President Joseph R. Biden’s entire campaign was run on the concept of bridging the divide between parties, classes, countries, and even racial disparities. In a time of polarity in many aspects of the country, his goal was to create a campaign focused on bringing everyone together. He largely did this and was successful as he was elected the 46th President of The United States of America. That is why it was so important for him to stress unity in his inaugural address. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, we saw divides grow further. Politics became more polarizing and more than once the entire government ground to a halt. When the COVID-19 Pandemic started to emerge, Trump handled it poorly and with little to no competence. Getting America back on track was to many a goal that seemed too good to be true. But uniting behind the other candidate gave others more hope than anything else.  

I believe that the main goal of President Biden’s inaugural address was to establish that feeling of hope and unity in the country. After a long race he had the goal of uniting even those who did not vote for him. He stated time and time again that he would be a president for all, not just those who voted for him, and I think that this is the backbone of his speech. Many did not like him, and even the election itself was controversial due to claims of fraud. But he aimed to put that all behind him and make himself the one legitimate president of the United States. I think that he continued to hit on this point throughout the speech, bringing it up every once in a while, as a reminder. The goal seemed to be to make everyone relax and breathe a sigh of relief. That he would begin the long road of fixing the cracks in our democracy. No matter what happens over the next four years, this speech was meant to instill hope that it would be better than the years before.  

I also think that a goal of President Biden’s speech was actually to be boring, regular, and non-controversial. Donald Trump was arguably one of the most controversial presidents in American history, and this was something that Biden wanted to avoid. Americans have this idea that the president is supposed to be a levelheaded, smart, thoughtful person who can make the best decisions for the people of the country. That is the air Biden was trying to have with his speech. I think he did this well, too. Many said he seemed presidential, and although that term will always be determined by the person speaking it, many were relieved to see this. One day without something controversial happening felt like a relief to those who were tired of the news cycle being what it was. That is why I feel Biden succeeded in what he set out to do. He wanted to calm the American people and let everyone know that the time of division was over. Although his actions will determine if this statement was true, for a minute, his speech allowed many to think it was.