Our 46th President!

I’ve been in Washington, D.C. for a couple inaugurations—Nixon’s in 1973, when 100,000 of my closest friends and I joined together to protest the Vietnam War; and Obama’s in 2009, a bonus for having served as a field organizer during his presidential campaign. But neither of these brought the exhilaration of today’s online inauguration ceremony for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Shonnie, Gracelyn, and I held hands and watched intently as President Biden repeated the final words of the oath of office: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

I was overcome with emotion as I fully grasped that, after four years of ignorance, incompetence, deception, belligerence, toxicity, and narcissism, we finally had a president who was compassionate, intelligent, determined, respectful, and candid. My favorite line from President Biden’s inaugural address: “I will be the president of all Americans!”