Twenty years back, I had followed with fascination the Bush vs Gore election – I had moved to the US in 1999 and was thoroughly impressed with the way, the campaigning was carried out. I keenly watched the town-hall style campaigning that Gore & Bush were conducting. I distinctly remember a town-hall in Microsoft that Gore had with the employees – it was very engaging. Town-halls & presidential debates were new to me – these were uncommon in elections in India. During that election, the issues that got debated included abortion; immigration, size of the government & tax breaks – however the discourse was civil & the personal attacks were minimal. The election was extremely close and finally the Supreme Court had to step in before Bush was declared the winner. However, though very disappointed, Gore gracefully conceded and being the Vice President at that time, oversaw the formal certification of the electoral college in the Capitol.
I still find it hard to believe how things have changed in 20 years. I went back to India in 2006 and only in 2019 came back to the US. Several factors including the phenomenal rise of social media, the financial meltdown in 2009 & the loss of manufacturing jobs have exacerbated the political divisions in the US. The issues debated were similar to the ones 20 years back – role of government, tax breaks, immigration etc – but the debates were shriller. Though the election was not even as close as the 2000 election, millions of people did not believe in the fairness of this election. The incumbent President, Donald Trump, did not concede to the winner Biden and on Jan 6, 2021, there were violent protests at the Capitol during the certification of the electoral college. There was talk of more violence during the Presidential inauguration.
However, by the end of the inauguration day of Joe Biden & Kamala Harris on 20th Jan 2021, I was quite optimistic:
- The inauguration went off very smoothly – while Trump wasn’t present, there were political leaders across the political spectrum demonstrating a firm belief in the Constitution
- Biden’s speech was unifying – it was positive and talked about possibilities for all Americans
- It was gratifying to see Kamala Harris taking oath – the first woman, first black and first Indian origin Vice President
- Great performances by Lady Gaga, JLo, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend and others
The last 10 months have been very difficult because of the Covid pandemic which resulted in so many deaths and economic hardships. However, the inauguration, seems to be first ray of sunshine after a long night. Only time will tell, how the rest of the Biden term goes. But, quoting Amanda Gorman, who at the inauguration, gave a stupendous rendition of her poem “The Hill we climb” – “But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.”
gopaldevanahalli 