How refreshing is it to have a President in the habit of saying “We…” rather than “I…” again?

-me, on social media during Biden’s Inaugural Address

It felt good to set work aside for a bit yesterday at lunchtime and pull the Presidential Inauguration up on the screen, for a lot of reasons, but largely, because the change in management does a lot, certainly symbolically, and, thanks to first day executive action, to encourage a sense of relief and cautious optimism.

Seeing Kamala Harris take her oath as Vice President, making her a whole series of firsts (woman, Black American, Asian-American, WOC, GenX) in the office, honestly made me choke up a bit (I’m not devoid of emotion); first of all, I’m a big fan of the VP in general, plus, it’s so damned encouraging to see people in American positions of power that look like America. As a white cis-het male, I say it’s beyond time we got the heck out of the way.

This was, as I say above, the good kind of history being made.

Joe Biden, of course, has been working toward this day his whole life. I’m not going to rehash his story; it’s out there. He wasn’t my first choice for the job this time around (wasn’t even in my first tier, honestly), but I was proud to vote for him in the general election, because although he’s more moderate than I’d prefer, he’s a genuinely decent, empathetic human being whose heart is in the right place, and who has the wisdom to listen to the people around him, and is willing to evolve his thinking on issues in ways a lot of older politicians aren’t.* He reminds me a lot of the best parts of the people who come from the part of the world he and I both hail from; hard working, pleasantly informal, posessing of both academic aptitude and so-called “street smarts”, and informed by the best parts of his religious tradition – championing social justice and Matthew 25, rather than crusading to impose his particular tradition and will on others.

Speaking of religion, I have more than a few friends (of many different faith traditions, or none at all) that expressed discomfort with the religious references in the inauguration (and in these sorts of secular ceremonies in general); I agree with them (and with Thomas Jefferson) on the concept of the separation of church and state. We shouldn’t invoke religion (Christian or otherwise) as we do in secular public life; it’s a means (intentional or not) of excluding people, and Government shouldn’t be doing that.

That said, there’s a personal element to things like the inauguration, and for President Biden (I love typing that, btw), his faith is a big part of his life and guides the way he thinks about and interacts with the world. I personally didn’t have a problem with his use of religious references in his Inaugural Address or having a Jesuit priest (a long time friend) offer the invocation.** The fact that his “religious” language largely borrowed from Jesuit tradition is a bit of a relief, as that corner of Catholicism definitely “walks the walk” when it comes to doing right by others, and I know that’s the philosophy that’s informed Joe’s way of thinking, and we need a lot more of that right now.

I wasn’t intending to go on a tangent about religion in the public square, but it was on my mind, and this is my space, so, there it is.

In any case, it’s a nice feeling to feel optimistic about things going forward; it’s certainly novel and welcome after the last four years or so. I trust the Biden-Harris administration to do their best to get us through this unprecedented time, and bring in the best minds to help set things on the right course, and do their best to make sure that those minds look like a cross-section of the nation, and consider everyone’s interests. “President for All Americans” is pretty much transition boilerplate, but have a good feeling that unlike the last guy, Joe’s going to do all he can to live up to it.

And that’s how it should be.

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* – See issues like same-sex marriage, Hyde amendment, ’94 crime bill, etc. He’s sometimes a little late to the party, but he gets there. I expect he’ll govern more progressively than expected, especially with the growing progressive caucus in the party pushing from the left.

** – The question of whether Government or other secular events need have an invocation at all is one that probably ought to be considered a bit more. Even if doing so is thought of as simply “ceremonial” or “traditional,” said tradition is often Christian-centric; that may have been demographically representative in the past (though most of the “Founding Fathers” were some flavor of Deist) but as much as right-wing talk radio likes to shout about it, America doesn’t look like that anymore and we ought to account for that. Personally, I’ve no issue with a “moments of silence” and such, but when such “ceremonial” things are framed in overtly Christian contexts (things like Baccalauriate associated with public school graduations, religious dislays in public buildings, “In God We Trust” on currency, sectarian prayers to open public meetings, etc), it continues to be exclusionary, and in general, exclusion is bad.