keynote speech for mr biden giving us a sense of the tone the tenor the direction of travel that he wants from his presidency number one priority dealing with the reality of coronavirus in the united states of america 400000 people have died. it's just gone. here on the u.s. east coast on january the 20th 2021 a day that one. from scranton pennsylvania has waited his entire political career for. wherever you're watching around the world on air and online welcome to washington d.c. al-jazeera special live coverage of the u.s. presidential inauguration. just moments away from becoming the president of the united states. and never thought he would assume in such tumultuous

times it was just 14 days ago that the capitol building was the scene of chaos stormed by supporters of the current president. overturning the democratic process and stopping today's events from happening but congress ratified the election results. happening today joe biden and his vice president. will be sworn in from our position here on constitution avenue we will bring you the events as they unfold analysis from our team of correspondents and guests. who have extended coverage as the rest of the world watches on a new era in washington means all over the world especially after 4 years of the u.s. withdrawal from the global stage. of america. well

good morning from washington d.c. everyone so glad you could join us for this special coverage of inauguration day 20211 of the most important political moments in the united states the much vaunted peaceful transfer of power happening in the most extraordinary of times and circumstances think about it all a global pandemic or riots that happened right behind us here just 2 weeks ago and outgoing president who refuses to attend is currently on a plane to florida and in amongst it all the man who will be president joe biden and his vice president come to harris we are with you for well at least the next 3 hours live coverage of the ceremony expert opinion and commentary from my guests and a team of correspondents spread out across this historic city hold up bill amit is on the streets of washington alan fisher is at the white house we start though with

shihab rattansi who is on the national mall good morning to you she happy. good morning from all this was supposed to have been a scene of tens of thousands of spectators for the inauguration of any other in any other inaugural yeah but this time this is always going to be a subdued a fire because of the pandemic but the storming of the capitol john was a success not to the entire shutdown off the national mall out in the place of the spectators we have 191000 slags flags from the $56.00 states and territories of the united states fluttering in what actually would have been gale force wind sometimes over the last few hours. sheraton's out on the national mall we will be back with him throughout the day of course next we move down to 1600 pennsylvania avenue the white house and alan

fischer good morning alison. yes. good morning kemal what you can see behind the scenes is the preparations are all 'd underway in the white house for the new tenants people who will be there at least for the next 4 years that's joe and jill biden donald trump left the white house a couple of hours ago caught a flight to florida where he's going to spend part of the next few years but he says he's going to be listening and watching and not going away and reporting in the united states today that there's a possibility he's considering setting up a patriot party he wants the new administration well he said they needed luck he said they were going to be a success he could tell it because he had laid the foundations claiming victory all the way till the end donald trump will soon become ex president donald trump and the movers will finish their packing and joe biden and jill biden will be looking forward to the farce night in the lincoln bedroom the oval office and of course the

white house. alan fischer at the white house thank you so much for that finely hoda abdel-hamid who is out on the streets of this u.s. capitol in a situation in a state like it has not been before good morning hotter. good morning absolutely i don't think anyone has ever seen washington d.c. under such a security lockdown this city is used to motorcades and security and secret services. but not too disloyal i mean didn't see the closed down area has actually expanded overnight and to join really move around has been quite a logistical nightmare not only for us but actually the people who live here i mean this image behind you here is just one of the many roadblocks that are around the center of this city 25000 national guards to make sure that this inauguration

goes on as smoothly and there safely as possible that's a very powerful image i think it goes right to the heart about how deep the divisions in this country have become because this is a threat that the u.s. is facing from within not from overseas and it's certainly when you walk around here over the past few days we've seen this buildup of security you have the national guard but you have to also have many branches of homeland security you have helicopters in the sky wherever you go all you see is basically journalists and police officers national guard secret service walking around the street is really gives you the impression that this country is in crisis this country is divided there is fear of each other and that the moment everybody is concentrating just on the fact to make this inauguration go on as peacefully as possible but the challenges are still there and actually not all eyes are only are only here in

washington d.c. you will find similar security. smaller scale basically across all 50 states around the capital all 50 states as b i has been warning that they could mean you know i scale armed protesters violent protests so you have security lockdown virtually all over the country. thank you for that and we do have other correspondents who will be out on the streets of washington today in case in case something does happen some of the pictures you've been seeing donald trump arriving in florida almost at the exact moment that we come on air here in washington d.c. and of course you've been seeing pictures of the various dignitaries who are at the capitol behind us the lights of mike pence current vice president i guess donald trump's representative today in washington d.c. former presidents are bamma bush and clinton as well the former presidents

who are here well for 4 years the now while the former president donald trump used twitter to communicate often with his long tirades or it's a precursor to any controversial policy decision he obviously is without twitter at the moment but those taking up the positions of power still got their accounts joe biden 1st of all president elect will be president shortly and he kept it to just 6 words his tweet saying it is a new day in america is former boss president barack obama who as i say is attending the inauguration 'd he tweeted a simple picture saying congratulations to my friend president joe biden this is your time. and of course twitter well pretty much ablaze at the moment inauguration day is one of the hashtags missing plane deal but also good riddance and drain the

swamp trending in the united states we may have for you one of the most widely circulated pictures right now captions the adults have arrived. this one also trending it's people saying good bye to donald trump using joe biden's campaign slogan so we're keeping an eye on social media today because let's face it it's a big pot certainly been a big part of the last 4 years of presidential life and probably will remain so into the biden ministration just not quite as intense shall we say so we hear it's inauguration day as i say the middle of a global pandemic no members of the public out there watching and of course just weeks off to supporters of donald trump overran that building behind me trying to stop this inauguration from happening but they say the show goes on and it's going on right now in washington d.c. . extraordinary amount of ceremony going on even under the circumstances in which

we find ourselves. so i'd like to introduce you to jennifer that who you've already seen briefly on al-jazeera earlier today but she is a professor of political science at the shell school of policy and government at george mason university here in washington jennifer is going to be with us for the entirety of this broadcast today which could be what is going to be at least 3 hours so i would be comfortable it's not the warmest day we have to say. that jennifer donated some lovely little foot will this for me to keep thanks coing i'm told come to harris arriving as well at the moment with her husband jennifer let's just pause for a moment you said earlier it almost feels that way it was sitting the wrong way only because you just want to look at that and it's this almost voyeuristic feel because this is not crowds and noise everywhere with feel like we're watching this very small private ceremony which we're almost not supposed to say and yet actually

it is the day for all americans that's right and it's in some ways it's distressing where there should be crowds instead i see national guard troops lined up actually in and some kind of formations in an organized ways down there so it's unsettling it's certainly different it's not the public affair that americans expect on a day like today but i think you know 4 years ago donald trump came here with a message of america 1st and what we have here today is safety and security 1st and that's why the crowds are here of course the pandemic and the insurrection have just completely changed the situation and the. one of the one of the ways that i'm thinking about it though for the number of americans who are out there thinking how terrible it is that there is no huge crowd here there is another way to look at it which is the reason the crowds are here is to literally keep us safe the security forces that are here are protecting us from white supremacy and violence and

national you know domestic terrorism and so that they are doing that incredibly effectively right now in some way is a positive note about where that where the country may be going but it's joe biden being true to himself and to everything he said in the campaign about particularly the coronavirus that we have to socially distance where you have to we come together in this event couldn't have happened in any other way really if joe biden was to be true to himself yeah and i think had the insurrection not happened there would have been a few crowds out here they would have tried their best to keep people distance from one another and of course on the platform they would have been distance in the past and everything. but with the combination of the security situation has has just completely changed the whole the whole feel that comes from this event and sitting here and i just feel that i'm a normal sense of privilege that there are so few people here that just pause for a moment jennifer joe biden about to arrive there we've seen coming out her.

husband arriving what a historic i mean to. the 1st thing which i look at it's just i think everyone's wearing a mask which is good obviously but one of the. ways that our lives have changed now that everyone out there is wearing a different must some of them making the statements i think is well. coming at us going in for 'd a plane like most president elects joe biden arriving at the capitol. last night he. writes. still waiting i will apologize and i'll keep reminding you of this every now and then is that the pictures we get here are on a slight delay even though the events are happening right behind us and as jennifer

was pointing out if we swung around we might actually be able to see what happens in real time but some of the pictures i'm seeing here are on delay but i've got a brilliancy me here in washington and and cars will keep me abreast of the latest pictures as they comments come horace it will become the 1st female vice president of the united states credibly historic moment for her and something we really shouldn't forget as well obviously the day mostly about joe biden but there is a huge amount of significance in common. becoming the vice president at such an extraordinary day for her and talk about this with jennifer a little bit later in some of our other guests interesting to see what might what sort of role she might actually play in this administration vice presidents are usually tasked with something. be it from the outside or something that happens throughout their the course of their your presidency if i remember rightly jennifer

joe biden was given the task of gun control off to sandy hook wasn't any stray. and mike pence was given a lot of different responsibilities. so and a couple come in here as has expertise in a wide number of areas and she's been in public life for quite a while so we'll have to i have i haven't heard what might be on her platform. just pausing for a moment because i'm hearing announcements behind us and i'm wondering if joe biden is actually on his way. out now on this. rather cold washington day i'm told it can be and i'm sure you agree jennifer a lot colder and has been a lot colder on inauguration day it's but someone who's lived in the desert as long as i have i can promise you it feels very cold today the wind you can see how malarious hair blowing in the wind there i believe now vice presidents. joe biden a student become president. joe biden.

senators and house members of the school saying the president. yes hello to. understand that senator he will be charged personally scheduled to speak i don't know what her remarks will be about but she of course was one of the candidates who ran against

joe biden yes that's right. for the democratic nomination. and as a still a leader in the democratic party. what a moment for joe biden as a said before the age of. 78 he becomes the president president of the united states record the joint committee and are not research monies fitzhugh over the for

the acting house senate sergeant at arms tim blodgett and the acting senate sergeant at arms jennifer anyway. thank you. i. was. i who. was. ladies and gentlemen the president elect of the united states joseph robinette biden jr and dr jill biden. i

thank was i. was how out i was i.

can't believe you see. please welcome. thank you. both president hands mr president elect madam vice president elect members of congress and the judicial branch former presidents and 1st ladies vice presidents leaders from a bride and a whole bunch of biden's america welcome to the 59th presidential inauguration where in just a few moments joe biden and carla harris will take their solemn of those this

ceremony. is that culmination of 244 years of a democracy it is the moment when leaders brought to this stage by the will of the people promised to be faithful to our constitution to cherish it and defend it it is the moment when they become as we all should be guardians of our country have we become too jaded too accustomed to the ritual of the passing of the torch of democracy to truly appreciate what a blessing and a privilege it is to witness this moment i think not 2 weeks ago when an angry violent mob stage an insurrection and desecrated this temple of our democracy it awakened us to our responsibilities as americans.

