Gee & Ursula: Biden inauguration brings ‘faith in a better tomorrow’ as nation looks to heal

Inauguration Day for President Joe Biden had KIRO Radio’s Gee Scott, Ursula Reutin, Dave Ross, and Colleen O’Brien looking back on the lessons of the last four years.

Washington leaders, lawmakers react as Joe Biden is sworn into office

For Ursula, Wednesday marked an emotional day, especially compared to how she felt after Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

“I remember the day after the election four years ago, I could not stop crying,” she described. “I could not stop tearing up, but yet I still had to do newscasts. I could barely read because my eyes were swollen. And it wasn’t just because the candidate that I had voted for had lost, but it was also because I felt this fear of what the next four years were gonna hold.”

Today, she finds those emotions to be instructive for how we should be reaching across the aisle, especially with President Biden preaching a message of unity in his inaugural address.

“I want to acknowledge that there are probably millions of people who are not happy with the outcome of the election,” Ursula noted. “Today, as we talk about unity, and hope, and optimism, they perhaps are thinking ‘my life is going to change and maybe not for the better.'”

“I just want to acknowledge that we have this platform and President Biden is calling on every one of us to play a role in bringing us together,” she continued. “I look forward to the day that that we all can go back to maybe having discussions, having different ideas on policies, but remaining decent, being humane, being compassionate, being kind, not being racist, and calling out the wrongs.”

Photos: Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C.

Gee’s own feelings Wednesday ran the gamut, especially in the wake of a tough four years for many Americans.

“Early this morning, I woke up and I woke up angry,” he said. “I woke up angry at what we have gone through over the last four years; woke up angry at what we are going through right now with this pandemic; woke up angry about 400,000 Americans dying because of COVID.”

But as the inauguration began to ramp up, his feelings changed.

“As I started to watch the folks starting to show up for the inauguration, and I’m seeing the military and I’m seeing those standing at attention, and I’m seeing the pride on their faces, and I’m seeing the Capitol building, where just two weeks ago there was an insurrection, and here today there’s an inauguration, and it’s just kind of proof that our democracy is still in place — it’s been tested, but it’s still there in place.”

“What you hear from me right now is pride — you hear hope, faith in a better tomorrow,” he added.

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.