Joe Biden gave a rare broadcast statement from the Oval Office on Sunday, marking his first public address since dropping his re-election attempt. He addressed the country’s future, his modest beginnings, and his achievements. He became the first sitting president to drop his re-election campaign in the final months leading up to the election, but he failed to offer an apparent reason for his decision. He spoke vaguely about saving democracy and skirting around the elephant in the room.
Critics say that Biden’s being forced out is not “saving democracy” but actually destroying it. Voters never voted in an open primary, and now they have been hand-delivered Kamala Harris as their only choice.
Biden recently stated that he had seen the need to bring his party together and that he was ready to “pass the torch” to the next generation. Personal ambition, he said, could not stand in the way of our democracy’s rescue. Despite the Oval Office address, it’s clear Joe Biden went down kicking and screaming. As of last week, Biden steadfastly refused to step aside.
Just hours before the Oval Office speech, former President Donald Trump claimed at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, that Biden withdrew because he was in such a deep hole. Knowing he couldn’t win, he abandoned the ship, he said. Trump then proceeded to verbally assault the party’s new nominee, Kamala Harris, calling her a radical left lunatic and the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe.
Republican groups’ attempts to define Senator Harris according to their viewpoint rather than her own have been deluging the airwaves in crucial swing states. Over the next 30 days, Trump’s campaign will spend 25 times as much as the Democratic Party.
During his primetime, nationally broadcast speech, Joe Biden had the chance to counter the criticisms leveled against his vice president and to dismiss any doubts about his capacity to carry out the responsibilities of the presidency. For the most part, he turned down this chance.