this is the day when our democracy picks itself up brushes off the dust and does what america always does goes forward as a nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. this conveyance of a sacred trust between our leaders and our people it takes place in front of this shining capitol dome for a reason when abraham lincoln gave his 1st and not grow address in front of this capitol the dome was only partially constructed braced by ropes of steel he promised he would finish it he was criticized for spending funds on it during the civil war to those critics he replied if the people see the capital going on it is a sign we intend the union shall go on and it did and it will.

generations of americans gave their lives to preserve our republic in this place great legislation to protect civil rights and economic security and lead the world was debated in crafted under this dome now it falls on the whole of us not just the 2 leaders we are not creating today to take up the torch of our democracy not as a weapon of political arson but as an instrument for good we pledge today never to take our democracy for granted as we celebrate its remarkable strength we celebrate its resilience its grit we celebrate the ordinary people doing extraordinary things for our nation the doctors and nurses on the front line of this pandemic the officers in the capital a new generation never giving up hope for justice we celebrate a new president joe biden who vows to restore the soul of america and cross the

river of our divides to a higher plane and we celebrate our 1st african-american 1st asian american and 1st one and vice president thanks to our harris thank you stand by me. so many on this platform who have forged the way to this day when she takes the oath of office little girls and boys across the world will know that anything and everything is possible and in the end that is america our democracy a country of so much good and today on these capitol steps and before this glorious field of flags we rededicate ourselves to its cause. thank you thank you thank you not honor to introduce to you the senator who has worked with me and so many others to make this

ceremony possible my friend and that share of the ona growth committee missouri senator roy blunt thank you thank you thank you. well i should have known was senator club a char got involved at least be a touch of snow up here this morning. of all the things we've considered i don't think snow was on my agenda up till i walked out the door a moment ago but thank you sir call the char and thanks to the other members of the joint congressional committee on the inauguration as we officially began the 59th inaugural ceremony i also want to thank the joint committee staff and our partners

particularly our security partners for the day the way they've dealt with unprecedented circumstances when i chaired the inauguration 4 years ago i shared president reagan's 1901 description of this event as commonplace and miraculous commonplace because we've done it every 4 years since 1789 miraculous because we've done it every 4 years since $1789.00 americans have celebrated this moment during war during depression and now during pandemic once again all 3 branches of our government come together as the constitution envisions once again we renew our commitment to our determined democracy for gene a more perfect union. that theme of for this inauguration our determined democracy forging

a more perfect union was announced by the joint committee before the election with the belief that the united states can only fulfill its promise and set an example for others if we are always working to be better than we have been the constitution established that determined democracy was its 1st 3 words declaring the people as the source of the government the articles of confederation hadn't done that the magna carta hadn't done that only the constitution says the government exist because the people are the source of the reason it exists they immediately followed those 1st 3 words with the words to form a more perfect union the founders did not say to form a perfect union they did not claim that in our new country nothing would need to be improved fortunately they understood that always working to be better would be the hallmark of a great democracy the freedoms we have today the nation we have

today is not here just because it happened. and they aren't complete a great democracy working through the successes and failures of our history striving to be better than it had been and we are more than we have been and we are less than we hope to be the assault on our capital at this very place just 2 weeks ago reminds us that a government designed to balance and check itself is both fragile and resilient. during the last year the pandemic challenge our free and open society and call for extraordinary determination and sacrifice and still challenges us today meeting that challenge head on have been an our health care workers scientist 1st responders essential frontline workers and so many others we depend on in so many

ways today we come to this moment people all over the world as we're here are watching and will watch what we do here our government comes together the congress and the courts join the transition of executive responsibility one political party more pleased today and on every inaugural day than the other but this is not a moment of division it's a moment of unification a new administration begins and brings with it a new beginning and with that our great national debate goes forward and a determined democracy will continue to be essential in pursuit of a more perfect union and a better future for all americans what a privilege for me to join you today thank you. was please call to the podium

a longtime friend of the president elect and his family father leo donovan to lead us in an invocation please stand if you are able and remain standing for the national anthem and the pledge to our flag. gracious and merciful god at this sacred time we come before you in need indeed on our knees but we come still more with hope

and with them our eyes raised to new to the vision of a more perfect union in our land. a union of all our citizens to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity we are a people of many races creeds and colors national backgrounds cultures and styles now far more numerous and on land much vaster than when archbishop john carroll wrote his prayer for the inauguration of george washington 232 years ago archbishop carroll prayed that you a creator of all what assist with your holy spirit of counsel and fortitude the president of these united states that his administration may be conducted in write

just us and be eminently useful to your people today we confess our past failures to live according to our vision of equality inclusion and freedom for all yet twee resolutely commit still more now to renewing the vision to caring for one another in word and deed especially the least fortunate among us and so becoming a light for the world there is a power in each and every one of us that lives by turning to every other one of us a thrust of the spirit to cherish and care and stand by others and above all those most in need it is called love and its path is to give ever more of itself to day it is called american

patriotism born out of power and privilege but of care for the common good with malice toward none and with charity for all. for our new president we beg of you the wisdom solomon sought when he no before you and pretty age for an understanding heart so that i can govern your people and know the difference between right and wrong we trust in the counsel of the letter of james if any of you lacks wisdom you should ask god who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you pope francis has reminded us how important it is to dream together by ourselves he wrote we risk seeing mirages things that are not their dreams

on the other hand are built to gether be with us holy ministry of love as we dream together help us under our new president to reconcile the people of our land re store our dream and invest it with peace and justice and the joy that is the overflow of love to the glory of your name for ever amen

ladies and gentlemen please remain standing for the presentation of our national colors of the armed forces color guard the singing of our national anthem and for the pledge of allegiance. well.

ladies and gentleman here for the singing of our national anthem accompanied by the president's own united states marine band please welcome lady gaga.

oh. no. cause for. me. losing her let's see.

a love. song to love to see me you. love to. stay.

thank you thank you gentlemen please welcome from the city of self in georgia fire and rescue department president of the international association of firefighters local 3920 fire captain andrea m. hall for the reciting of the pledge of allegiance

i pledge allegiance. to the framework of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands one nation. under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. thank you. where you are are about to be part of america is a historic moment of firsts to administer the go to our 1st african-american our 1st asian american and our 1st woman vice president can only

hair as it is my great privilege to welcome to the end now girl states the 1st latina to ever serve on the supreme court at the united states of america justice sonia sotomayor. thank you thank you thank you to be bought and sold by using us. please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i come up to class to solve a school. that i will support and defend the constitution of i did state's support. and i against all enemies foreign and.

that i will be there to face meeting statistic that will bear true faith and allegiance to the fact that i take this obligation freely that i take it really without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion without any mental reservation or purpose that i will well and faithfully discharge that i will leave the duties of the office on what china about it to beef up the office on which i am about to so help me god the our. thank you. thank you. thank.

you. ladies and gentlemen please be seated. please welcome jennifer lopez to perform this land is your land and america the beautiful accompanied by members of the president's own united states marine. well.

for new. to the new you don't. read former. one. this land was made for you and me we as our when i

was kid down every minute our. lead. us and no meat. is lead it was me you. told him. this. was. this was me for you. you.

was. her was. her son was. you. for a. week . what. was to be seen that it. was.

you you you you are we will. thank you. well that was great the sun is shining and mr president elect this is the 1st inauguration in the history of america where jay leno was the warm up act for chief justice roberts with that it is now my distinct honor to introduce the chief justice of the supreme court of the united states john roberts to administer the presidential oath to the next president of the united states

josep are biden. pleasing to the police to. hold above usually walkers. please raise your right hand and repeat after me i chose this robinette biden jr do solemnly swear i chose that route and why did you do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute and i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states office the president of the united states and will to the best of my

ability 'd well best liability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the constitution of the united states constitution of the united states and so have you got to help me congratulations mr president it was. because i didn't think it.

was. just too well yeah. yeah. that the the of the. ladies and gentlemen please be seated.

my fellow americans a moment we have all been waiting for it is now my great privilege and high honor to be the 1st person to officially introduce the 46 president of the united states joe said our guide in june yes.

i . i think justice roberts. vice president harish. speaker pelosi made her sure we're up there to mcconnell vice president parents my distinguished guests my fellow americans this is america's day this is democracy's day a day of history and hope are no evers all through the crucible for the

ages america has been tested a new and america has risen to the challenge. today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause the cause of democracy the people the will of the people has been heard and the world of the people has been heeded we've learned again that democracy is precious democracy is fragile and at this hour my friends democracy has prevailed thank you thank you thank you thank you on this hallowed ground were just a few days ago violence sought to shake the capital's very foundation we come together as one nation under god indivisible to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than 2 centuries as we look ahead

and our uniquely american way restless bold optimistic and set our sights on a nation we know we can be and we must be i thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here today i thank them from the bottom my heart and i know thank you i know there is a mess of our constitution and the strength the strength of our nation as does president carter i spoke with last night who cannot be with us today but whom we salute for his lifetime of service thank you i've just taken a sacred oath each of those patriots have taken the oath 1st sworn

by george washington but the american story depends not in any one of us not on some of us. but on all of us on we the people who seek a more perfect union this is a great nation we are good people and over the centuries to storm and strife in peace and war we've come so far we still have far to go we'll press forward with speed and urgency for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities much to repair much to restore much to heal much to build and much to gain a few people on nation's history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time renown once in

a century virus it silently stalks the country is taken as many lives in one year as america lost in all of world war 2 millions of jobs have been lost hundreds of thousands of businesses closed a cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us the dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. thank god for survival because of planet itself a cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clearer now a rise of political extremism white supremacy the mystic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat. thank god a country challenges to restore the soul and secure the future america requires so

much more than words requires the most of loose of all things in a democracy unity unity. in another january i'm new year's day the 863 abraham lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation when he put pen to paper the president said and i quote if my name ever goes down in history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it my whole soul was in it today a mischance you are a day my whole soul is in this bringing america together uniting our people unite in our nation and i ask every american to join me in this cause thank you into it thank you i need to fight

the photos we face anger resentment and hatred extremism lawlessness by lence disease joblessness and hopelessness with unity we can do great things important things we can right wrongs we can put people to work in good jobs we can teach our children in safe scoles we can overcome the deadly virus so we can reward or reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all we can deliver racial justice and we can make america once again the leading force for good in the world i know speaking of unity can sound to some like a fully fantasy these days i know the forces that divide us are deep and they're real but i also know they are not new our history has been

