“I love you, America!” Biden, 81, said, wiping away tears after his daughter, Ashley Biden, introduced him. The crowd responded with chants of “Thank you, Joe!” and applause that lasted several minutes before Biden began his speech.
“Thank you, Kamala,” Biden said, endorsing Harris, 59, as his successor. “I’ve got five months left in my presidency and a lot of work to do. I’m determined to get it done,” he added, before heading off later that evening for a vacation in California, following a period of limited public appearances since announcing his decision not to seek a second term on July 21.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as your president. I love the job, but my love for my country surpasses it,” Biden stated. He also dismissed claims that he was upset about calls for him to step down, asserting, “That’s not true.”
Biden praised his decision to choose Harris as his running mate in 2020, calling it “the best decision I made in my whole career” and emphasizing that electing her is crucial for preserving democracy.
Harris, her husband Doug Emhoff, and Biden’s family, including first son Hunter Biden, joined him on stage as he concluded his speech, creating a scene reminiscent of a nomination acceptance celebration.
“Are you ready to vote for freedom? Are we ready to fight for democracy and America? Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?” Biden urged the enthusiastic crowd, which began to disperse before he finished speaking.
Biden struggled with his words when discussing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. “The decision overturning Roe v. Wade, that you heard earlier tonight, the United States Supreme Court majority wrote the following: Quote, women are not without electrical, are not, not allowed, are not without electoral or political power,” he said.
Despite occasional slips, Biden showed few signs of cognitive decline but humorously remarked, “I’m so damn old,” and mentioned “I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza” in reference to a cease-fire plan.
Reflecting on his political career, Biden noted that he began it appearing too young and ended it seeming “too old to stay as president.” He acknowledged the protests outside the convention and the criticism he received, recognizing the valid concerns of demonstrators.
In his speech, Biden also criticized former President Donald Trump, calling him a “loser” and “convicted felon,” and revisited his focus on the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, nearly four years ago, I swore an oath,” he recalled. “I was facing a city surrounded by the National Guard, and behind me, a Capitol that had been stormed by a violent mob just two weeks earlier.”
“It was, as I told you then, a winter of peril and possibility. We were grappling with a once-in-a-century pandemic, historic joblessness, a call for overdue racial justice, and clear threats to our democracy,” he concluded.
