Inauguration offers new hope, as Biden and Harris call for collective problem-solving
Finally, it feels as if a new year has begun. The inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris marks a new beginning; a new confidence that the light of our days is returning, and the darkness we’ve been living through is shrinking.
The first sign of renewal came the night before the inauguration, when Biden and Harris led a memorial for the more than 400,000 Americans whose lives have been cut short by a pandemic. Biden said, “To heal, we must remember. It’s hard, sometimes, to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation . . . and to remember all that we have lost.”
Harris noted that “for many months, we have grieved by ourselves. Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together.” Her hope is that “we emerge from this with a new wisdom.”
Then, as Harris, Biden and their partners stood for a moment of silence gazing at the 400 lights along the reflecting pool, they performed an act of national leadership we’ve hungered for: They squarely faced the depth of the tragedy this nation is facing.
The next day another act of healing took place: Two weeks after a demented insurrection, the inauguration reclaimed and restored the sanctity of the U.S. Capitol by filling it with acts of democracy and civility.
Even here, 3,000 miles away, a great national exhalation was almost audible — a final release of tension and fear about the fate of our democracy. We know there are still enormous challenges ahead, but we can breathe again. What a relief.
It would not be wrong to linger for a while and revel in this moment of hope. We will need buckets of hope to fortify the optimism we need to start climbing the mountains ahead.
Our democracy has built up quite a backlog of deferred maintenance. Beyond surviving the next vicious months of the pandemic and rebuilding the economy, we are way behind in our march towards racial and economic justice. In fact, the last few years have seen burgeoning white supremacism, anti-Semitism, misogyny and hate crimes, and vast growth in the gap between the rich and the rest of us.
It was refreshing to hear President Biden call for unity, not just in spirit but in the work of getting our country moving forward again. It’s nice to be asked to help, to be recognized and included in a great national team of healers, comforters, helpers, thinkers, problem-solvers and history-makers. It’s nice to be led by someone who calls on our better angels, and who speaks about all of us together rather than himself alone.
It is also inspiring to see the shining face of Vice President Kamala Harris, a triple first of woman, Black woman, and South Asian woman national elected leader, who is married to a Jewish man and is stepmom to his two grown kids. Seeing her, and hearing her speak, gave us all hope that an important piece of our future has finally arrived. Her victory is a victory on the long road toward a genuinely multiracial democracy.
We hope this happiness is shared by people across the political spectrum who may disagree with the new administration’s policies, but find comfort in its civility and spirit of inclusion and compromise.
We especially hope that spirit is shared here in our little corner of the country. This new administration, and a new Senate Democratic majority, are certainly likely to produce tangible benefits for the people of Thurston County.
In the near term, we’re likely to see more federal funding for small businesses, pandemic relief, and rental assistance. There is also a promise of expanded eligibility for rental subsidies that now serve only 1 in 4 eligible low-income households. That could significantly reduce homelessness, which is a problem we have not been able to solve without more substantial federal help.
This new administration also brings changes that will be welcomed by local Dreamers and other immigrants, the LGBTQ community, everyone who cares about climate change, people with student loan debts, and also, we hope, all who are anxiously waiting for vaccination.
We might also dare to hope having the election outcome settled will mean the air goes out of the armed far-right protests on our state capitol grounds. Lacking a national leader to stir them up, perhaps the protesters will stay home.
We know that over time, the shine of this new administration will wear off, and we will find plenty to argue about. But we can certainly hope to argue better, to learn from each other, and to find common ground.
Maybe we hope for too much, but that is certainly preferable to hoping for too little. Aiming high is, after all, what Americans are meant to do.
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 5:45 AM.