a constant struggle between the american ideal that we are all are created equal and the harsh ugly reality that racism nativism fear demonization have long torn us apart. the battle is perennial and victory is never assured through civil war the great depression world war 911 through struggle sacrifice and setbacks are better angelus have always prevail n.h. of these moments are enough of us another of us have come together to carry all of us forward and we can do that now history faith and reason show the way the way of unity we can see chowder not his adversaries but his neighbors we can treat each other with dignity and respect we can join forces

stop the shouting and lower the temperature for that unity there is no peace only bitterness and fury no progress only exhausting outrage no nation only a state of chaos this is our historic moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward and we must meet this moment as the united states of america if we do that i guarantee you we will not fail we have never ever ever ever failed in america where we've acted together and so today at this time in this place let's start afresh all of us must begin to listen to one another again hear one another see one another

show respect to one another politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war and we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufacturing. thank you. my fellow americans we have to be different in this america has to be better than this and i believe america is so much better than this just look around here we stand in the shadow of the capitol dome as was mentioned earlier completed amid the civil war when union itself was literally hanging in the balance yet we endured we prevail here we stand looking out of the great wall where dr king spoke of his dream

here we stand 108 years ago at another inaugural thousands of protesters tried to block brave women watching for the right to vote and today we mark their swearing in of the 1st woman in american history but elected to national office vice president. tells me things can change the if we stand across the potomac from arlington cemetery where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace and here we stand just days after riotous mom thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people to stop the work of our democracy to drive us from this sacred ground it did not happen it will never happen not

today not tomorrow not ever ever. to it all those who supported our campaign i'm humbled by the faith you place in us to all those who did not support us let me say this. hear me out as you have forward take a measure of me and my heart. if you still disagree so be it that's democracy that's america the right to dissent peaceably in the guardrails of our republic is perhaps this nation's greatest strength yet here we clearly disagreement must not lead to disunion and i pledge this to you i will be a president for all americans all americans. thank you and i promise you i will fight as hard for those who did not support me

as for those who did. thank many centuries ago st augustan a saint in my church wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love to find by the common objects of their love one of the common objects we as americans love that define us as americans i think we know opportunity security liberty dignity respect honor and yes the truth. recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson there is truth and there are lies lies told for power and for profit and each of us has a duty and

a responsibility as citizens as americans and especially as leaders leaders who have pledged to honor our constitution and protect our nation to defend the truth and defeat the lies. thank you i understand that many of my fellow americans view the future was fear and trepidation. i understand they worry about their jobs i do. about what comes next. i promise you i get it. but the answer is not turn inward to retreat into competing factions distrusting those who don't look like look like you or worship the way you do or don't get their news from the same

source as you do we must end this uncivil war the pits red against blue rural versus our own or rural versus urban conservative versus liberal we can do this if we open our souls you said to harden our hearts if we show a little tolerance and you military and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes as my mom would say just for a moment stand in the shoes because here's the thing about life there's no accounting for what fate will deal you some days when you need a hand there are other days when we're called to lend a hand that's how it has to be it's what we do for one another and if we are this

way our country will be stronger more prosperous more ready for the future and we can still disagree. my fellow americans in the work ahead of us we're going to need each other we need all our strength to preserve to persevere through this dark winter we're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus was set aside politics and finally faced this pandemic as one nation. one nation thank you and i promise you this. as the bible says we be man door for a night but joy cometh in the morning we will get through this together together thank you thank all my colleagues i serve with in the house and senate up here we all understand the world is watching

watching all of us today so here is my message to those beyond our borders america has been tested and we have come out stronger for it we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again not to be yesterday's challenges but today's and tomorrow's challenges. that will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example. thank you i thank you will be a strong and trusted partner for peace progress and security look you all know we've been through so much in this nation and my 1st act as president i have to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer remember all those who we lost this past year to the

pandemic those 400000 fellow americans moms dads husbands wives sons daughters friends neighbors and coworkers will honor them by becoming the people and the nation we know we can and should be so i ask you let's say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives in those left behind and for our country amen folks this is a time of testy. we face an attack on a democracy and in truth a regime virus growing inequity the sting of systemic racism a climate in crisis america's role in the world and he one of these were enough to

challenge us and for found ways but the fact is we face them all at once presenting this nation with one of the greatest responsibilities we've had now we're going to be tested are we going to step up all of us it's time for boldness for there's so much to do and this is certain. i promise you we will be judged you and i by how we resolve these cascading crises of our or we will rise to the occasion is the question will we master this rare and difficult hour when we meet our obligations to pass along a new and better world to our children i believe we must i'm sure you do as well i believe we will and when we do we'll write the next great chapter in the history of the united states of america the american story a story that might sound something like a song that means

a lot to me it's called all american anthem there's one verse that stands out at least for made in it goes like this the work of prayer is a century have brought us to this day what shall be our legacy what will our children say let me know in my heart when my days are through america america i gave my best to you let's add lets us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our great nation if we do this. then when our days are through our children and our children's children will save us they gave their best they did their duty they healed the broken land my fellow americans i closed the day where i began with the sacred

oath before god and all of you i give you my word i will always level with you i will defend the constitution i'll defend our democracy i'll defend america and i will give all all of you keep everything you do i do in your service thinking not of power but of possibilities not of personal interest but the public good and together we shall write an american story of hope not fear of unity not division of light not darkness the story of decency and dignity love and healing greatness and goodness may this be the story that guides us the story that inspires us and the story at telus ages yet to come that we answer the call of history we met the

moment democracy and hope of truth and justice did not die on our watch but thriving that america secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. that is what we our forebears one another and generation to follow so no with purpose and resolve we turn to those tasks of our time sustained by faith driven by conviction devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. may god bless america and may god protect our troops thank you america thank you thank.

you thank you. ladies and gentlemen please be seated. ladies and gentlemen please welcome garth brooks to perform amazing grace.

a zener ray have. the. see the. man. we're. up but. when we been there. tim.

you it's. mean yes. we. seeing me. then when we further be. i think ass kissing this last 1st with me not just the people here but the people home i work as one united. a z. . it's had. their hands see. each.

me. how. we're. burdening. fans. seem. thank you. so. much.

thank you. are not to be reminded of president obama's saying in that same song of the mother emanuel church thank you thank you the song there are cultures as close to both poetry and prayer as you could possibly come and we're going to finish with those 2 things let me introduce amanda gorman our nation's 1st ever national poet laureate. thank you. thank you.

thank you thank you mr president dr biden madam vice president mr imhoff americans and the world. one day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never ending shade the loss we carry a sea we must wait we've braved the belly of the beast we've learned that quiet isn't always peace in the norms in notions of what just is isn't always just this and yet the darla's hours before we knew it somehow we do it somehow we've won and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished we the successors

of a country and a time were a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one. and yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect we are striving to forge or union with purpose to compose a country committed to all cultures colors characters and conditions of man and so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us we close the divide because we know to put our future 1st we must 1st put our differences aside we lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one

another we seek harm to none and harmony for all let the globe if nothing else say this is true that even as we grieved we grew that even as we hurt we hope that even as we tired we tried that will forever be tied together victorious not because we will never again know defeat. but because we will never again so division scripture tells us to envision that everyone is shall sit under the vine and figtree and no one so make them afraid if we're to live up to our own time then victory won't lie in the blade but in all the bridges we've made that is the promise to glade the hill we climb if only we dare it because being american is more than a pride we inherit it's the past we step into and how we repair it

we've seen a force that would shatter a nation rather than share it would destroy our country if it meant delay in democracy and this effort very nearly succeeded but while democracy can be periodic lee delayed it can never be permanently defeated in this truth in this faith we trust for while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us this is the era of just redemption we feared at it since its inception we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but with in it we found the power to author of a new chapter to offer hope and laughter to ourselves so while once we asked how could we possibly prevail over a catastrophe now we assert how could catastrophe

possibly prevail over us who were not marching back to what it was but moved to what shall be a country that is bruised but whole benevolent but bold fierce and free we will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and will be the inheritance of the next generation our blunders become their burdens but one thing is certain. if we merge some mercy with the might into might with the right then love becomes our legacy in change our children's birthright so let us leave behind a country but of the one to leave we're left with every breath of my blog's pounded chest we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous ringback one we will lie in the gold limp hills of the west we will rise in the wind swept north east were our forefathers 1st realized revolution we will

rise from the lake when cities of the middle western states who advise when the sun baked south we will rebuild but can saddle and recover and every no knock over a nation in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge as battered and beautiful one day comes we step out of the shade of flame and i'm afraid the new dawn blooms as we free it for there was always light if only we were brave enough to see it if only were brave enough to be and. thank you thank you thank you amanda gorman now for

a benediction i'm pleased to introduce the reverend dr sylvester beeman the pastor of the bethel african methodist episcopal church and well mannered delaware a friend of president biden for 30 years as a nation and people of faith gathered in this is stork a moment that us uniting in prayer god we gather under the beauty of your holiness. and the holiness of your beauty we seek your face your smile your warm embrace

we petition you once more in this celebration we pray for divine favor upon our president joseph r. biden and our 1st lady dr jill biden and their family we further asked that you would extend the same favor upon our vice president comedy have us and our 2nd gentleman imhoff and their family more than ever more than ever they in our nation need you we need you for in you we discover our common humanity and our common humanity we will seek out the wounded and bind their wounds who seek healing for those who are sick and disease

we were more in our dead we will be friend the lonely at the least and the left out we were share our abundance with those who are hungry we will do justly to the our press acknowledge sin and seek forgiveness thus grasping reconciliation and discovering our humanity we will seek the good and for all our neighbors we will love the unloveable remove the stigma of the so called untouchables who care for our most vulnerable our children the elderly emotionally challenged and the poor who are sick rehabilitation beyond correction would extend an opportunity to those who are locked out of opportunity who will make friends of our enemies we will make

friends of our enemies. people your people should no longer raise up weapons against one another we were rather use our resources for the national good and become a beacon of life and goodwill to the world and neither shall we learn hatred in the more will lie down and peace not make our neighbors a free in you know god we discover our humanity and our humanity we discover our commonness beyond the difference of color creed or term political party ideology geography and personal preferences will become greater stewards of your environment preserving the land reaping from it a sustainable harvests and securing its wonder and miracle giving power

for generations to come this is our benediction that from these hallowed grounds were slave labor to build this shrine unsettled due to liberty and democracy then us all acknowledge from the indigenous native american to those who recently received their citizenship from the african american to those whose 4 parents came from europe and every corner of the group from the wealthy to those struggling to make it every human being regardless of their choices that this is our country as such teachers or god as such teachers so god to live in it love it be held in it and reconcile home to one another in it

less we miss kingdoms goal. to your glory majesty don't you an end our for ever. how to do here in the strong name of our collective faith a man. please remain standing as the armed forces color guard retires our national colors.

