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Four years after he left the Beltway for his hometown in Delaware, Joe Biden returned to Washington DC a day before his swearing-in as the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday with the message of unity and the enormous task of healing a bitterly-divided country.
“I am honoured to be your next President and Commander in Chief,” Biden, 78, told his fellow Delawarians before boarding a private plane for Joint Air Force Base Andrews on his way to Washington DC. “I will always be a proud son of the state of Delaware,” he said.
In public life for nearly five decades ever since he was elected as the youngest United States Senator from Delaware in 1973, Biden noted that history is in the making as he will be sworn in as the President and Indian-origin Kamala Harris as the Vice President.
‘History in the making’
“My family and I, about to return again to Washington, to meet a Black woman of South Asian descent, to be sworn in as President and Vice-President of the United States,” Biden said.
Harris, 56, will be the first-ever woman Vice-President and also the first African American and India-origin person to occupy the second most powerful position in the US.
During his short speech, Biden became emotional with tears rolling down his face. “This is kind of emotional,” Biden said as we wiped a tear from his eye. “It’s deeply personal that our journey to Washington starts here,” he said, talking about the national guard building named after his son Beau.
He was accompanying the incoming First Lady Jill Biden, several grandchildren and family members, as well as son Hunter Biden who was holding his baby Beau. From there he drove down to the National Mall where he visited a memorial to Covid-19 deaths at the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. More than four lakh Americans have lost their lives in one year of the pandemic.
At the Covid-19 memorial, he was joined by his wife Jill, Vice President-elect Harris, and the incoming Second Gentlemen Douglas Emhoff.
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