Biden, in fiery and emotional convention speech, makes a case for Harris
CHICAGO — President Biden, in a fiery and emotional address to fellow Democrats, declared “America is winning” Monday night as he attempted to define his legacy on the environment, the economy and democracy in a speech he believed only a month ago would be the launch of his reelection bid.
The bittersweet moment on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, coming after tributes from Biden’s wife and daughter, started late and went past midnight on the East Coast after lengthy tributes to Vice President Kamala Harris, his replacement at the top of the ticket.
The belated adulation while many Americans slept underscored the complex challenge of the convention’s first night: celebrating a one-term president who knocked Donald Trump out of the White House while shoring up Biden’s stand-in for another competitive contest with former President Trump.
Biden’s nearly hourlong speech was a swan song to a career that has spanned half a century, and the visibly emotional president referred to a favorite lyric to describe his mindset.
“Let me know in my heart, when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you,” Biden said, quoting a Norah Jones song.
But he also looked forward, describing his selection of Harris as his running mate four years ago as the best decision he has made in his career and arguing that electing the vice president in November is critical to building up his legacy and accomplishments.
“She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity. Her story represents the best American story. Like many of our best presidents, she was also vice president,” joked Biden, who served as President Obama’s No. 2. “She’ll be a president our children could look up to. She’ll be a president respected by world leaders because she already is. She’ll be a president we can all be proud of, and she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America’s future.”
Biden sounded exhausted from the toll of the war between Israel and Hamas that is likely to play a large role in defining his foreign policy.
“Those press, those protesters out the street, they have a point,” he said of the pro-Palestinian protesters who have marched through Chicago, a shift in tone from his rhetoric that has mostly sided with Israel as he pledged to keep working toward a cease-fire. “A lot of innocent people are being killed — on both sides.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters were removed after unfurling a banner during Biden’s remarks. It appeared to read, “Stop Arming Israel.” They appeared to be near the Florida delegation.
Whereas many of the evening’s speakers focused on describing the historic nature of Harris’ run and describing their personal relationships with her, the vice president, in a surprise appearance at the convention Monday, focused on Biden’s legacy.
“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president, Joe Biden, who will be speaking later tonight,” Harris said, after receiving a rapturous response when she stepped onstage in Chicago. “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. Thank you.”
The opening night of the convention was marked by soaring rhetoric from some of the nation’s top Democratic leaders, emotion such as when Biden appeared to tear up after he took the stage and embraced his daughter, and dark warnings about the prospect of former President Trump winning another term.
There were also frequent references to Trump’s 34 felony convictions, at one point leading the thousands of delegates gathered in the United Center to chant “Lock him up! Look him up!” — a play on the frequent outbreak of “Lock her up!” chants about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during Trump rallies in 2016.
Biden prosecuted the case against Trump in ways that he failed to do in the debate performance that sowed doubts about his ability to beat him. He blamed Trump for building the nation’s debt to fund tax cuts for the wealthy while in office and warned he would give corporations and high earners even bigger breaks in a second term, while imposing tariffs that would raise consumer prices and destroying abortion rights.
But policy was in many ways beside the point, as Biden invoked Trump’s role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection and his statement that he would act as a dictator on his first day in office.
“We almost lost everything about who we are as a country and that threat — this is not hyperbole — that threat is still very much alive,” he said. “Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election result if he loses again. Think about that.”
Clinton, who made history as the first female presidential nominee for a major party in 2016, spoke about the arc of women’s political power — women winning the right to vote after Clinton’s mother was born, Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s groundbreaking presidential run in 1972, Geraldine Ferraro becoming the first woman to appear on a major party ticket in 1984 and her own groundbreaking run.
“It was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president. And nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no ceilings on our dreams,” she said, before urging the delegates to work hard in the closing months of the campaign. “Together, we put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest, glass ceiling, and tonight, tonight, we’re so close to breaking through once and for all.
“And you know what? On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office,” Clinton said in a speech that was greeted with raucous cheers and brought the crowd to its feet.
Before Biden spoke, many of the speakers on Monday struck a strong populist tone. Shawn Fain, leader of the United Auto Workers, led the crowd in a “Trump’s a scab” chant as he praised Biden and Harris for joining workers on strike and cast Trump as a plutocrat, bent on helping “the other side.”
“We have to help her win, because we know that Donald Trump” being reelected would result in him selling out the nation with the goal of “lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
The overturning of Roe vs. Wade, and the resulting restrictions on abortion access in many states, was also a theme. Two female speakers recounted their struggles accessing medical care after their pregnancies became unviable, while a third became pregnant at age 12 after she was raped by her stepfather.
The speech by Biden, 81, bookended one of the more unusual months in modern American politics after he was nudged aside by his own party four weeks ago over concerns he lacked the vigor to defeat former President Trump. He denied reports that he was angry at those who urged him to step aside.
Instead of speaking Thursday night, as the nominee, he spoke on opening night before heading off for vacation in Santa Barbara County.
Biden’s remarks reflected his stump speech — his decision to run for president after the violent antisemitic protest in Charlottesville, Va., and his pride over leading the nation out of the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, growing the economy, creating jobs and passing legislation about gun safety, climate change, infrastructure and other measures.
He also noted that he was too young to serve in the Senate when he was first elected in 1972 and now he was too old to be president.
The party is now trying to celebrate him, while acknowledging that his exit has added excitement to a race that seemed headed toward failure just four weeks ago.
“The origin story of the Latino voter literally begins in her bloodline,” one expert says of Julie Chavez Rodriguez. Can she win over Latinos for Kamala Harris?
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who helped orchestrate the effort to persuade Biden to drop out, called him “selfless” and “one of the greatest, most consequential presidents in our country’s history” while speaking to reporters Monday at the California delegation breakfast. “I just wanted to win this election,” she said, when asked about her now-frayed relationship.
Democrats welcomed Biden as a hero, frequently chanting “Thank you, Joe!” and “We love Joe!” But he remains unpopular with the nation at large, with approval from 38% of voters compared with 56% who disapprove of him, according to the Fivethirtyeight.com polling average.
Biden is hoping those numbers will improve over the next several years, as they often do for former presidents, when they retreat from the daily news cycle. Since announcing his departure from the campaign, Biden has tried to boost Harris by pointing to his legacy projects, including trillions spent on infrastructure, the social safety net and environmental projects.
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