Joe Biden Says He Exited Race Because It Was Time To “Pass The Torch” To Next Generation: “I Revere This Office, But I Love My Country More”
UPDATE: President Joe Biden, in an Oval Office speech Wednesday, said that he concluded in recent weeks that “the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.”
“It’s the best way to unite our nation,” Biden said, elaborating on his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
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“You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life; there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices, and that time and place is now.”
Biden said that in recent weeks, “it became clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe our record as president, our leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy.”
Biden’s 11-minute of remarks was a valedictory of his accomplishments during his term. He reminded that when he took office, the country was still in the midst of “the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” and “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
“We came together as Americans. We got through it. We emerged stronger and more prosperous and more secure,” he said.
The president also talked of his political career, including more than 50 years in the Senate, as vice president and as president.
“No where 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 United States,” Biden said. “But here I am.”
But Biden said that “I revere this office, but I love my country more,” as he framed the upcoming election as one that will “choose the course of America’s future.” He reiterated his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, while not mentioning the name of Donald Trump.
Instead, as he outlined the stakes of the race, he quoted from Benjamin Franklin, asked if the founders had given the country a monarch or a republican. “Franklin’s response was, ‘A republic — if you can keep it.”
With a whip round domestic and international situations, Biden laid out a fairly ambitious last few months of his administration at home and abroad. That includes what he called Supreme Court reform, with reports that he will propose setting term limits for justices rather than lifetime appointments.
In his speech, Biden did not talk of any health issues or concerns that he had slipped in recent months, culminating in a dismal debate performance on June 27. But in talking of his desire to unite the party, the president was referring to the three weeks of discord since then, as donors and lawmakers called for him to step aside given the stakes of the election.
Harris watched the speech from Houston, TX, where she has been visiting an emergency operations center to receive a briefing on the recovery efforts from Hurricane Beryl.
Inside the Oval Office, Biden family members were seated off to the side, including First Lady Jill Biden, son Hunter and daughter Ashley, and his longtime adviser Mike Donilon. Also there was White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and aide Annie Tomasini, and they broke into applause after the speech ended, per a pool report.
Then, after the first lady walked to the Resolute Desk and joined her husband, the president said, “This has been the honor of a lifetime.”
Staffers gathered in the East Room to watch the speech, then went to the Rose Garden where Biden gave brief remarks.
Trump bashed the speech as “barely understandable,” while his political strategist Chris LaCivita vowed to have their attorneys sent letters to the major networks “regarding equal time.”
But the FCC’s equal time rule includes a bona fide news exemption, i.e. for newscasts, news events, press conferences, etc., and it applies to candidates, of which Biden is no longer one of them. Generally, equal time rules apply when a candidate gets airtime on entertainment programming. Perhaps the highest profile recent example of the equal time rule being invoked came after Trump hosted Saturday Night Live in 2015 after launching his presidential bid. Some of his GOP rivals demanded — and got — airtime on NBC stations in return.
PREVIOUSLY: President Joe Biden plans to tell viewers Wednesday night that “the defense of democracy is more important than any title,” as he delivers an Oval Office address following his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people,” Biden plans to say, according to excerpts released today by the White House. “But this sacred task of perfecting our Union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures.”
Biden also plans to say that he “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 returned to the White House on Tuesday, two days after he released a letter on X/Twitter announcing that he was standing down in the presidential campaign. Shortly after that, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic ticket.
Broadcast networks plan special reports on Biden’s remarks, set to start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, with coverage also across cable news and streaming channels.
In his remarks, Biden also plans to say that he will be “focused on my job as president” in the remaining six months of his term.
“That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families and grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights – from the right to vote – to the right to choose,” Biden plans to say.
“That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families and grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights – from the right to vote – to the right to choose,” the president will say.
Earlier today, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the suggestion that Biden should resign now was “ridiculous.” She said that the president’s decision to drop out of the race was “not about his health,” and that he believed that he could serve another four years. She said that the decision to drop out was made on Saturday evening, when he met with a small group of advisers, and the decision was finalized the next day. The letter was posted to social media at 1:46 p.m. ET.
The Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee this afternoon approved plans for a virtual roll call of delegates to select the next nominee as soon as August 1. Those plans were in the works before Biden dropped out because of concerns that the Democratic National Convention, to be held August 19-22 in Chicago, would be too close to state ballot deadlines.
Harris already has amassed enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, with no major opposition challenging her so far.
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