Susan Glasser on Biden’s Inaugural Address: ‘A Love Letter to the Truth’

Susan B. Glasser, writing for The New Yorker:

Only after four years of the Trump Presidency would the mention of “truth” in an Inaugural Address become an applause line. But we are where we are. The country has had so much lying. Much will be made of Biden’s plea to “end this uncivil war,” and of his stirring language about democracy prevailing. But it was his love letter to the role of truth in a free society that rang loudest to me during his twenty-minute speech, which took place under a sunny Washington sky, amid a crisis like no other in our modern history.

I say don’t overthink it. Our reasons for optimism are simple: a new administration committed to the truth — political, scientific, medical, societal, economic — will alone bring about so much change.

★ Thursday, 21 January 2021