The Atlantic
A Sermon in America’s Civic Religion
The past four years made the usual bromides in Biden’s inaugural address sound newly fresh and relevant.
January 20, 2021
Jim Bourg / Reuters
Midway through Joe Biden’s first speech as president today, he said something that, in any other inaugural address, would have seemed so unobjectionable as to be pointless.
“What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans?” Biden said. “I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor, and, yes, the truth.”
In 2021, however, that wasn’t just a throwaway line: It drew an ovation from the limited crowd at the event.