It's a Beautiful Day in the Bidenhood

Good morning America, how are ya? Plus music by Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone and, yes, some of those Bernie-in-mittens memes.

Jan 21, 2021

After all of Wednesday’s excitement—right up to VP Harris swearing in two unlikely senators from Georgia (a Jew and an African-American) and thereby flipping the body—we may need something a little more pensive today. So, Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem,” which opens “The birds they sang / at the break of day / start again / I heard them say” and climaxes with the famous line, “There is a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in.” A few days ago we featured Leonard reciting his “Democracy.” What, not that…other song? I have to marvel (over and over) at the wide, ceremoniual use of “Hallelujah,” most recently at the Covid-19 event on Tuesday and repeated last night on the inaugural program. I realize everyone wants to use that “hallelujah” but most of the rest of the lyrics…well, singers do leave out getting tied to that kitchen chair. Anyway: “Anthem” live below. Then subscribe to this newsletter—it’s still free!

After Trump departs, Biden-Harris take center stage

One of the best Facebook things about Biden was penned yesterday by the fine writer Tom Junod (author of, among much else, the famous “Falling Man” article after 9/11).

He is, after all, an old man. He did, after all, have a speech impediment. He failed, after all, in two previous runs for the presidency, the first time for ignominious reasons. He lost, after all, all there is to lose, in the loss of his first wife and two of his children. He does, after all, have a son whose vulnerabilities make him vulnerable. When he entered into a fight for the privilege of leading this country, his opponent relentlessly mocked not only him but his mental capacity, even face to face, in their debates. But he won both debates, and I happen to think he won the presidency when his opponent went after his son and he responded by saying the loving words his opponent never could: "I am proud of my son."
This supposedly fragile man never bent and never broke, and kept resolute and steadfast in the conviction that he was fighting not for power but for this country's soul. In the greatest political and possibly moral achievement of my lifetime, he won, and in an hour he will be sworn in as our 46th president.

Then we watched as the guests took their places above the steps of the Capitol which was transformed in two weeks from “alt-right” to “all right!” as Stephen Colbert would put it later. Lady Gaga would arrive “not on the red carpet but wearing it,” as Colbert pointed out. I had to recall my first visit to that site: Dropping a large cardboard card with the name of an American soldier killed in Vietnam in a casket near the steps, the night before the massive November 1969 peace march, with vet leader John Kerry nearby.

A young poet, Amanda Gorman, almost stole the show. I was also thrilled to see Woody Guthrie get his moment, with J Lo singing “This Land is Your Land,” although missing as usual the lyrics hitting private property, and lacking this stanza:

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I saw my people.
As they stood hungry, I stood there whistling,
This land was made for you and me.

Not-so-fun fact: Woody’s father reportedly took part in a double lynching in Oklahoma when he was growing up and later joined the Ku Klux Klan.

Of the dozens of fun memes yesterday featuring Bernie chillin’ at the inauguration with his massive mittens, I will naturally have to go with rock ‘n roll references. First: old school, reelin’ in the years. Or as Biden might say, “Go back, Jack.” The Crosby, Stills, Nash and Not So Young… More fun examples (which were almost endless) at the bottom of the page.

The excitement went on yesterday afternoon. On live TV we watched the Dems flip the Senate, with Warnock and Ossoff sworn in—a black and a Jew from Georgia, no less—and Harris presiding. Then a first Biden White House press briefing with a woman leading it who somehow failed to spout lies and/or appear unhinged.

The After-Party

It was literally a cold open for a shivering Bruce on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Again I had to reflect on my own past, recalling the one time I delivered a speech on that very spot: at a 1995 protest marking the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The 1947 MGM movie that I explored in my latest book (same title, The Beginning or the End) also ended on these same steps--with a ghostly figure offering a ringing defense of dropping the bomb on Japan and for pursuing more such weapons.

I was hoping during the nationally televised show that Mr. Hanks would break out, "It's a beautiful day in the Bidenhood...won't you be my neighbor?" But, alas, no.

Never a Katy Perry fan, but it was a kind of emotional “pay back” moment for her, given her experience a little over four years ago at the official Hillary Clinton victory party in New York, which was covered by The New York Times this way:

For Ms. Perry, who prominently supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign, that party on Nov. 8 began “with everybody looking fancy and beautiful and high on their horses,” she recalled in an interview. The mood rapidly shifted when word started to spread that Mrs. Clinton was not on her way there — news that Ms. Perry, 32, described as “traumatizing.”
“It was a revelation, it was a reckoning,” she said of Mrs. Clinton’s loss. She started downing drinks and reached out to the nearest person for physical support: Lady Gaga, also there to celebrate the election of the first female president. There they were, “Gaga and I just looking at each other, and being like, [expletive] it, we need to touch each other,” Ms. Perry said. And for a minute, two of the biggest pop stars in the world held hands.

And then yesterday they got to hold hands, in a sense, once again. Maybe they had never stopped.

While all of this was transpiring, the anti-fascist fascists (i.e., anarchists) had returned to Seattle and Portland, breaking windows at enemy (i.e. Democratic) headquarters, and riot police were called.

When Colbert went live at 11:35, he exposed what was in the still-secret note that Trump left behind for Biden, which Joe had called “generous.” Oh, yes, generous—it seems (according to the gag writers) that Don was offering $10 million for Biden to slip him a presidential pardon, while asking if he could borrow $10 million from Joe to make the payment. Here’s how other latenight hosts cooked their final Trump roast.

Then the biggest fireworks display many had ever seen—by the dark’s eerie light. Apparently every last explosive that went un-fired during all of those Covid- cancelled July 4th and New Year's shows were shipped to Washington for this night.

And now this morning—a new Time magazine cover showing Biden in the Oval with Trump’s trash left behind. And possibly worse: CNN reports that Biden has inherited a non-existent vaccination plan from the Trump administration. Biden's team is essentially starting from "square one" because there simply was no plan to ease the greatest crisis in recent U.S. history. But also news this morning: Tony Fauci will be part of today’s first Covid-19 press briefing, at 4 p.m. ET.