ladies and gentlemen please be seated and remain in your seats while the president and official party depart the platform for safety reasons your ushers will release your section in an organized manner following the playing of our national march the stars and stripes forever. thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

thank. you. thank you thank. you i have a great day to go with you already told me to go. to . that. it is 32 minutes past the hour of 12 on january the 20th 2021 which means but 32 minutes the united states has had a new president it's 46 president joseph r. biden has taken the oath of office he took the oath of office and 1148

local time. before delivering his speech in front of the u.s. capitol building a historic day in washington d.c. . full of the ceremony way i used to just without the crowds and even without the crowds it was still an emotional day as i say an address from joe biden in which he said we will lead not by the example of our power but by the power of our example when referring to his vice president's problem how it's. the 1st female vice president the 1st american vice president of the agent american vice president he said simply don't tell me things can change. and overall his message was one of unity as we expected

a speech trying to unite the united states and which directly referenced the divisive events. in washington d.c. of the 6 of january. joe biden is now the 46th president of the united states he concluded his speech by saying to the american people i will always level with you. jennifer that to is with me as she has been throughout this coverage. that was quite something we were all wondering what it would be like without the big crowds without that swell of emotion that comes with the one you were talking about the whole previous inaugurations i would suggest nothing. i think that's right. and you know it's interesting as as much as his joe biden's inaugural address has been strongly anticipated and hit a lot of the sort of conventional themes that we expect inaugural addresses to head

i will tell you the one thing i didn't expect was that it might get upstaged by his new national very young very talented poet laureate of the the message in the teaching that that amanda gordon provided in that poem that she authored nearly hit the moment. and highlighted the themes of his speech and really coherent way jennifer let's pause for a moment and bring in james spays out the magic and it's a he is down at capitol hill watching that james james you've seen a lot of speeches across your career reporting from his ear and many others would you put that one. well campbell you annoy we do a job which is covering news stories but from time to time we cover history being made and that's what happens here every 4 years and you saw it in front of your audience you saw the new president i was here 4 years ago this was the end of the

trump presidency the beginning of the biden presidency and you really could not get to people who are more different we have a brand new president who is the oldest president in american history the 78 years old he's also old washington insider but he's also known as a man of the people but that's what you call it in the speech that we heard here just a few minutes ago starting your speech with the words this is democracy is there a this is america's day ringback we weren't told you know leave the unity my outlook probably sees cascading crises as the describe what you're facing america he said it's a time protesting he said those crises were the coronavirus they were political division they were racial divisions and the climate but he says that even those who didn't vote for him must put their trust in him and he will try to find a way because he says america's always prepared in the past

a speech that was playing all the american people to unify together after the events that we saw here at this very spot 2 weeks ago this was where the capital was 1st breached what he described as a civil war he says politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its paw a plea for unity from the new president of the united states. james we are up about 10 floors above you here on constitution avenue and i said earlier it almost felt voyeuristic we were looking in on what looked like by. a small ceremony certainly by previous standards tell me what it was like actually being there for this unique inauguration. unique in many ways where i am personally is actually where i was 4 years ago watching this but far fewer of us journalists here we were crammed together 4 years

ago for obvious reasons we were in mosques we're much. further apart that we were before a much fewer numbers of dignitaries here clearly the important players were all here to watch this security as you've been hearing all day extremely tight because of what happened here 14 days ago but the tone of the whole thing compared with that speech american colony to remember was the theme for you. dystopian vision of the state of the united states and of plea for america 1st a new isolationist foreign policy so different this time a positive vision of unity and with regard to foreign policy he said will repair our alliances and engage with the world again telling the rest of the world that america will become a strong and trusted partner for peace and i can tell you from my day job is that

i'm not again it's not something a lot of time in local meetings and a lot of time at the u.n. that's exactly what the u.s. allies want to hear. getting pretty noisy down there we'll leave james bays as the band plays on capitol hill. as the formalities of inauguration day starts to come to an end there was another little handover today if you like online while all those speeches were happening the official twitter accounts of at lotus president the united states and at the p vice president were handed over to the new study in sand comma harris wasted no time using that official vice president twitter account her 1st tweet in office simply said ready to serve. and also we noted some house republicans congratulating the new president and vice president. we've got that one for you it says as a new administration starts today house republicans will continue to fight for

freedom a constitution economic freedom hardworking american families and the defense of our great nation. jennifer they distil with the here let's go back to the speech you were furiously writing down notes as we went you had the clock on the speech as well how long was it just about 21 minutes 41 minutes what stood out for you there was so many. cortical courts weren't yeah there were quite a few and often with these inaugural addresses you're looking for what that bumper sticker quote might be you know the ask not what your country can do for you or the fear or not kind of quotes and really it's not quite clear that there is a bumper sticker that came from this the the one that i like the best was the one that you already said which is don't tell me things. that it was the tone of the course when he said it was he really meant it in a way that had that folksy character that that some people find really appealing about how joe biden connects with audiences and certainly the theme of the speech was about unity even drawing on the name of the country the united states as

a way to emphasize the need for that unity but one of the things i noted about that unity theme is he was careful not to say that we all need to think and do and believe the same thing or have the same goals to go on what he said was enough of us have to come together to bring the rest of us who are you are to bring all of us for i don't know if i got the quote exactly right i might chicken scratches might not be perfect but i think that's important i think it's a recognition that he understands that he probably cannot realistically bring this very divided country together but that maybe there are ways to move forward positively to despite that we won did beforehand if he would mention the events that generated 6 i mean closure senator amy klobuchar who started proceedings definitely did she talked about a mall just a craze in this temple about democracy and then joe biden's words as i wrote it down this capital where violence so to shake the capitals of this place where bought and sold to shape the capitals very foundation. you were saying before that

it didn't need to be acknowledged in some way how do you think you went about it well why. of the more striking moments to me is when he went through this list of these 4 major challenges that the u.s. is facing with the virus with racial injustice with climate change and then he labeled by name white supremacy and domestic terrorism i don't recall a president in the past talking about those themes and inaugural address addressed so explicitly in the past i think that's really a meaningful moment jennifer let's bring someone else into our conversation and feel free to jump in if you want to at some stage we're joined on the spot by coach around who is a. state senator and also served as a presidential elect was also previously the state chair for kamel ours is campaign in vermont with us from going to today comes from thank you so much for your time. actually money to be given your links to calm you specifically about her how are

you feeling at the moment well the snow is really coming down here and provide but that has not stopped us from celebrating watching kaamelott davey here as our president of the united states and all i could think it is i too am america so this is an incredible moment for so many women women of color children that immigrants have really historic day. we will want to. come about horace's face that was just the sort of mixture of. as i saw it pure joy and emotion at the same time clearly she knows. well obviously it's exciting very but what rests on her shoulders to. absolutely the event itself have a proper somber time on most of us continuing our work in state legislatures trying

to steal time away and hospitals or art you know i think we're working just trying to tune in and reflect on this historic moment and as you all have already noted it really felt as though how it amanda or meant was able to clarify and rarefied this moment and make us realize that our daily struggles are important and we need to keep going and there is light at the end of the tunnel. jennifer's noting alongside me what do you jump and yeah i know what struck me about the poem was she was able to strike this amazing lesson i think for all americans in showing us how we can both revere and on our history without glorifying its injustices as a way to reach out to all americans those who you know just this last week we saw the trumpet ministration put out this 1776 report which was sort of

a direct attract attack on the $1619.00 project we have these almost dueling histories being presented about whether or not u.s. history should be honored and revered as as as almost perfect or whether it's deeply flawed and amanda gordon showed us how it's it can be both parents can be done yeah. kosha 22 in our household what do you think camila harris but to. go ahead coach of. the. oh sorry there's a bit of a delay i was just saying i just was remarking she's 22 actually leading the way this country and it gives me a lot of hope and courage. you know if so we've got. a bit of a delay here between between washington and vermont and all over the world quite frankly so to forgive us let's just pause for a 2nd i want to see what. joe biden is saying on twitter as i said he's taken over the at hostess accounts president of the united states he says there is no time to

waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face that's why today i'm heading to the oval office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for american families so he's been up here at the capitol he's heading down not a very long drive away down to 1600 pennsylvania avenue a building he knows very well indeed and is going to get to work on with of course heard all about the executive orders he's going to issue on the 1st i shall come back to you just a little bit more in couple of hours before we move on. we were musing a little bit earlier before all fair about what she could do and by that i mean she obviously has a job as vice president the vice president often given are often given special projects if you like i wonder what you think of hers could be given how much there is to do in these early days. well i think this is a tremendous opportunity to have a former attorney general in the white house she is somebody who

understands titchy to shear e. understands what it means to uphold the constitution and i believe can restore a sense of law and order but as a black an indian woman do it while recognizing that law and order and protection and servant of law enforcement has not often been the same for black and brown americans so i believe she is going to be able to strike the right balance in terms of criminal justice reform and restoring states in archie to sherry but really anything she touches i believe the country will be watching and it looks as though president joe biden is giving her a lot of that platform to be able to. shape suggest that. a lot to me is something which i've heard from. commentators an idea and jennifer i might get your view on this as well as to keisha the idea of how it's almost being dispatched around the world on we won't see an apology to it but clearly there is

some work to do in repairing america's image overseas and rebuilding some diplomatic ties i wonder actually of combat heris keisha might be the right person for that. i think that's a great point i know jim a guy in india will be overjoyed to see you know the daughter of their sons and daughters you know becoming a part of the american story and so many around the world really do need to see the new face of our country and i get it would be tremendous if she became one of our greatest ambassadors and emissaries around the world she certainly knows you know how to shake hands when it's appropriate people on the cheeks women is appropriate you know she's shown that she's very at ease with people in many cultures probably because she served in california which is our great melting pot in the united states. jennifer. yeah i was just

your supposition that kamel harris might become this sort of international embassador is interesting because on the one hand you know joe biden that's where he cut his teeth his political teeth you know he's a former chair of the senate foreign relations committee he is very well versed in the whole practice of diplomacy and and thinking about that the connections between nations and between the united states and other nations and whether or not he might . turn his focus to the incredible domestic crises that america is facing right now and pass that off to his vice president is an interesting possibility it also sets up an interesting potential trajectory for ms harris because of course she is a potential contender for the presidency in the future and one place where she doesn't have much experience so far is in foreign policy and so this could be a platform that would speak to her own potential progressive ambitions there good

point isn't it because well of course be thinking about the next election already and others are ready to go there. what do they say the right starts the day off to the last front doesn't exactly roll the clock already bring you back in that's talk about joe biden's speech now. as i said to jennifer fulton so many quotable quotes to come out of it unity. was the theme do you think. there was there was something in there to help bring the country together that will more to the point to bring those who don't want joe biden or don't believe the one that's that i don't believe in his policies whatever a big to bring them closer to where this u.s. government will be for the next 4 years that leads. to the line that really struck me was disagreement must not lead to do soon yet you know i can't get in the minds of those who feel so strongly about the election results are what they perceive to be the election results that they you know simply don't want to recognize the

