Just as I have with each elected president in my lifetime, I stand still in both awe and humble thanks, aware of the uniqueness and magnitude of the peaceful transition of power. There is no raucous disarray; there is no military coup. The transfer of power from one leader to another — one party to another — is peaceful and respectful.
So let my words not speak for what comes next. Hear from the wisdom articulated by many who preceded us on inauguration days…
“To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.”
— Ronald Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981
“Today the executive branch of the government is transferred to new keeping. But this is still the government of all the people, and it should be none the less an object of their affectionate solicitude. At this hour the animosities of political strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the popular will and a sober, conscientious concern for the general weal.”
— Grover Cleveland, March 4, 1885
“Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes. Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.”
— Jimmy Carter, Jan. 20, 1977
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
—Barack Obama, Jan. 20, 2009
“Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans; we are all Federalists.”
— Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801
“We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.”
— George W. Bush, Jan. 20, 2001
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
— Bill Clinton, Jan. 20, 1993.
And perhaps my current fave…
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
– Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865.
1865… nearing the end of The Civil War. Certainly seems far harder than now. And yet it was wise to call for:
Malice toward none.
Charity for all.
And binding up the wounds of the nation.
May God truly bless America, even on those days I cannot see.
Respectfully…
AR