The defense of democracy is more important than any titlehe points out from the Oval Office
▲ US President Joe Biden yesterday during his address to the nation from the White House.Afp Photo
Reuters, AFP and Sputnik
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, July 25, 2024, p. 26
Washington. US President Joe Biden defended democracy and placed it above his personal ambitions, saying that Pass the torch to a new generationexplaining his abrupt exit from the presidential race in a speech delivered in the Oval Office last night.
I revere this office“But I love my country more. The defense of democracy is more important than any title…I draw strength and find joy from working for the American people, but this sacred task of perfecting our Union is not about me. It’s about you. About your families. About your future. It’s about ‘we the people,’” he said.
He pointed out that the United States is at a key moment and that is why I have decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation..
Biden, 81, had rejected weeks of pressure from Democrats to step aside after his disastrous performance in the June 27 debate, saying that only the Lord Almighty might convince him to decline.
The president made the decision when polls predicted that he could lose to Republican Donald Trump in November and drag his fellow Democrats down with him.
This is Biden’s first extensive public address since he dropped his candidacy last Sunday by posting a letter on social media. He then recommended that his vice president, Kamala Harris, take over.
Since he stepped aside, Democrats have rallied around him, paying tribute to his character and record as president.
The White House has denied that Biden has cognitive problems, despite a recent increase in his verbal slips.
Biden said he will work to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and end Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, as well as reform the Supreme Court, among other issues, during his remaining six months in office.
He will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today to try to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden also recounted the achievements during his term, such as emerging stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthening the economy, creating more jobs, reducing the cost of medicines, achieving greater medical coverage, lowering the rate of violent crimes, protecting war veterans, passing the environmental protection law, and reducing the entry of migrants across the border, among others.
It is the fourth time Biden has used the formal setting of the Oval Office since taking office in 2021. His last speech there was on July 15, when he urged Americans to cool down political rhetoric in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump.
The Democrat insisted that “America is an idea, an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant.
When it comes to choosing, remember what Benjamin Franklin said, whether the founders had given the Americans a monarchy or a republic, Franklin said a republic, whether you are able to protect that republic is up to you my fellow citizens.