reality of this day in the country. but you know what we're facing is a moment where we have to say we can disagree at the dinner table in our legislatures in the halls of power and that doesn't mean that we must be divided as a country that we can no longer communicate and be in a relationship and i think that's a message for all sides of the equation yet you know the way our social media culture and other elements of of our debate have thought become incredible in civil and we've sort of been torn apart and said i'm going to walk away from family members that out there is we really are on the brink you know being torn apart and this is a time when hopefully extending a hand our you know means people will reach back. i think that's right i think it's also important to keep in mind that in

a way. president joe biden kind of did the best he could he was folksy he was warm hearted he was honest he gave a lot of those platitudes about unity that with with anecdotes and quotables on the other hand if you are one of the millions of americans who truly believe that this election was stolen that believe this big lie that donald trump perpetrated there is not anything that they could have heard that would undo that this right and further to that jennifer he went there he talked about the gender sex and he said scribbled on here he used the words white supremacism to use the words domestic terrorism and extremism. those people won't like that that's right well and well the one thing that i didn't hear i thought i was hoping to hear a little bit more of was something surrounding the the idea of trust he talked about unity he talked about neighborliness you talked about common bonds but what all of those things lead to that can help us overcome some of these deep divisions

that are vexing us now is the idea that we can trust one another that they could trust him not to do whatever it is their worst fears are imagining at this moment and it's that element of trust that is so missing and that is so shaping the way we are perceiving all americans are perceiving this moment. come back to you again from on joe biden has tweeted instead already he's heading down to the white house is going to get on the oval office desk and get straight to work. i mean gosh where do you start your joe biden right now. well you know that just brings a smile to my face and i think as much as americans want to turn the page you know they recognize that there is so much to do just to reconcile with where we began and so you know i understand it's going to be really challenging to try and

extend far enough to reach some of the people who are who currently don't trust this administration or don't trust washington or government but there are so many people who are ready to trust are ready to get help we need vaccines in our states we need resources for our towns and school districts you know i know from having started my service in 2009 and what he did president obama took office they know the gravity of this moment that states need clarity and certainty to move forward and that's as important to holding our you need together if not far more important than reaching those who are currently holding back and don't want to play in the sandbox it's time to do the resources to the institutions and the hospitals get to a government start going to save people's lives. is a viable and state senator joining us from burlington all of today thank you so much

we do appreciate it and jennifer victor thank you for now we're going to take a little break from here in washington i go back to adrian so. come all the way thanks we'll see you again shortly live straightaway bring in steve clemons he's editor at large at the hill and host of al-jazeera his weekly program the bottom line he joins us via skype from washington d.c. so steve reset day one of the 1st $100.00 days the former british prime minister gordon brown writing in the guardian newspaper today said given the triple threat so the pandemic economic collapse and climate catastrophe the body of an administration is going to be judged. the usual benchmark of its 1st 100 days but rather by its 1st 20 is the rise. well i think he has i mean just today. joe biden is going to sign more executive orders today than any president in american history will sign 15 executive orders i sensually reversing so many of the

initiatives and executive orders that donald trump put in place ranging from issues on the environment to the border wall to transgendered service in the u.s. military other forms of discrimination in civil rights and so it does it does seem like a you know a very big reset but the expectations are very high of joe biden kamel harris and what they have done but you know thus far from what we've seen from his chief of staff and his team i was on the phone last night as many journalists were with many leading members of his transition team kind of laying out what their ambition was and they have a very robust agenda on what they're going to do and it feels like a whiplash moment as much of it as a reset moment because so many of the things donald trump put into motion joe biden has just stopped dead in their tracks of course the last time a democratic president took over from a republican one is that ministration spent much of his 1st 2 years clearing up the

mess left by the previous one a financial crisis to war as a deep recession the then vice president 12 years ago faces a pretty similar challenges us he takes over as president today doesn't. no i mean it's a remarkable moment that both president obama after the you know during the 20020095 enterprise's you know these very big wars in the middle east and south asia and so you know you do sort of feel like do those democrats come in but look i want to you know say that you know they don't get the you know the benefit necessarily calling you know when you come into office and what not in this particular case and they have to work hard as i listen to this speech and i was sort of you know taken away a friend of mine wrote to me as a journalist who doesn't want to be named but he said this you know this this whole day this uplifting day feels like the relief boat showing up in lord of the flies and so you know maybe that's the job of joe biden as it was for barack obama to be

the relief for these times with no working majority though in the senate is the by the ministration going to be able to hit the ground running in the way that it plans to do i mean aside from the executive orders that the president says he's going to sign today. look i heard she hobbs comments earlier that you know he thinks that mitch mcconnell and others have not signaled that they are going to work necessarily with with the biden team with chuck schumer who's now going to be the leader in the senate but look i used to work in the united states senate and it's a very different place when it's 50 to 50 republicans to democrats as opposed to one party having 53 or 5455 votes in that case you know rivals who couldn't imagine working together all of a sudden they work together because of the structure of the situation and i think

that people are not looking back in history to sort of understand this moment we had this before with trent lott and tom daschle when they were the democratic leader in republican leader in the house and they came up with various ways to work together but i think when you're at 5050. harris is not going to be flying overseas much i tell you because he's going to be a tie breaker needed on a moment's notice for a lot of major legislation but that said everybody and middle becomes important it's going to be much harder for friends you know we've been talking a lot about ted cruz and josh ali who tried to stop the certification of the vote their power has just collapsed but then the power of those in the center to tilt one way or another i think is going to be remarkable so maybe i'm naive but i'm optimistic that in fact biden is going to do better because he just reached out to his opposition and i think opposition welcomes that. steve clemons the hosts

of al-jazeera as the bottom line add as a. the hill. live for us there in washington d.c. many thanks to hopefully we'll talk to you again a little let's have. big pause because we're waiting for the clock to tick over to the top of the hour it is now 800 hours g.m.t. hello i'm adrian finnegan in doha in a moment we're going to speak to our correspondent alan fischer at the white house in this special extended coverage of the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states joe biden swore the oath a little over an hour ago which we covered live here at al-jazeera this was the moment joe biden said that at this hour my friends democracy as

has prevailed today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause and it's the cause of democracy he said this much to do in this winter of peril much to repair much to restore. let's. go live to our diplomatic i did to james bays who's at the capitol and saw that ceremony firsthand what do you make of it james. well a historic moment as these things always saw i was here 4 years ago and saw the little trump taking his oath and although these are both men of a certain age joe biden now the oldest president in u.s. history 78 years old they could not be more different in their ideology could not be more different joe biden of course is the ultimate washington insider a senator for 36 years and then the vice president is actually when he was 1st

sworn into the senate was 49 years ago aged. and very different from the speech that we heard from donald trump 4 years ago that dystopian vision of the u.s. america 1st now joe biden is talking about working with our allies america working as a partner with other nations in the world and very much a speech of unity that he gave here he did though make it clear that he's got a lot to deal with what he described as cascading crises he said this was a time for testing and he outlined those huge challenges the face is number one for the u.s. and for every other country in the world is clearly coded 19 then after what happened here at this very spot 2 weeks ago exactly when the capital was breached by those protesters the whole idea of political division in the country then the idea of. of racial division and also the problem of climate change so those

are the things that president biden as you know is laid out as the key challenges that he faces i think telling the american people it's going to be tough telling the american people even if they didn't vote for him he's a man of the people he will listen to them and give him a chance to extend the james is us foreign policy in the near term going to be driven by domestic priorities the pandemic climate change trading relationships and so on. yeah well certainly the by ministrations since some some time have been saying well we can get lots of things done we can work on lots of things civil tenuously but there is only a certain bandwidth for the key individuals who are working on this for the now president for his secretary of state secretary defense and other this and clearly covert is going to be priority was number one they want to get 100000000 vaccines in the 1st 100 days they will also go to get all the confirmation through here on

capitol hill through the senate. and so those those the 2 challenges just then. they've got to face and at the same time of course here at the capitol they've got the the impeachment trial of president trump as well she is going to complicate things but there are a lot of things on the foreign policy agenda some of them will be dealt with by executive order the most important one i think by far is resigning to the paris climate deal that's one of the executive orders that he's going to sign here he's also going to lift that travel ban to the u.s. from a number of majority muslim and african countries that's going to be lifted there are other things on the horizon that he's going to work pretty far start the iran nuclear deal he says he wants to sign up to that again but of course there's a timeline there because we have an iran presidential election happening in just a matter of months afghanistan as you're well aware there's the peace talks going

on there well there's also a timeline there in the deal that the u.s. did with the taliban of all u.s. troops leaving afghanistan big decision needed there in terms of relations with china and russia those are going to be tricky subjects i think you can have certainly with russia a much tougher approach an early test there too because the major control treaty new start that runs out on february the 6 but doesn't give him much time so he's going to have to try and do a quick extension of that with the russians and get that approved here on. a little hill to play magic at it's james space reporting live there from the capital james many thanks indeed well unity has been a theme during biden's presidential campaign and in his inaugural speech he pledged again to be president for all americans regardless of who they voted for he asked for a fresh start after a period of extreme division we have never ever ever ever failed in america

we've acted together and so today at this time in this place let's start afresh all of us must begin to listen to one of their again hear one another see one another. show respect to one another. politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroyed everything packed. every disagreement don't have to be a cause for total war let's go live to al-jazeera shahab return seems on the national. aside from the executive orders that we know of the president biden is going to sign later today and of course checking the pandemic head on one of the new administration's main priorities from today right now. you know it surprised a lot of people is that immigration was at the top of the list that the biden

ministrations as it is sending its immigration bill most immediately to congress which will give the 11000000 undocumented. undocumented people in the u.s. a pathway to citizenship and have various other protections for dreamers that's young people who were brought to the us early age i think that surprised some people because you know we are in a health crisis and this wasn't something that's a sara lee at the at the top of biden's agenda when he was campaigning for example and yet they want me sending a sudden thing a bill a bill to congress when some i'd have expected perhaps some some issues to do with for example the health care system in the u.s. it was on and it's interesting this is another this is a great example that perhaps all. of trying to understand how the biden assertion is going to work in the future i heard steve clemons a few minutes ago say that perhaps i was being a little bit too pessimistic about the possibility of a bipartisan bipartisan agreement in congress not i don't intend this into

