The entire tenor of the Biden presidency may well be defined today. Depending on what he does or doesn’t say after being inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. may enter the history books as a healer, or as a toxic avenger of political grudges that escalate and turn against him.

It would not take many words in his inaugural speech to create momentum toward national healing and reconciliation in the wake of the most divisive political contest in living memory. For example:

“I call on my supporters to put aside the hatreds that poisoned our political discourse for far too long. We are all Americans, and we all deserve to have our rights and political standing honored. Let today be the day that our reconciliation begins.”

Biden’s speechwriters and handler can come up with their own version of such a call – if they want to.

But if they don’t, and Biden ignores the festering wounds that trouble the national political soul, then it is not his opponents, and not just the national interest that will suffer. As John Dietrich sagely advises Biden, the well-funded, well-equipped, and now well-experienced violent groups that have continued their demonstrations even up to yesterday could turn against him, becoming a Frankenstein’s monster seeking an actual insurrection, not some tragicomedy as happened two weeks prior.

Need it be added that Joseph Robinette Biden is an old white man, not the species of human beloved by the radical left, especially those with revolutionary intent? It is his choice to make whether or not to try to turn the Republic back in the direction of reconciliation and unity, or whether to fan the flames of anger, violence, and political instability that could come to be directed at him, the man in power, as much or more than at his opponents in the last election.

Graphic credit: YouTube screengrab (cropped)

Patricia McCarthy's pessimism may be warranted, but let's hope that it isn't.