WASHINGTON: Joe Biden on Wednesday (Jan 20) became the 46th president of the United States with a call to unity, vowing to bridge deep divides and defeat domestic extremism two weeks after a mob attack tried to undo his election victory.
On a frigid but sunny day at the very Capitol building that was assaulted on Jan 6, Biden swore the oath of office moments after Kamala Harris, who became America's first woman vice president, turning the page on Donald Trump's tumultuous four years.
"Democracy is precious, democracy is fragile and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed," Biden said before a National Mall that was virtually empty due to the ultra-tight security and a raging COVID-19 pandemic that he vowed to confront immediately.
"This is America's day, this is democracy's day. A day of history and hope."
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"We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility and we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes."
"Together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear, of unity, not division, of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healings and goodness."
Biden also appealed to Trump's supporters, pledging to listen to all sides after four years of deep polarisation.
"I will be a president for all Americans," he said.
READ: Trump leaves White House for the last time as US president
But Biden confronted head-on the rise of domestic extremism, as witnessed during Trump's presidency in the Capitol mob, deadly attacks on synagogues and immigrants and a violent march by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The United States faces "a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat", Biden said.
"Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear and demonisation have long torn us apart."
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama and first ran for president in 1987, plans to kick off his tenure with a flurry of 17 orders.
Officials said Biden will immediately rejoin the Paris climate accord and stop the US exit from the World Health Organization and set new paths on immigration, the environment, COVID-19 and the economy.
Biden, who has vowed a major escalation of vaccination against COVID-19, warned of a "dark winter" still ahead from the pandemic that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States, more than in any other country.
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"We're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus," Biden said.
"We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation," he said.
Biden will also end Trump's much-assailed ban on visitors from several majority-Muslim countries and halt construction of the wall that Trump ordered on the US-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration, the aides said.
With so many domestic challenges, Biden delved little in his inaugural address into foreign policy, a longtime passion for the former senator, but said: "We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC9qb2UtYmlkZW4tcHJlc2lkZW50LWluYXVndXJhdGlvbi1zd2VhcmluZy1pbi1zcGVlY2gtMTQwMDYxMjjSAQA?oc=5
2021-01-20 18:00:00Z
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