Joe Biden grieves Covid victims on eve of his inauguration: ‘To heal, we must remember’
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Those qualities were on full display during his first stop in Washington Tuesday evening to honor the lives lost in the Covid-19 pandemic. His somber tone was striking after a year in which President Donald Trump denied the scale of the pandemic and was rarely able to muster a sense of compassion or offer words of comfort for the family members, who were often robbed of the chance to say goodbye or hold the hands of their loved ones in those precious final moments.
As the sun set over the Lincoln Memorial setting a rosy glow to the twilight, Biden spoke just a few words but told Americans he shared in their grief — his understanding deepened by the tragedies of his own life, from the loss of his first wife and daughter in a car accident as a young man to the death of his son Beau to cancer at the age of 46.
“It’s hard sometimes to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation,” Biden said in brief remarks before 400 lights were illuminated along the edges of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, marking the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19. Hundreds of towns, cities and communities across the country plan to join in the solemn tribute with lighting ceremonies of their own at buildings from the Empire State Building in New York to the Space Needle in Seattle.
Biden was joined by his wife, Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, delivered the invocation and gospel singer Yolanda Adams performed “Hallelujah” after Biden spoke.
Harris spoke briefly at the memorial, noting that “for many months, we have grieved by ourselves. Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together.”
“Though we may be physically separated, we, the American people, are united in spirit and my abiding hope, my abiding prayer, is that we emerge from this ordeal with a new wisdom: to cherish simple moments, to imagine new possibilities and to open our hearts just a little bit more to one another,” Harris said.
Biden and Harris come to Washington
As he departed for the nation’s capital earlier in the day, Biden gave an emotional farewell to his home state of Delaware, his voice breaking at times as he thanked the state’s residents for believing in him and standing with him throughout his career.
“I’ll always be a proud son of the state of Delaware,” Biden said at the Delaware National Guard headquarters in New Castle County. “Excuse the emotion,” he said, tears streaming down his face, “but when I die, Delaware will be written on my heart and the hearts of all of us — all the Bidens. We love you all. You’ve been there for us in the good and the bad.”
He gave a moving tribute to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46, stating that he had hoped to see his son become president one day.
“We should be introducing him as president,” he said.
The President-elect also noted the historical arc of his career witnessing the civil rights struggle as well as signs of progress in the United States. He said he came home to Wilmington, Delaware, from law school after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated — inspired by the turmoil to become a public defender. In 2009, he made the journey to Washington with Barack Obama, who became the nation’s first Black president. And he is returning to Washington, DC, this week “to meet a Black woman of South Asian descent, to be sworn in as President and vice president of the United States. That’s America,” he said Tuesday.
The nation’s continuing struggles for equality and racial justice also drew Biden into the 2020 presidential race. He has said he decided to seek the highest office after watching President Donald Trump’s dismissive handling of the deadly White supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when he said there were “very fine people on both sides.”
“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “They were provoked by the President and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”
But McConnell noted that democracy had prevailed, even in the face of violent threats, and that Congress carried out its duties by certifying the election: “We’ll have a safe and successful inaugural right here on the very front of the Capitol,” he said.
McConnell argued that the November election “did not hand any side a mandate for sweeping ideological change,” given the closely divided Senate and House. But he said Republicans would seek common ground with Democrats as Biden takes office: “We are to pursue bipartisan agreement everywhere we can, and check and balance one another, respectfully, where we must.”
Washington locked down
Honoring Covid victims
The Covid-19 pandemic had already forced organizers to reimagine the day’s ceremonies, including the traditional swearing-in of the new president on the West Front of the Capitol. Those plans were complicated by the January 6 siege of the Capitol by Trump supporters, who shattered glass and ravaged the historic building, forcing the Secret Service to keep plans in flux to ensure that traditional transfer of power will transpire peacefully and safely. In that unnerving environment, the military has been intensely vetting the National Guard troops to make sure there are no bad actors who would do harm during this week’s ceremonies.
Instead, Trump took the unusual step of asking staff to arrange a sendoff of his own at Joint Base Andrews, suggesting that he’d like to see a red carpet, a Color Guard and a 21-gun-salute.
On Wednesday, Biden will attend church at St. Matthews in Washington, DC, with all four top congressional leaders from both parties. The President-elect will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, joined by former President Barack Obama and and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
CNN’s Barbara Starr, Oren Liebermann and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
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