a low level flame war and actually yes steve clemons is right there is that possibility off bipartisan agreement but i think what's worrying so many of the progressive voices that we're hearing is in jerry biden's wish for unity and they appear. or and sort of bipartisan unity how much of the good the bold policy proposals that he had suggested on the progress of the saying are needed an enormous stimulus for the u.s. economy an enormous rethinking of for health care system and an almost push to address the climate emergency in his in his attempt to show that we can have unity on capitol hill how much will be watered down those proposals or has he love the the lesson from the obama administration where we had the 2008 financial crisis i think most economists now will say obama did not have a big enough stimulus package after they called me didn't bail out main street he

bailed out wall street didn't bail out banks street he let inequality fester in the u.s. as a result because he got he wanted to do what he felt he could do in the parameters of having you know of being a reaching out across the aisle but he could have been a lot bolder he wasn't bold enough and then he got shellacked in the midterm elections and then we had republican control you know off the of the of the of the senate so the question is yes bipartisan compromise is possible in joe biden but how desperate is joe biden for that and would he make that as a result would he watered down the proposals that his democratic base are calling for in order to please the republicans and bring them a boat when he does have various tools out his disposal of aggressive executive action of using existing rules of using the federal reserve to stimulate the economy to address inequality to address the health crisis to address address environmental crisis will he use the those tools and certainly what we've heard so

far from joe biden is he doesn't want to use those tools he said no i don't think that the presidency should be that bold and that's causing a certain amount of of disquiet in his bid for unity in congress whether he'll make the same mistakes and be punished for it by the electorate. we'll see the rise of the republicans once again that's what the base war is about anyway you mentioned the midterms it seems it seems terrible to talk about the midterms already on inauguration day but as you've you've raised aides with so much fire fighting to do is the biden that ministration going to be able to get its head above water before the midterms is it going to be able to make legislative progress. i guess that's back to that idea of how much of the power of the presidency is joe biden going to use is he going to use executive action as far as $1.00 trillion dollar economic and pandemic stimulus package he can he can push that through

through a process called budget reconciliation which uses the you know the majority in the senate in order to in order to push through a lot of these proposals through committee effectively not look for the votes of 10 republican senators to pass legislation joe biden so far seems reluctant to do that and again that what that's concerning to those in the base you say look the u.s. needs enormous economic stimulus right now in order to make concessions to the republicans in the temps to try and get 10 republican senators what are you going to get watered down the republicans to spend money you know in a stew with a tree he needs even kind of fashion in order to stimulate the economy help those at the bottom rungs of the ladder i mean the fight over just giving $2000.00 checks to those who are suffering in this economy i mean it was enormous but i was in a similar fight about giving billions of dollars to wall street to or to to politically politically well connected industry and so on there that stop sort of

welfare is fine but welfare for those in the bottom $99.00 and low in the bottom part of society they're not so keen on so this is this is the key the key issue is biden will have that choice to make will he keep on tempting to have a bipartisan consensus and that was one statement in particular i think a lot of people biden kept saying well republicans have told me that within 6 to 9 months then they will be on board with my proposals and i will stop cooperating with each other and people were saying wait a 2nd 6 to 9 months we're already in the summer recess and then we get back to and then campaigning for the midterms will be happening in earnest a president's 1st 6 to 9 months is when he has the most power you can't just let you know you have a follow period where you're waiting for the. to come on board and not take executive action but take every action you possibly can when the country is facing an economic a medical and a new larger mental emergency so it's going to be really sad to see what which which joe biden will now be taking place taking office in the white house will it

be a tough job i've been prepared to do what's necessary all it would be the consensus center right establishment politician that he was for many decades in washington. she have a tendency reporting live from the national mall but he thinks a date let's look at some of the key people on joe biden's team brawn claim as his chief of stuff he's a long time aide to joe biden and also oversaw the white house response to the abode epidemic in 2014 jake sullivan will be a national security advisor like clay and he has a long history of working for by and sullivan also played a key role in the talks that led to the iran nuclear deal janet yellen will service treasury secretary she'll be the 1st woman in that role and also the 1st post is also held the other 2 top economic jobs in the u.s. government chairing the federal reserve and barack obama and the white house council of economic advisors when bill clinton was president by the merrick garland

as attorney general the federal appeals court judge was snubbed by republicans for a seat on the supreme court in 2016 he's widely seen as a known political figure in stark contrast to the people the president trump appointed to that job let's go live out of the white house alan fischer is is the. building behind you then has from today i was going to say new owners because not only have a rented don't they for a while that it's got new tenants shall we say. that's right and the plans for meeting the biden family already underway as soon as don't know front left several hours ago they started moving things out things that were lying around would be packed immediately put on to trucks we know that the truck has already arrived in monologue or that happened. just yesterday in fact i know the ushers in various other members of the white house staff will be moved to

putting things in place so that it feels slightly more like home for the bidens as they walk through the door the same will be happening at the vice presidential residence because of course when mike pence left to go to capitol hill that was it he was no longer vice president what is interesting listening to joe biden's speech is a lot of the things that he said he said on the campaign trail there was obviously special inclusion of what happened on the capitol just 2 weeks ago exactly 2 weeks ago where joe biden was standing that many of the themes about walking together coming together putting aside differences trying to benefit the country they have all been mentioned on the campaign trail the difference this time around was joe biden met the moment it was a boat delivering a speech to the entire country millions millions more people would have been watching his inauguration speech rather than anything he did on the campaign trail people were also be hoping for a message like that because of exactly what happened 2 weeks ago where people

across the united states watched the pictures in the same way to a degree they watched 911 he couldn't quite believe what was happening so this was a case of joe biden meeting the moment and hoping that he can take the country along a path of unity and that the country will follow but that's what leaders are for to what extent will president trump's legacy and division within the republican party actually help joe biden to do that. what isn't. thing is that if joe biden's 1st actions will be to overturn the law of the walk that donald trump did by signing executive orders so executive orders as james was explaining to go back into the paddock claim is part of climate change agreement overturning the secular voter which essentially put in place what was known as the muslim band divine from countries that predominantly muslim and

african nations as well that he is going to overturn the through executive order the ban on transgender people serving in the armed services that he is going to push at the question on immigration he is going to sign an executive order stopping the building of the border wall all of these things are part of donald trump's legacy but of course in many cases donald trump's legacy does not include congressional action there nor meant not many laws backing up what donald trump did he decided after criticizing barack obama for using the same tool that he was going to sign a lot of executive orders what is interesting is that he was exempt exercising his post as president almost until the last minute we're told on his flight. to florida he signed a pardon for someone who used to what with them in real estate in new york and is

the ex-husband of 'd a t.v. show host on fox news his favorite t.v. channel someone as well dr jeanine pirro judge jeanine pirro who has been. a very big supporter of donald trump even after the election results came clear so joe biden has his work cut out he's also got to deal with getting operation warp speed up to warp speed to because clearly it hasn't worked at that level until this point so many things that don't trump did joe biden will try and overturn or be try and improve on and as you've heard from joe biden in his 1st tweet as president of the united states it's his intention to get to work. reporting live from what well overlooking the white house in washington that's. another. back to come out in washington. adrian thank you so much welcome back to

going to say sunny washington the sun's actually just on behind the clouds again now but if you believe in any sort of measure force 'd for the day well the sun came out during the inauguration ceremony today that actually and this was referenced at one point during the ceremony there was a little bit of snow it was just a little flurry but we were sitting here at the beginning and noticed a few little snowflakes coming out which was quite extraordinary in the moment but it's quite lovely here now and it's well it's a new year if you want to say that joe biden is now in charge of this country the country he was once the vice president of he is now it's $46.00 president after today's inauguration jennifer from george mason university here with me one thing we've not addressed so far jennifer is the fact that i'm going to cross my fingers here everything went off. safely and mostly it really did i mean personally i have to say i've never felt safer in my life but that's the irony isn't it once you're

in once you're in you like yeah you could you came in from the drove in from virginia yesterday and it's it's unnerving to be around many uniformed officers who are carrying large weapons and large fences with razor wire on top of them and military vehicles there is definitely an unsettling feeling that all of that brings but once you are on the inside of it as we are now and and you you recognize that what they are here to do is to keep you safe keep the country safe keep the the leaders of the country safe and to keep away the extremists and the domestic terrorism in the white supremacy. makes me feel a little bit better about it. definitely and now we just have to wait and see actually how long this all started in place because i don't think it's going to go home just now it's you know there's clearly still i went to visit threat but this is still a very high level of change absolutely so let's go back to the speech then actually not just the speech the whole this is very broad brush but the whole tone of the

day we knew it would be unity. from what we saw and heard the poets the musical performances the speeches. as well what for you was the overriding time and did it succeed in that i mean a couple of things stand out to me especially putting it in contrast with the speech for the ceremony 4 years ago and previous inaugurations put before that but the level of diversity represented on that platform during the ceremonies today you had african-americans and latino americans and artists and country music singers and you really did have many different types of populations both represented and spoken about and referenced during the ceremony. and that's i think a way to use a ceremony like this to reach a broader population and it also suggests that the the biden this administration is

going to try to to walk the same walk that they're talking rain you know their they want to be as unifying as as this language that they're using ok jennifer we're going to bring someone else into our conversation it is adam goodman joining us on skype from tampa in florida adam is the national republican media strategist and a columnist and a partner of us here in washington d.c. adam thank you for your time apologies 1st off that we do have quite a long delay here so i'm going to try hopefully that we don't end up speaking over the top of each other but i am interested in your 'd views as a republican as to what you and other republicans can take from joe biden's address today well 1st of all it was very peaceful on earth purposeful and i think on americans share that and every american really wants whoever's any one as president to be successful at this and that is in our naked self interested to be then to feel that what's going to be ahead is you might see that the choice that president

bines going to have to make between practical and philosophical really be practical which means yet he will really pursue the talks about in terms of normalcy and unity or will he be philosophical with the pressures he's been obviously going to receive from the left to do more decidedly left on certain issues and then i'm going to interrupt share i'm really really sorry up to saying i wouldn't interrupt you but there is a signing ceremony going on right now with joe biden's to have a watch yeah church washington he said the.

