‘America, I Gave My Best To You’: Emotional Biden Closes DNC's First Night

 

President Joe Biden speaks at the Democratic National Convention.

President Joe Biden Monday delivered an emotional speech to close out the first night of the Democratic National Convention, addressing his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race and urging voters to “preserve democracy” by supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Key Facts

The convention crowd greeted a visibly emotional Biden with a lengthy standing ovation along with chants of “Thank you, Joe,” and “We love Joe,” and he responded with “America, I love you.”

After highlighting his major legislative achievements in the past four years, Biden said serving as president has been his life’s greatest honor and added “I love the job, but I love my country more” when referencing his decision to drop out of the 2024 contest.

Biden also dismissed reports about his frustration over being pushed to bow out of the race saying “All this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down,= hat’s not true.”

Speaking about his long political career—which included a few jokes about his age—Biden said “I made a lot of mistakes in my career” before adding “America, I gave my best to you.”

The president said picking Harris as his running mate was the very first decision he made after becoming the Democratic nominee in 2020 and “that was the best decision I made in my whole career.”

News Peg

Biden dedicated a sizable portion of his speech to criticize former President Donald Trump. “You can’t say you love the country only when you win,” the President said while referring to the January 6 capitol riots. The President also criticized his predecessor and Republican nominee for referring to America as a failing nation that is losing to the world and said: “He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong.” Biden said no commander-in-chief should “ever bow down to a dictator the way Trump bows down to Putin,” before adding “I never have and I promise, Kamala Harris will never do it.” Biden said he never thought he would have to refer to an American president as “a liar so many times” before calling out Trump for “lying about the border” and “killing the strongest bipartisan border deal.”

Crucial Quote

“Crime is down on my watch. And crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office instead of a convicted felon,” Biden said.

Key Background

Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commemorated Biden’s legacy earlier in the evening. In a surprise appearance on stage, Harris addressed the President: “Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you.” Clinton also began her speech by thanking Biden and calling him “democracy’s champion at home and abroad.” The former secretary of state said Biden “brought dignity, decency, and confidence back to the White House, and he showed what it means to be a true patriot.”