Biden vows America will "be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security"

America now has a new president. With the peaceful transfer of power, a 78-year-old Democrat Joe Biden on Wednesday declared that democracy has prevailed.

"We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world," — Biden said in his inaugural speech at the U.S. Capitol, just hours before getting down to business and working to reverse the decisions of the previous administration - signing 17 executive actions in one day.

This was an inauguration day unlike any other. There were 25 thousand national guard troops lining the streets of Washington D.C. as the capital city had been locked down in the days leading up to the ceremony.

Inagurals in Washington normally draw hundreds of thousands to the National Mall. But yesterday it was filled not with people, but with flags — the intimate set up of a concession to the COVID pandemic that has already claimed 400 thousand American lives. There was also a lot of lingering tension and fear of additional violence after the attack on the Capitol Hill earlier this month.

In his 21-minute speech, the new President appealed to his bitterly divided nation that it was "time to come together."

Donald Trump's absence at the ceremony went unmentioned, albeit his Vice President Mike Pence was present to pass the torch, as Biden thought to turn the page on the past 4 years.

It has been a long 4 years. As one of Biden advisors put it to TURAN's Washington correspondent, "the idea that our nation will not anymore wake up to tweets wondering who has been fired and what it means for their country, is pretty revealing", calling the inauguration "the best of America on display."  

30 years after his first White House bid in 1987, Joe Biden is now the oldest president ever inaugurated — and arguably, the most experienced one, including his 8 years as President Obama's Vice President.

Biden's Vice-President Kamala Herris, in her part, has become the highest ranking woman in the history of American government, as well as the first black-American and first Asian-American to hold that office.

"Here is my message to those beyond our borders," Biden said yesterday during his inaugural speech. "America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's."

"We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example," he added. "We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security."

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.