thank you here. thank you. just taking in some live pictures from me here in washington because obviously even though the main ceremony up here capitol hill has finished there are still events going on around the city adam i'm sorry to have interrupted you that maybe you'd like to pick up with what you were saying about i guess it was the difference between joe biden what he does and what its philosophy is well he's actually in the moment of crisis he has an incredible opportunity because of it 19 is the issue everything else is secondary in american i think that probably is true for most nations around and around the world he has an opportunity to go after that with reckless abandon he's talked about 100000000 vaccines in 100 days he's talked about

streamlining the process in terms of delivery. mask and other things to keep americans safe he can basically take other items that may be. would create political pressure for him and say look 1st and foremost we've got to get this right we get this right everything else works and i think he bought himself in that way or happy or can some time before it's embrace the other things but one other things going to come at him quickly and he's going to have to comment on this he says he's about the truth and that is the impeachment trial that you're talking about in the senate senate which is now divided 5050 the vice president comma as as a type breaking vote if he really means unity he can show it right then and there by impressing on his colleagues on the left side of the of the aisle to not pursue this with rigor because it would i think it will do so it will get as embroiled once again and did this ignis and finger pointing and demonization as of at

a time when he needs a fresh start and a quick start in going after the things that most challenging america. i might suggest adam but he may not inject himself into that process he was very careful when he was president elect to say this is up to the congress to decide what to do and maybe he would actually continue doing that in direct contrast i guess to what it's all the style of its predecessor. that may be true but it's very clear you know you have this the say 100 days to make a big impression and bold moves the talk about this speech as an appeal to boldness in america to be bold and to get things done he needs a clear field and center revisit in these an opportunity to embrace the future and i think i'm sure reason and made that point of view clearer to speaker pelosi soon

to be majority leader chuck schumer and others in his party that can enable a faster start and i think that's really what americans want because frankly in the last election they didn't vote left and they didn't vote right they voted for and i think that's the expectation that's on the presidency that. i would agree that he certainly talked about or that's when you talk where we've come from and what ails us that we can agree about moving forward that was also one of the themes that was in the poem in fact but one striking difference to me particularly with respect to how both joe biden and donald trump spoke about the virus just today is that at 8 o'clock this morning on the white house lawn donald trump was saying that. the worst period of the virus is behind us and you're going to see the cases going down and the vaccine is here and he was painting a very rosy scenario and joe biden said exactly the opposite thing in his

inauguration address he said we are entering the toughest we are we are maybe entering the toughest period with this virus he was setting americans expectations in order to ask them to make the sacrifices that are all needed so that we can begin to get beyond this virus adam you want to comment on the. i actually agree with that i think that was there are 2 different points of view and 2 different attitudes about the 19 a president is always trying to project a more optimistic you know from his own assessment of where things are and where they're going i think joe biden you might say his defenses are realist and he's trying to project that and it's very clear that he america gets a fast start moving forward and taking on and taking outcome of the 19 in 100000000 vaccines in 100 days 1st measure that i think the president biden will have an opportunity to present other points of view that he can really project and he can

really push successfully if not i think everything else is going to be up moving back to you might say it's a normal nurtured in the capitol where differences of opinion tend to trump oftentimes the interest of america. so he has a job to do as the latest of this country now at him but he will need able to meet him why i guess and i'm not just talking about republican or republican politicians i'm talking about republican support as none of us can forget what we saw here at the capitol 2 weeks ago and i just keep thinking about those people and they will moderate republicans but the ones who just don't believe in joe biden as they have waited now that's of course their prerogative that's how politics works people but for different people but. trying to bring them along more to the center to where joe biden is will be a huge toss. issues but he has

a huge opportunity set before with kind of a 19 if you succeeds by measures of expectation on that front i think he's going to be given more leeway to try to push other things now you have a stimulus package that's now before both houses of congress the $1.00 trillion dollars program which includes as a part of it as proposed an increase in a minimum wage to $15.00 an hour i can tell you that's a nonstarter with enough republicans and even centrists i would argue that are democrat that that won't be our in the final. program when it might actually put into play however it gives joe biden an opportunity to telegraph to his base and to the rest of america the reason for an increase in the minimum wage for the tensional and successful passage downstream. let's just pause for a moment and think about the pictures that we're saying on the screen right now

here on al-jazeera as the parade continues through the streets of washington in full uniforms it's just one look we've all gotten used to wearing mouth's a lot so over the last few months but still watching this sort of ceremony ongoing . with the pump and circumstance that it usually has but all mussed up. with a distance it's pretty amazing actually you know as i say we've gotten used to it but this is it has been an old aeration like no other 2021 goals that they go down in the history books presidents carry on here in washington we get some final thoughts now from both adam goodman and jennifer victor final thoughts just phenomenal. jennifer just mentioned get in there about the baton scared of joe biden you know i sing you and i have talked previously about partisanship. and the difference between that and. the words just right now what i'm looking for

a party but. polarization but you old piece exactly. where does america stand right now maybe you can sort of just elaborate on that for a bit yeah so the way that i see a political parties are necessary they are fundamental institutions that democracies cannot function without and the political parties in the united states today are really troubles we have. the the polarization that is existing between the parties that is pulling them apart it's creating the sense that if your party loses their circumstances are dire and so people's preferences become shaped by the fear of loss rather than summit here in rome timor side and that negative partisanship as we call it begins to drive behavior in a way that. breaks down the democratic norms political scientists don't talk about

democratic norms because we care about tradition or something like that we talk about democratic norms because those behaviors that reinforce democratic values that come through norms like peaceful transitions of power are literally what hold democracies up when those norms go away democracies tend to fail and so it's really important for us to figure out how to reinforce the norms mike pence and come away harris having a moment on the back on the he's trying to the capitol moments ago and sharing a smile and a moment together that was truly significant and meaningful as a way to show the country that they can get along and those are the types of images we usually get a lot of on inauguration day at what do you give us a final thought on that because jennifer was looking beyond maybe the personalities in the parties but actually just the idea of partisanship of negative partisanship and how that can be overcome by the country as a whole. words are cheap and. acts of courage are priceless and i think the jury is out on this but to borrow from president biden's

speech he used the words tolerance and humility well humility i think has been a big part of joe biden's life story and i think that's natural to him now be a nice out i think to the country of tolerance is something else aren't is not something you preach it's something you practice and for a lot of republicans who have question marks about what the days and months ahead are going to look like they're most concerned about that and tolerance of freedom of speech is probably now at the top of that agenda you know there's been a lot need to do about big tech cancelling out now for president trump in terms of his twitter account but more than that talk among some liberals and other democrats about canceling out other voices the biggest thing that america has going for it is diversity of opinion and if we silence it by sound see free speech we've got an issue a major issue i think that trumps almost everything else on the agenda i'm hoping

that something that president biden not only understands and grapples with but that is able to put to rest as you concern as americans try to become frankly more civil towards each other and we do that i think maybe the process of 6 itself the senate being what joe biden cause that raging fire will become a resource of resolve. being most civil towards each other it's a good thought isn't it adam goodman national republican media strategist in tampa thank you very much jennifer i know you have had something to say that write it down will come back later on because we do have other guests and it. is looking at some other issues later today inauguration day come on many thanks we'll see you again in just a few minutes president biden made reference to the full suits and misinformation that have aggravated america's division in recent is he called on leaders to stand up for the truth. recent weeks and months have taught us

a painful lesson there is truth and there are lies lies told for power and for profit and each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens as americans especially as leaders leaders who have pledged to honor our constitution to protect our nation to defend the truth and defeat the lies. these. are live pictures we're looking at now from washington d.c. . with president biden and his wife jill the leaving the signing ceremony that we saw a few moments ago what we want to see said pictures let's bring in in burma he's president of the political risk research consultancy eurasia group he joins us now by skype from new york what do you make of what we heard president biden saying

that in his inaugural address a clear swipe at the trumpet ministration. sure i mean this was an incredibly hard fought election not only in what came up to it but also what came after and the damage done to the u.s. political system to its institutions is significant former president trump is directly and personally responsible for that and biden understands that very well let's also be clear one major thing that we did not see and that was significant instability or violence either around washington unlikely given the 25000 national guard troops or any other capital across the country this today felt very different from the events of 2 weeks ago of january 6th and thank goodness for that but again you know it's important to remember and put this in the context of

january 6th because biden is taking office not only facing 400000 dead and the most significant economic and health crisis in recent memory but also against the backdrop of the greatest political 'd divide in dysfunction that the united states has experienced in 'd generations and he's very aware of that that that is the most important concepts that you can read today is an auger all speech. in many were congratulating president biden on his inauguration iran's foreign ministry spokesman has treated but the diplomatic vandalism of trump pompei own coast stemmed partly from a broken institutional process but that same process when functional produced disasters like wars in iraq afghanistan and vietnam the world knows that only the

us can fix itself in practice and not just words what do you make of that. there's a lot of shot in florida around the world today among countries that are no fans or friends of the united states in beijing in moscow and in terror and the dysfunction that has been experienced across the united states and most painfully in my nation's capital is something that countries that have been on the wrong side of the united states have applauded and iran is one of those countries but having said that this iranian government does hope to normalize relations with the by the administration at least in so far as getting the nuclear deal back on track i mean if they could do that in 2022 that be exporting over a 1000000000 barrels of oil again and the iranian economy is one that is really

facing incredible hardship right now in part because of u.s. sanctions and part because of coronavirus in part because increase of incredible mismanagement so they have a lot to play for and as as much as they cheer the problems the u.s. is experiencing right now they want to get back to work with the incoming biden administration. allies of the u.s. become somewhat alienated over the last 4 years how does the do you buy the administration go about restoring the world's trust in the u.s. and its form policy where should it stop it has to start at home. i think one of the reasons the united states lacks trust from its allies is because the united states isn't convinced itself that it's a functional representative democracy that its institutions are legitimate and not rigged in favor of a small percentage of very wealthy americans i think that jake sullivan the

incoming national security advisor has put his finger on it when he says that u.s. foreign policy has to appeal to the average american has to be sold to the middle class because for decades now including when president biden was vice president for 8 years there wasn't a lot of support for the united states being the world's policeman or 'd promoting free trade and signing new trade deals around the world or even trotting democracy and if americans don't believe in those policies for themselves it's really kind of difficult to sell that internationally i also think that after the events of january 6th a lot of american allies look at the u.s. and say this is a lot more serious than we thought we're not sure that we can count on the americans going forward the way we have here to for when you hear europeans talking about strategic the top i mean president macross for example when you see the new

trade deal that was signed between the europeans and the chinese after biden was elected that does reflect some of the hesitancy that american allies have they're happy that biden has been elected but they don't have the same level of trust or confidence in u.s. foreign policy being aligned with them and they have historically former british prime minister gordon brown says in the guardian today that in a wound where there are many competing centers of power and to have centuries off of the declaration of independence what the u.s. now needs is a declaration of into dependence an end to american isolationism and the americans that they need the wounds and that the rest of the world still needs the u.s. is he right. no. the united states is not isolationist a lot of the anger that countries have with the united states is that it's unilateralist that the us has by far the most powerful country has the most

