President Joe Biden’s valedictory speech
If you are an east coast person who didn’t want to stay up past midnight, you owe it to yourself to watch President Joe Biden’s valedictory speech in toto. Grab a tissue; I did.
Reading a transcript does not do it justice. Nor do any short clips. But this closing:
Folks, all of us carry a special obligation. Independents, Republicans, Democrats. We saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024. The vote that each of us cast this year will determine whether democracy and freedom will prevail. It’s that simple. It’s that serious. And the power is literally in your hands. History’s in your hands…
Folks, we just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. And there’s nothing we cannot do when we do it together. God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
Some of the best words I’ve read:
- 5 takeaways from the Democratic convention, Biden’s speech on Day 1
Biden entered the stage while dabbing at his eyes after being introduced by his daughter, Ashley Biden. The crowd applauded for minutes, chanting “Thank you, Joe.”
And Biden didn’t shy away from the elephant in the room.
“I love the job, but I love my country more,” Biden said, before adding: “And all this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down, that’s not true. I love my country more. And we need to preserve our democracy in 2024.”
- Joe Biden didn’t just pass the torch at the DNC — he paid tribute to the future
Recounting why he decided to run in 2020, he once again told the story of seeing the white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, the night before 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally. “They didn’t even bother to wear their hoods,” Biden said. “Hate was on the march in America. Old ghosts, in new garments.”
[…]
As Biden concluded, surrounded by family and joined by Harris and her husband, it left me with a feeling that I’d just watched a page turn in America’s history. This was a moment of passing the torch with grace and care in a way that few leaders would have managed when faced with such a decision. What Biden pulled off on Monday night was in its own way as presidential as any official act he’d taken while, as he put it, a kid with a stutter who grew up to sit behind the Resolute Desk.
- The Old Man Who Saved American Democracy. Twice.
Lost in the analysis of January 6th and the post-election chaos is the critical role Biden played.
He was utterly and completely calm. He spent the post-election period preparing for the transition, even though Trump’s administration refused to cooperate with his team. And here are some of the things Biden did not do:
- Publicly attack Trump.
- Attempt to circumscribe Trump’s legal challenges.
- Spread disinformation.
- Antagonize Republican voters.
- Seek to tie “normal” elected Republicans to Trump’s authoritarian designs.
- Any of those actions might have helped Biden politically. All of them would have added gasoline to a raging fire.
[…]
Joe Biden is the freaking president of the United States—yet he had the strength of character to understand that the country would be better off with him not running again.
He chose to walk away from the most important job on the planet. For the good of his country.
It will be some time before America fully appreciates how extraordinary Biden’s decision was.
For me, the differences between Trump and the Biden-Harris brand were embodied in the final moments of the opening night of the convention. The president’s daughter recounted the day her father took a train from Washington just to wish his baby girl a happy birthday before heading back to work. The first lady described the moments in which Biden decided to walk away from the campaign. The humble beginnings of the blended families gathered on that stage in Chicago. It is clear for Biden-Harris the greatness of America lies in our willingness to sacrifice for one another.
Today, millennials outnumber baby boomers, and 1 in 5 Gen Z adults are LGBTQ+. In 20 years, no one racial group will be a majority in this country. Book bans, attempts to turn “diversity, equity and inclusion” into a slur, trying to control women’s bodies — they represent the last vestiges of America’s ugly past. For the second time in three presidential elections, a woman sits at the top of the Democratic ticket. For the third time in five elections, a person of color is a major party’s nominee for president. To borrow a line from Hillary Clinton’s speech at the convention on Monday: “My friends, the future is here.”
None of this can be said enough.
Thank you, Joe. Your courage is not unappreciated.
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