Biden seeks to define his legacy in address explaining his campaign exit

September 02, 2024

President Biden delivered a somber, reflective address from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, extolling democracy and decrying dictators during his first remarks to the nation since his monumental decision to end both his reelection campaign and political career.

“The defense of democracy, which is at stake, is more important than any title,” Biden said in remarks that were designed to have the gravitas of a presidential farewell speech. “I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures. It’s about ‘We the People.’”

With less than six months left in his presidency, Biden used the prime-time address to defend his record, define his legacy and describe his vision for the rest of his term. He repeatedly called on Americans to take up the mantle of safeguarding the nation’s principles, asserting that as he prepares to exit public life, he was passing the baton to the public.

“The American people will choose the course of America’s future,” he said at one point.

“Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands,” he said at another.

With much of the country’s focus shifted to Vice President Harris’s rapid ascent as the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee, Biden cast himself as a bridge to the next generation of leadership.

“There is a time and place for long years of experience in public life,” Biden said, as family members listened quietly off camera. “There’s also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”

Biden talked for just over 10 minutes. The speech was his first opportunity to more fully explain why he decided to drop out of the race, a move that made him the first president since 1968 to voluntarily opt against seeking another term.

“There’s been a feeling that Joe Biden has disappeared from the scene and everybody is doing a eulogy for him,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley noted before the address. “Yet he’s still our president all the way until January. He wants to use the prime-time television address to remind people that our country is still in good stead under his leadership.”

In a letter making his campaign announcement on Sunday, Biden offered few details on his thought process.

“And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he wrote.

Previously, the 81-year-old Biden had dismissed questions about his advanced age and sluggish poll numbers, defiantly rejecting calls for him to step aside. His abrupt reversal upended an already turbulent campaign against Republican nominee Donald Trump, elevating Harris into the role of Democrats’ de facto leader.

He reached into history in explaining his decision, using John F. Kennedy’s famous turn of phrase to then pivot forward. “I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” he said. “That’s the best way to unite our nation.”

Biden didn’t mention Trump by name, though he used a line of attack he has previously lobbed against the former president.

“Does character in public life still matter?” he asked at one point, signaling his answer throughout the address.

“The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule,” Biden said toward the end of his remarks. “The people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America — lies in your hands.”

As he adjusts to his new role as a lame-duck, one-term president, there are signs that Biden is hoping to ramp up his presidential activity even as he prepares for the close of his half-century career in Washington.

“He is a lame-duck president legislatively, but he can still sign executive orders and be a world leader in trying to seek a cease-fire in the Middle East and continue funding to achieve liberation for Ukraine,” Brinkley noted. “He may have lost some stature here at home, but in the world of foreign policy, he’s more important than ever.”

In his remarks, Biden said he would spend the rest of his term pushing initiatives to combat gun violence, overhaul the Supreme Court and advance cancer research. He also called out foreign policy objectives he will pursue, including ending the war in Gaza, building up NATO and bringing home Americans unjustly detained overseas.

He has focused this week on Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, where his administration has been pushing for a cease-fire agreement that would result in the release of hostages held by Hamas since last October. Efforts to secure such a deal have intensified in recent days, coinciding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on Wednesday.

Biden has signaled that a hostage release — which would include several Americans — was on the “verge” of being a reality. He plans to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss the cease-fire agreement, a sign of the key role he will still play in world affairs.

“We’re still fighting in this fight together,” he told campaign staffers Monday. “I’m not going anywhere.”

It is not clear how much his decision to bow out of the presidential race will change his schedule going forward. Biden, who was out of sight for five days as he recovered from covid, has continued to maintain a relatively light schedule. He had been set to travel to Texas, California and Colorado this week for campaigning and fundraising but canceled all of that travel. He plans to spend the weekend at Camp David, and aides said some of the canceled events would be rescheduled.

Republicans have responded to Biden’s exit from the race by saying he should resign from the presidency altogether, suggesting that if he is not capable of running a reelection race, he should not remain in the White House. Some amplified conspiracy theories that he had died or was gravely ill.

Trump took to social media Tuesday to question whether Biden “is fit to run the U.S.A. for the next six months?”

Biden and his aides have forcefully pushed back on the idea that the president has been sidelined or otherwise diminished. The prime-time Oval Office address, the fourth of his presidency, was designed to give the president a national platform to frame his time in office and tout his long list of accomplishments while also offering a boost to the woman who is now Democrats’ likely nominee.

“She’s experienced. She’s tough. She’s capable,” Biden said of Harris, who watched the speech from Houston, where she plans to speak to the American Federation of Teachers on Thursday.

Biden’s low profile of late has had the effect of ceding the spotlight to Harris, who has been traveling the country to jump-start her presidential campaign. She used a keynote speech to more than 6,000 Black women on Wednesday to offer gratitude for his endorsement.

“Joe Biden is a leader with bold vision,” Harris told a gathering of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority in Indianapolis. “He cares about the future. He thinks about the future.”

In recent days, Harris’s campaign has been buoyed by a surge in enthusiasm, fundraising and support — all of which had been lacking in Biden’s campaign amid concerns about his age and health.

While the success or failure of Harris’s candidacy against Trump could determine the durability of Biden’s legacy and legislative record — much of which Trump has vowed to overturn in a second term — he must also grapple with the idea that his vice president has suddenly become a more influential figure in the Democratic Party.

But Biden’s decision to speak from behind the Resolute Desk, where presidents have often announced consequential developments on matters of domestic or global significance, highlighted the importance of the moment for a man coming to grips with the impending sunset of a lengthy career in public life.

“My fellow Americans, it’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” Biden said. “Nowhere else on earth could a kid with a stutter, from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States. But here I am.”

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