Good morning, it's Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, and we have a new president. Some of my readers, Republicans mainly, miss Donald Trump already. Political independents among you are skeptical that Joe Biden and the Capitol Hill Democrats have too much spending and social engineering in mind: You are concerned, but perhaps also hopeful. Meanwhile, my liberal pals are waking up with happy hangovers, the famous words of Jerry Ford reverberating in their seltzer glasses: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."
Except that it isn't. Not this time. Whatever your politics, we are all facing a viral pandemic that -- despite the advent of an effective vaccine -- has claimed 406,000 lives. State officials, local health authorities, and hospitals are in a race against death as they try to get those live-saving shots into people's arms.
Nor have our partisan battles ended. A year ago today, the first impeachment effort against President Trump kicked into gear. Although he beat the rap on a party-line vote, a second Trump trial awaits the Senate even though Trump has vacated the White House for his Mar-a-Lago enclave. In other words, the "unity" stressed on Inauguration Day by President Biden remains elusive.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.