So I’m not going to go all Chris Wallace on you and claim that Joe Biden’s inauguration speech was the best one I ever heard.
Quite the contrary, I assume this speech will join the long list of other inauguration speeches that seemed nice in the moment but quickly fades into “oh yeah, I think it was ok.” Frankly, I’ll long remember Lady Gaga’s brooch and Garth Brooks’ ‘Amazing Grace’ performance over POTUS Biden’s speech. That said, the president had one passage that I agree with 100%:
“Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.”
I love the phrasing of those lines, I love the message in in those lines, and I love that he didn’t screw up the delivery of those lines.
The question is, do those lines have any teeth in 2021? Can the lack of civility on display during the Kavanaugh hearings ever be put back in the bottle? After all, it’s not just party to party “war” that’s at play now in D.C. There’s also party ON party “battles” that still burn. Ask Nancy Pelosi about The Squad and watch her demeanor change quickly. Ask many Republicans about Mitt Romney and watch them roll their eyes.
In order for civility and decorum to rule the day, grown-ups have to be in the room. Who are the grown-ups in the House and Senate exactly, and can those grown-ups (if there are any) get the kids in the room to play nice? And if civility means “as long as you agree with me then we’re good” – as was often the vibe during the Obama administration – then those words are meaningless.
As I said, I LOVE the words. But action always speaks louder than words. If these words result in action, then these words will age very well. But if action is not seen, then these words will get old very quickly. We’ll see… -Doug