(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden has some experience with putting out fires. When he was sworn in asĀ Barack Obama's vice president onĀ Jan. 20, 2009, AmericaĀ was grappling with a financial crisis so badĀ its nickname echoed that of the country's darkest economic chapter.
But the Great RecessionĀ and the successful effortĀ by Obama and Biden to extract the U.S. from its clutchesāas challenging as that may have beenāwas just one crisis. Now, as he returns to Washington, Biden faces not one but three national calamities: a public health catastrophe that has claimed 400,000 American lives, a buckling economy marked by crushing unemployment, and most obviously on this Inauguration Day, a nation torn asunder by unbridled hate, bigotry and deadly insurrection.
In 2021 America, words like sedition and coup have moved from history books to the front page.Ā And there are many more hard realities with which Biden must contend. Russia allegedly pulled off a cyber attack on the federal government that's still beyond reckoning. China, largely recovered from its coronavirus lockdowns, is on track to surpassĀ the U.S. as the world's largest economy by 2028. As a result of these and other challenges from abroad, Biden can't afford to leave foreign affairs untended as he combats the pandemic and its attendant downturn while moving to reverse the policies of his predecessor.Ā
His work, in other words, is cut out for him. Here are scenes from the first day of a presidency guaranteed to be historicāno matter what happens over the next four years.
Ā©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories ā On NDTV Profit.
