WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has told Americans that he quit the 2024 election race to unite the nation, saying in a historic Oval Office speech that it was time to pass the torch to “younger voices.”
“I respect this office. But I love my nation more,” Biden said in an elegiac prime-time address to the Americans asking his divided country to embrace democracy and shun hate and violence.
“The defense of democracy, which is at stake, is more significant than any title,” he said. “I have taken the decision the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our country.”
In his first televised address since his superb decision, President Biden hailed Kamala Harris, who is set to be the new Democratic presidential nominee.
Speaking in a quiet voice following a Covid infection, the President used the powerfully symbolic setting to insist on his achievements — while acknowledging it was time to move on.
Biden said there was a “time and a place for fresh voices, new voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”
In a poignant sign of support for President Biden following the toughest decision of his political life, most of his family sat watching him in the Oval Office as the President spoke.
They included his daughter Ashley and wife Jill — who held hands near the end of his remarks — Biden’s troubled son Hunter and Biden’s grandchildren.
Biden’s withdrawal has upset Trump’s campaign, which had earlier focused on Biden’s age and mental health. Now it is Donald Trump, who is the oldest candidate in the history of the US.
Trump, who had earlier called for unity following surviving an assassination attempt on July 13, was in no mood for nobility following Biden’s speech.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech was barely understandable, and sooo bad!” Trump wrote on social media.
Republicans have called for President Biden to quit altogether, saying that if he is not fit to stand for reelection then he is also not fit to serve as President of the US.
President Biden, who has been increasingly critical over Israel’s brutal military campaign in the Gaza Strip, meets Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday.
But in a sign of how rapidly things are changing, Israeli PM will sit down separately that day with Harris and Trump in Florida on Friday. The US election campaign is moving ahead at full speed without Joe Biden.
