Hopeful change

Biden's Cabinet, top to bottom and left to right;

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Joe Biden, Avril Haines, Alejandro Mayorkas, Antony Blinken, and John Kerry.

(AFP)

Despite having lived through one of the most convulsive presidential elections in recent times, during these 23 days, once again, American democracy has demonstrated its strength and resilience in the face of circumstances marked not only by the tightness of the result, but above all for the unprecedented and repeated accusations of fraud on the process launched by the incumbent president and for his hostile and obstructionist attitude.

The tasks of exhaustive counting of the votes and the judicial processes opened by the legal team of Donald Trump to challenge some of them happen without incident and what is more important: without any sign of suffering alterations in the face of the enormous pressure that the still a tenant in the White House, who continues to refuse to admit defeat.

What happened in Michigan is a good example of this.

The State Board of Elections, after recounting the votes, has confirmed Joe Biden's victory by 154,000 votes, despite Trump calling two Republican members of the Board to withdraw their certification.

Whether or not he responds to this state of affairs, Trump has finally been forced to take a first step and activate the transition by asking his team to do "what is necessary" in relation to "initial protocols."

He has done it, therefore, in an oblique way: without granting victory and via Twitter.

In any case, the process in the presidential replacement can be considered started without the president-elect having to resort, for example, to request private donations to organize the process, a circumstance, at least, strange.

In parallel, Biden's first steps are promising, with a return to moderation - seen in his conciliatory tone in the face of victory and the need for unity in the face of the pandemic - and to institutional professionalism.

This is demonstrated by the quality and symbolism of the first appointments of what will be his Administration.

Biden will rule surrounded by figures of great solidity.

The appointment of Antony Blinken as Secretary of State is good news for the recovery of the role of the United States in the world, but also for Europe and multilateralism.

That veteran John Kerry is in charge of climate policy is a guarantee of the turn in this crucial problem that Washington will take after Trump's denialism.

Also significant is the appointment to key positions of women recognized for their trajectory — Avril Haines at the head of Intelligence, and Janet Yellen, of the Treasury — and of a Hispanic, Alejandro Mayorkas, in National Security.

It will be necessary to see how they face the arduous task that awaits them.

For now, they are comforting the resilience of the American democratic system and the first decisions of the president-elect.