.
Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of “Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete.” She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia’s 900AM WURD.
Peniel Joseph: Biden’s hopes for America are revelatory. Now the world waits for deeds
The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States promises a new birth of American freedom. Race proved central to Biden’s inauguration address — as it should be. He quoted President Abraham Lincoln twice and became the first president to ever acknowledge White supremacy in an inaugural address. “This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge,” said Biden. One that could only be met through unity and national purpose.
“This is democracy’s day, a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve,” Biden observed. He touted his victory as not a personal one, but as a reflection of the power of American democracy. Biden acknowledged the White riot at the nation’s Capitol as a preface to words that called Americans to an aspirational citizenship — bold enough to defeat the forces of racial and political division that have threatened so many of us under the Trump administration.
Biden celebrated the historic election of Vice President Kamala Harris as proof that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. He spoke of the ongoing devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic, but never lost the thread of racial justice, noting in a reference to a poem by Langston Hughes that “the dream of racial justice will be deferred no longer” and observing that the rise of “White supremacy” and racial terror would be confronted and defeated. Biden echoed the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his vow that his “whole soul” would be committed to national political unity.
Such unity must be based on listening to one another, respecting political disagreement, rejecting conspiracy theories and the spread of lies and false narratives that have undermined democracy.
The president’s stirring introduction of his personal and political hopes for the nation centered empathy, respect and understanding in a speech that placed the struggle for racial justice as the beating heart of America’s wounded democracy. The president’s words proved revelatory and compassionate. Now the nation awaits deeds to make those hopes real.
Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan chair in ethics and political values and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also a professor of history. He is the author of several books, most recently, “The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.”
Nicole Hemmer: From a bleak backdrop, Biden spun out threads of hope
The backdrop could not have seemed bleaker: the event ringed by the National Guard, the crowd shrunk by the Covid-19 pandemic, the echoes of the insurrection still vibrating through the Capitol. And yet, the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris could not have been a more hopeful event.
Rooted in the tragedy and destruction of the past several years, Biden’s inaugural address did not shy away from naming the challenges facing the US — what he called “a time of testing.” hHe talked about the threat of political extremism and domestic terrorism, of White supremacy and climate change, of the unchecked pandemic.
But in his inaugural, Biden found the thread of hope. He found it on the stage, where the first Black, first Asian and first woman vice president had just been sworn in by the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. He found it in the nation’s history: in the need for racial justice, in women’s fight for the vote. And he found it in hard truths: that “democracy is fragile,” and that if we turn toward decency, unity and healing, we will be able to say that “democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch but thrived.” It is more a wish than a guarantee, a reminder that democracy must be fought for every day, that it is inherently fragile. But seeing a president commit his administration to that core work is reason to believe that American carnage can be transformed into something different — even, perhaps, a period of democratic renewal.
Nicole Hemmer is an associate research scholar at Columbia University with the Obama Presidency Oral History Project and the author of “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics.” She co-hosts the history podcast “Past Present” and “This Day in Esoteric Political History.”
Julian Zelizer: This was the opposite of the American Carnage speech
During his inaugural address, President Joe Biden defined his agenda as an effort to preserve, protect and strengthen the foundation of our political system. “This is democracy’s day,” the President said. For Biden, this day is about the “cause of democracy.” He vowed to be a president for “all Americans.”
The most important element of his promise came down to unity. President Biden promised that he would listen to everyone and that, even when people disagreed, it was necessary to have conversations. That is how democracy works. The inaugural address followed through on the major themes that have defined his entire run for office. He wants to tell a story of unity and not division.
“Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path,” Biden said. “Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”
To achieve this goal, the President faces an awesome task ahead. He will have to contend with a radicalized Republican Party that will have little interest in negotiation, let alone compromise. As he saw on January 6, and during the Obama years, the modern Republican Party has shifted far to the right and most leaders are not willing to break from the party line. They have engaged in a level of toxic, smashmouth partisanship that renders Biden’s style of governing difficult to achieve.
He also must preside in a media ecosystem that has created too much room for sensationalism, partisan journalism and falsehood. In a world of fragmented and uncontrolled information, it won’t be easy getting out his message. The space that we depend on to obtain our facts about politics does not unite us; it stokes division.
Can a president transform the basic institutional dynamics of American politics? The odds are low. But at least, unlike his predecessor, this President wants to give it a try. This was the opposite of his predecessor’s American Carnage speech. After the horrific events of January 6, this should be welcome relief to all Americans who want to get us to a better place.
Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and author of the book, “Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party.” Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer.
Lanhee J. Chen: Biden’s call to end ‘uncivil war’ was what the nation needed
America needed this day. The pomp and circumstance of the inaugural proceedings reminds us that despite a deadly pandemic, racial strife, political disagreement and a deadly mob whose goal was to prevent inauguration from happening, we can still come together to celebrate and honor the peaceful transition of power in our democracy. Today was a celebration of our national story. It wasn’t a celebration that sought to cover over all the problems we face as a country, or one that ignored the painful days we’ve been through. But it was an occasion for us to take a collective breath as a nation and look ahead toward what we all hope are better days to come.
Joe Biden gave a unifying speech that I will remember for his call to “end this uncivil war” that threatens to tear our country apart. If our new president is able to do as he says and restore even some respect to the very real debates we are sure to have with one another, he will have been a success.
I will not agree with many of the policies that Joe Biden will embrace as president. But, as he noted, this disagreement does not have to make us disagreeable. Indeed, I pray earnestly that President Biden will be able to achieve what he promised to do in his inaugural address: to bring us together, lead us out of this dim chapter in our nation’s history, and to be a president for all Americans.
Lanhee J. Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. He served as policy director to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and senior adviser to Marco Rubio’s campaign in 2016.
