On the first day of the Democratic National Convention, the American president gives a long, emotional speech and looks back on half a century as a politician. The election of Kamala Harris as vice president was the best decision of his career.
He was actually supposed to crown the Democratic National Convention as presidential candidate, with a closing speech as the finale. But now Joe Biden spoke at the beginning, at the opening in the huge United Center in Chicago. On Thursday, the last day of the major event, the big stage will be available to the new star of the Democrats – Kamala Harris. The party convention unexpectedly became a farewell event for the American president, even though he will still be in office for a few months. After his appearance in Chicago, he withdrew for the rest of the week on family vacation and left the spotlight to others. That is significant; as at the beginning of his presidency, he seems to see himself again as an interim president and apparently wants above all to prepare the ground for Harris.
Reversal of roles
He did emphasise in his speech that he did not want to look back, but rather to look forward and pass the torch. But he has suddenly become a figure of the past, partly due to his age and the circumstances of his withdrawal. All speakers emphasised how much he had made this difficult decision for the benefit of his country and selflessly put his personal ambitions aside for the common good. But everyone also suspected that he probably did not make way for Kamala Harris entirely voluntarily and that it took some pressure from those around him. This and the memory of the fatal TV debate made him a somewhat tragic figure at the party conference, who, together with his companions, tried to make his farewell as dignified as possible.
The sudden reversal of roles was also in keeping with Kamala Harris’s brief appearance on Monday evening, contrary to custom, before Biden. She asked the crowd to applaud Biden, but it was obviously her crowd and her moment. The standing ovation was as much for her as it was for Biden, and it was for Biden not least because he made room for her.
The speech by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also noteworthy.
Hillary Clinton und Shawn Fain
Also noteworthy was the speech by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She outlined a history of American women that began with the right to vote 104 years ago, led to black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm running for president in 1972, to Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first woman to be nominated as vice president in 1984, to Hillary Clinton herself, who was the first woman to run for president in 2016, and finally to Kamala Harris, who is now trying again against the same opponent as Hillary Clinton.
In the darkness of the stadium, digital banners glowed with slogans such as “History is in our hands” and “Spread the faith,” phrases with which Biden often ended his speeches.
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, a union with 370,000 members that has been attracting attention for a year with historic strikes, praised Biden and Harris as supporters of the working class while wearing a red T-shirt with the slogan “Trump is a strikebreaker.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also represents the left wing of the Democrats, said she was convinced that Harris would support the Palestinian cause. The Gaza issue is explosive for the Democrats because opinions on it diverge within the party, and Harris has so far refrained from taking a position. On Monday afternoon, several thousand participants demonstrated against the war in the Middle East. There were some skirmishes with the police, but the feared escalation did not occur.
United Automobile Workers President Shawn Fain.
The rewritten campaign speech
Unfortunately, because the many speeches that began at 5 p.m. local time lasted longer than planned, Biden was also pushed out of prime time. When he finally took the stage at 10:30 p.m. after an introduction by First Lady Jill Biden and daughter Ashley, prime time was long over and many Americans were probably already in bed.
The audience applauded and applauded, so that he had to wait about five minutes before he could begin his speech. Perhaps he was wondering if the ovation was for his performance or his decision to make way. In any case, he wiped tears from his face.
“Thank you, Joe!” the crowd shouted. “America, I love you!” he shouted back. And for those who thought he was doomed, he shouted: “It’s summer, winter is over.”
Kamala Harris hugs Joe Biden after his speech.
“No anger or bitterness”
He then gave a detailed list of the achievements of his presidency, with the keywords infrastructure, jobs, middle class, unions, Covid-19, education, drug prices, health insurance and public safety. It is said that he reworked his original speech from when he was still a candidate, and indeed it sounded like a campaign speech for long stretches. He also did not avoid the explosive topics of Ukraine, China and, above all, Israel. He called for a ceasefire for the Gaza war. Criticism of Trump also took up a lot of space. Only then did he talk about Harris. “Choosing her as running mate was the best decision of my career,” he said. “Like many of our best presidents, she was vice president first,” before adding: “That was a joke.” (Biden himself was, as we know, Obama’s vice president.)
He finally said that he felt no anger or bitterness. “I love my country and I still have a lot to do in the months I have left as president.” In fact, he showed more energy in his hour-long speech than he had in a long time.
He was clearly keen to make it clear that Harris would continue his work. He stressed the continuity and parallels in their careers, saying, for example, that they were both social climbers from humble backgrounds who cared about the middle class.
“We saved democracy in 2020, we must save it again,” he cried. And, in a rather melancholy look back on his fifty-year career: “I was told then that I was too young to be a senator, and now that I am too old to remain president. America, I gave you my best.”