powerful banks has the global reserve currency has the most powerful tech companies is the largest energy producer is a massive who'd export here and pushes its weight around on other countries this isn't isolationism this is america saying we don't want to have anything to do with other countries this is american saying you're going to do it our way because we're the biggest and you know trump does that through tweeting and by embarrassing other countries historically most american democratic and republican presidents have done it in a more urban anan sophisticated way talking to allies 1st before you know sort of announcing what americans want to do and so the question really is not about isolationism it's about whether or not americans are prepared to be more multilateral americans prepared to actually clamp or mys with allies and with adversaries on issues of shared interest or are the americans going to continue to

act as the strongest country in the world irrespective of the fact that our values are not up to the kind of leadership by example that many had looked up to the u.s. to historically certainly when the berlin wall fell and we defeated the soviets there was a lot of that leadership by example no one would make that argument so that owners could too many thanks to the umbrella that the president of the aeration group in new york. this of course was an unprecedented inaugural ceremony with tens of thousands of troops on the ground we've got a number of correspondents across washington including several keeping an eye on security and well right below. well let's bring us up to date let's start with you . it went off without a hitch when will this huge security operation the part of which we can see behind you that begin to relax. it was

the place to see more of this they might have probably buy in that they had some of these. blogs. did that mean certainly this morning with barry did last night here in washington d.c. that dared me to be traced back to. washington to the district of columbia rather to say to everybody you know i'd also been closed that would probably be open later on in the day but security will remain still quite tight until thursday all right. we'll come back to you just a moment i want to bring in a man well. who's elsewhere in the city. usually mexico correspondent well before you tell us about the situation that i just want to ask you a question about mexico's president who was speaking shortly before the inauguration

today about his relationship with the outgoing trumpet ministration. that's right i think there's a lot of hope now in mexico in the relationship when it comes to a renewed bilateral relationship one that's not based on polling as the former as former mexican officials have said relating to the trumpet ministration a lot of the policies that are going to be unveiled today by the incoming. and are going to roll back many many controversial policies that ended up in family separations they ended up in women and children ending up in cages and they ended up with countries like mexico becoming so quote unquote 3rd. 3rd state countries where asylum seekers are forced to wait while there are asylum claims are being processed in the united states so there's a lot of hope not only in mexico but in many latin american countries that this

that this new administration is bringing with it a new path and a new set of relationships to restore the multilateralism that once existed on the american continent. you say that the security operation of president its security operation there in washington but won't be wound down at least until to morrow it's continued going to continue to have a huge impact on the people who do live and work in the city. well certainly the thing most of the people you speak to in this city would tell you that they are used to security under streets of the of the capitol that they have seen the motorcade that they have seen sometimes roadblocks when you know a lot of foreign world leaders come to visit this place but they have never seen anything like this yet and i think was more shocking also for people here is that they have been used to threats you know sort of a warnings alert warnings codes going up to red and down to you know up and down

that scale for years now but there's always been this threat from overseas it's always been the threat from groups like isis now this time is actually the threat from within and that is something a lot of americans are having a hard time coming to terms with i mean they understand that but it is also very shocking for them seeing an inauguration like this where usually you would have hundreds of thousands of americans from all over the country coming here actually maybe going down this road that leads straight to capitol hill where none of that is happening this year for sure the virus by endemic is a major factor for people to stay away but also this. security threat is something that has hooped many people and you know you have to also bear in mind that the f.b.i. has been warning over the past week that it had credible information that they

could be other kinds of sort of more bryants being planned not only here in washington d.c. but in the 50 capitals across the country so you had this very charged atmosphere throughout the week i would say americans have been watching that unfold in their cities in their stays in their capital states throughout the week and really asking themselves questions about how it will all go. oh it's been peaceful so far we haven't heard also about any incident elsewhere but of thor he's made sure that they took no wrist at all i mean they've even way through looking at investing to 25000 national guards who are deployed to this guy up until about at least one of them had actually been removed of duty because they found in their profile on days social media that there was some sort of connection or some sort of chatting that supported maybe the far right group so they were really taking no chances knowing

that the whole world was watching and they wanted to make sure that this integrated integration went as peaceful as possible. where in the city you what's happening there right now. sure this street may look like it's actually cleared quite a bit i want to give you a sense of where we are we're just outside of outside of the white house just outside of the secure perimeter just beyond the secure per perimeter is a line of national guard troops black lives matter plaza and you know it's interesting as a whole to characterize this charge the atmosphere that that's really come to characterize washington d.c. over the weekend and in the lead up to this inauguration well judging by what many of the people that we've been speaking to here on the street throughout the course of the morning and throughout the course of the day that charge that mysterious for finally starting to live with a lot of people saying that they feel a renewed hope a renewed spirit of american democracy

a renewed possibility for the for the country to once again once again come together to come together after 40 years of divisive politics now despite the fact that we see this large military presence in washington d.c. as a whole that mentioned more than $20000.00 u.s. army national guard troops boarded up businesses storefronts with with plywood on the windows despite despite all that i lived in washington d.c. for 10 years it's certainly not something that i've ever seen in the time. but i live here in the it's a shocking it's very shocking for a lot of people who live here but it does seem like that charged atmosphere really is starting to lift there is music on the streets people are dancing there are benders out here selling memorabilia selling buttons and posters and flags of the biden hairs take it there does seem to be a very stark change in the mood and the mood seems a lot more positive than it has for many days here in washington jazeera. and hoda abdel-hamid reporting live from washington many thanks to you both in his

inauguration speech president biden alluded to the violence of the capital 2 weeks ago when a mob of pro trump supporters ransacked the building he told americans that the will of the people had finally prevailed the day we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause the cause of democracy the people the will of the people has been heard and the word of the people has been heeded. we've learned again that democracy is precious democracy is fragile and at this hour our friends democracy has prevailed. let's bring in once again steve clemons who is at it's a at the hill and host of out 0 us weekly the bottom line he's with us via skype from washington that the president went on to say now that we have much to do in this winter of peril he called it's much to repair much to restore he'll sue talked

about confronting the rise of white supremacy and domestic terrorism see what he make of that. well i mean i think this is a time of peril we just had 2 weeks ago in assaults on the capital we had 400000 people that grim milestone passed just 2 days ago and much of joe biden's focus has been on memorialize singing to remember those people and you know compelling his staff and his team to take seriously getting 100000000 people vaccinated in the 1st 100 days and that we still have many people you know he had not not every republican was a tack the knight capital there are many people that did not support joe biden that he is reaching out to and he is distinguishing the difference between them and some of those that chose violence you know the proud ploys white nationalists and others and you know this this problem of radicalized people within our nation and so this

is a time of peril in which he has to get an awful lot done in a very short period of time and to do it in a way that that tries to decrease the toxicity of this political sandbox in washington right now and that's going to be very tough how does the u.s. go about directly colliding its extremist steve. you know it's a very very good question i think we have to figure out how they got radicalized to some what i think you know one way to get to sort of get the air out of the tires if you will of the radicalized crowd that we have here is to find ways to do it go on a listening tour to hear those people who are hurting to been left behind in 20082009 financial crisis you know we're got punched economically who saw their jobs off shored to philippines and india and china and other place over these years you know joe biden once told me you know in 4 years ago that the democratic party had become a party of snobs and it was going to be very hard for the democratic party to win

if it wasn't seen as hearing these people well now he has a chance to do that i think that will slow and take some of the momentum out of the radical fringe because they won't feel that they have an audience that they can play to quite as well joe biden does those things i think he's going to spend a lot of time trying to reach across the middle and you know we'll have to see whether that middle wants to be reached out to but i i'm one who thinks that it does steve to what extent will the shock of what happened at the capitol along with with trump's toxic legacy division within not only republican party politicians but supporters as well that it help the bite that been the strain at least in the short term. i think it does because you're seeing the fracturing right now of the republican party you're seeing a fight over people like liz cheney and whether what mike pence the vice president

did in doing is cost the juvenile duty was an act of treason and in the eyes some you know who follow donald trump or an act of heroism of standing by the constitution you see people like leader mitch mcconnell who very clearly on the are on the mike pence and on the constitutional side of the question you know mike pence used to be a real thorn in the side of barack obama trying to say no stopping legislation at every moment my sense is the tone is different mitch mcconnell saw things go over the edge so much he was at a you know church service at mass with joe biden this morning it doesn't mean it's going to be chromed by yon but it does mean that the mitch mcconnells of the world who worry about how much permission radicals in the republican party have been given and met means there's going to be a division that creates an opportunity for joe biden to define a place somewhat in the center and i realize that there are some people on the left in the democratic party who may be frustrated as he creates an opportunity to begin

moving both boldly but in a way that some republicans can come along i remember 10 republicans more than ever in history joined that impeachment vote in the house and so that that's an opportunity so if mitch mcconnell decides not to to be a thorn in the side of the democrat legislative agenda to hobble it in the way that he did in the. obama's last time is that because i would want is he doing have for the good of the nation all with an eye on the midterms. well i think it's both i mean but you know again as we talked about earlier mitch mcconnell will not be in the majority he will not be the majority leader you will not control the dockets in terms of what gets dealt with any law control any of the committees he'll have votes in the committees and he'll have votes in case of this we'll have some centrist like joe manchin who may cross the line now and then just to. you

know demonstrate you know the it's the power of the century if you will but i think that that mitch mcconnell situation is very different than before he's not going to be able to hold. you know hold 'd the biden at bay like he did obama because he doesn't have the votes. and steve of course got about a minute left to go on to this disc this question just want to get your thoughts really on all an extraordinary day it's been. the fact that. of course that there were no none of the usual crowds there was so everybody was wearing mosques but there was something extraordinarily beautiful about the whole thing look this is a reset the adrian and look i was thinking about this year because i'm going to have this inauguration really putting a lot of emphasis on near it person. worldwide it sent everyone online we do our work online we talk to our families online we have fun online

digitization of our lives has happened because of obit and so i was just saying to myself yeah you know i really miss that and i regret and lament that only you know that the streets of washington they're lined by national guardsmen with rifles rather than cheering crowds but they're cheering crowds online so i just think we're making too much of it right now but footprint of those people watching online is probably greater than ever any moment in american history so i you know i think we ought to sort of embrace that for the moment that you know online participation in this ignore if you're a she is extraordinary steve clemons and that's a blockage from the hill. percent of all of us who are us the bottom line in washington d.c. many thanks indeed. we are coming up to the top of another on al-jazeera a news hour ahead on this in all directions a joe biden the 46th president of the united states sworn in 2 hours ago

along with his vice presidents come to horace. who is the 1st woman to hold that office. is our straight ahead stay with us. for. this is al jazeera. a very good evening to you from doha hello you're watching continuing coverage of the inauguration of president joe biden that is twice president calderón horace the 1st woman to hold that office on adrian finnegan congratulations mr president. so joe biden takes office as the 46th president of the united states with a pledge to control the coronavirus pandemic and to defend american values that democracy is precious.