Donna Brazile: Biden-Harris victory speeches begin healing of America with inspiring call for unity

“We must restore the soul of America … I believe in the possibilities of this country,” President-elect Joe Biden (how sweet the sound of that title) said in a stirring and inspirational victory speech Saturday night. “Let us be the nation that we know we can be, a nation united.”

Invoking biblical references, Biden made it clear that he will be a president who heals not only the divisions in our country but responds effectively with science and sound public health measures to heal America from the terrible coronavirus pandemic and put it behind us.

It was a moving address by a man who I believe will be a great president.

BIDEN PREACHES UNITY, PROMISES TO ADDRESS CORONAVIRUS CRISIS IN FIRST SPEECH AS PRESIDENT-ELECT

Add to that the speech by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who shattered a glass ceiling no woman has ever broken through before.

“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” said Harris, who also broke barriers as the first person of color — the daughter of a mother from India and a Black father from Jamaica — to occupy the office of vice president. It’s certainly about time!

History, at long last, has been made for women of all backgrounds and for many who need to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. As Harris said, her elevation to the second-highest office in the land sends a powerful message to children growing up today: gender and race are no longer barriers to advancement and full participation in our democracy.

Biden and Harris struck just the right tone in pledging to bring all Americans together at a time when we are perhaps more divided than at any point since the Civil War.

For some, the Biden-Harris victory is a time to rejoice and celebrate the new milestones and steps towards our more perfect union. For many supporters of President Trump, this is a time for sadness.

As someone who’s been on the losing side in election campaigns, I understand the disappointment of seeing the candidate you support lose.

But believe me, I know Joe Biden and Kamala Harris well — for many decades, in fact. They are two of America’s finest, most dedicated and most caring public servants.  I think many people who voted for President Trump will be surprised at all the good things the incoming president and vice president do.

For America, this is a time for unity! As Joe Biden made clear Saturday night and in previous speeches, he will be a president dedicated to building a better future for all Americans — not just those who voted for him.

I know that President Trump has gone to courts in several states to block the Biden-Harris victory. But I believe his claims of election fraud are baseless. He will not succeed in overturning the decision of the American people to put Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House. In America, the people elect our leaders.

I’m proud that during a deadly pandemic that has tragically claimed the lives of more than 243,000 Americans a record number of us still voted in this election. By doing so, we proved that despite the chaos and division of the past four years, democracy beats deep in the heart of our great country.

And now, with the campaign over, it’s time to put our divisions behind us and come together and be what the Pledge of Allegiance tells us we are: “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We need to make those words reality for every single American, without exception. 

My fellow Americans, this is not a time to look at each other as Democrats or Republicans, or winners or losers. We need to see each other as Americans and come together with mutual respect and a common purpose to unite our country.

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After a long and bitter campaign, for me this is not a partisan moment. It’s a patriotic moment.  And it’s a moment in the almost 250-year history of our country that has been a long time coming for me and my fellow African American sisters and brothers. 

We were the last Americans to get our voting rights. We have waited and waited for our turn to be heard and to lead, to stand up and to speak without fearing for our lives, as the late great civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said.

John Lewis lived to see a Black man, Barack Obama, become president. Sadly, he did not live long enough to see Kamala Harris, a Black woman, become vice president. Had he lived a little longer I know this would have been one of the happiest days of his life.

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We turn the page now to a new chapter of American history. Soon President Biden and Vice President Harris will be leading our nation, bringing us together, and building better tomorrows for all of us alive today and for generations unborn.

Together, our incoming president and vice president have proven that the American Dream still lives.

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