Inspiring Inaugural Speeches, Hostages Come Home, Bookmarking The Biden-Harris Record

Here we are, the last full day of the Biden Presidency

Good morning all. Left you lots of links and things to chew on in yesterday’s long post. Today sending along a few simple things on the last full day of the Biden Presidency.

First, I welcome the Israel-Hamas cease fire and look forward to the first round of hostages coming home.

Second, I shudder to think what Trump has promised China in return for allowing him to “save TikTok.”

Next, I send along links to a few important Inaugural speeches (and one State Of The Union). Perhaps spend time with these rather than the one we’ll get from inside the Capitol tomorrow:

• Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural, 1865

• FDR’s 1st Inaugural, 1933 (fear itself)

• FDR’s State Of The Union Address, 1941 (Four Freedoms)

• JFK 1961

• Clinton 1993

• Obama 2009

• Biden 2021

If you want to watch rather than read the videos of most of these speeches (not Lincoln of course) can be found on YouTube.

President Obama’s 1st Inaugural Address - yes the crowd goes all the way to Washington Momument

Now, the Biden record. In the coming years, perhaps as early as tomorrow, Trump and the Rs will denigrate and obscure the very real achievements of the Biden Presidency to further weaken the Democratic Party. They want us to be a failed party and Biden a failed President. While not everything went as we wanted in the election or over the past 4 years, much did go right and we will need to defend our achievements - for they are our achievements - against the unceasing lies to come.

To help us do that I send along today a document released by the Biden-Harris White House on Friday. It is a long list of their accomplishments. Bookmark it, print it out, keep it handy for the many debates and battles ahead. It begins with this note from the President:

Letter from President Biden

Four years ago, we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities. We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. But we came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.

Today, we have the strongest economy in the world and have created a record 16.6 million new jobs. Wages are up. Inflation continues to come down. The racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. We’re rebuilding our entire nation—urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities. Manufacturing is coming back to America. We’re leading the world again in science and innovation, including the semiconductor industry. And we finally beat Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. More people have health insurance today in America than ever before. I signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic materials and their families, as well as the most significant climate law ever and the first major gun safety law in nearly 30 years. Today, the violent crime rate is at a 50-year low.

I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that’s still the case. America is an idea stronger than any army and larger than any ocean. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world. That idea is that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.

Vice President Harris and I asked our staff to prepare a detailed summary of the progress we’ve made together throughout the last four years. Below, I’m sharing our record with you. I hope you’ll do your part to build on the progress we’ve made.

It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years. Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. I have given my heart and my soul to our nation. And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.

History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep the faith and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.

Thank you.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Finally, I end with Amanda Gorman and her reading of that remarkable poem, The Hill We Climb, from the Biden Inaugural in 2021. We cannot stop imagining what can and will be…..

Take care of yourselves everyone. Proud, so very proud, to be in this fight with all of you - Simon