While Kamala
Harris accepted the Democratic Party Vice-Presidential Nomination for the 2020
general election contest yesterday, something more remarkable was happening.
Among the host of speeches offered at the convention, one speech particularly
stood out. The Speech by former incumbent of the White House oval office, and
it wasn’t flattering of the current incumbent of that office. I decided to
place the materials delivered by President Barack H. Obama before the world,
just the way it was oratorically delivered.
This one is
for the History books; the content will ring louder than ever, by the time my
generation is dead and gone! The American History Books will relay one of the drizzling
remarkable assessment, one hardly done before, by a President to his successor.
President Barack Obama, who was bemoaned by the ‘Birther-troop’ headed by
President Donald Trump, had a few choice words at the convention that tells me,
the nation will find its way out of this mess; out of this decapitating and crippling
Republican Presidency. Hear the Wiseman speak, hear the tall bright lanky Harvard
law Graduate, speak to a University of Pennsylvania graduate. This is telling of
what it takes to rule over America.
Good evening, everybody. As you've
seen by now, this isn't a normal convention. It's not a normal time. So
tonight, I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election.
Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come.
I'm in Philadelphia, where our
Constitution was drafted and signed. It wasn't a perfect document. It allowed
for the inhumanity of slavery and failed to guarantee women -- and even men who
didn't own property -- the right to participate in the political process. But
embedded in this document was a North Star that would guide future generations;
a system of representative government -- a democracy -- through which we could
better realize our highest ideals. Through civil war and bitter struggles, we improved
this Constitution to include the voices of those who'd once been left out. And
gradually, we made this country more just, more equal, and freer.
The one Constitutional office elected
by all of the people is the presidency. So at minimum, we should expect a
president to feel a sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of all
330 million of us -- regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we
love, how much money we have -- or who we voted for.
But we should also expect a president
to be the custodian of this democracy. We should expect that regardless of ego,
ambition, or political beliefs, the president will preserve, protect, and
defend the freedoms and ideals that so many Americans marched for and went to
jail for; fought for and died for.
I have sat in the Oval Office with
both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my
successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the
sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the
job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover
some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.
But he never did. For close to four
years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding
common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help
anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as
anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he
craves.
Donald Trump hasn't grown into the
job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000
Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than
ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly
diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.
Now, I know that in times as
polarized as these, most of you have already made up your mind. But maybe
you're still not sure which candidate you'll vote for -- or whether you'll vote
at all. Maybe you're tired of the direction we're headed, but you can't see a
better path yet, or you just don't know enough about the person who wants to
lead us there.
So let me tell you about my friend
Joe Biden.
Twelve years ago, when I began my search
for a vice president, I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother. Joe and I
came from different places and different generations. But what I quickly came
to admire about him is his resilience, born of too much struggle; his empathy,
born of too much grief. Joe's a man who learned -- early on -- to treat every
person he meets with respect and dignity, living by the words his parents
taught him: "No one's better than you, Joe, but you're better than
nobody."
That empathy, that decency, the
belief that everybody counts -- that's who Joe is.
When he talks with someone who's lost
her job, Joe remembers the night his father sat him down to say that he'd lost
his.
When Joe listens to a parent who's
trying to hold it all together right now, he does it as the single dad who took
the train back to Wilmington each and every night so he could tuck his kids
into bed.
When he meets with military families
who've lost their hero, he does it as a kindred spirit; the parent of an
American soldier; somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.
For eight years, Joe was the last one
in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better president --
and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country.
And in my friend Kamala Harris, he's
chosen an ideal partner who's more than prepared for the job; someone who knows
what it's like to overcome barriers and who's made a career fighting to help
others live out their own American dream.
Along with the experience needed to
get things done, Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their
vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality.
They'll get this pandemic under
control, like Joe did when he helped me manage H1N1 and prevent an Ebola
outbreak from reaching our shores.
They'll expand health care to more
Americans, like Joe and I did ten years ago when he helped craft the Affordable
Care Act and nail down the votes to make it the law.
They'll rescue the economy, like Joe
helped me do after the Great Recession. I asked him to manage the Recovery Act,
which jumpstarted the longest stretch of job growth in history. And he sees
this moment now not as a chance to get back to where we were, but to make
long-overdue changes so that our economy actually makes life a little easier
for everybody -- whether it's the waitress trying to raise a kid on her own, or
the shift worker always on the edge of getting laid off, or the student
figuring out how to pay for next semester's classes.
Joe and Kamala will restore our
standing in the world -- and as we've learned from this pandemic, that matters.
Joe knows the world, and the world knows him. He knows that our true strength
comes from setting an example the world wants to follow. A nation that stands
with democracy, not dictators. A nation that can inspire and mobilize others to
overcome threats like climate change, terrorism, poverty, and disease.
But more than anything, what I know
about Joe and Kamala is that they actually care about every American. And they
care deeply about this democracy.
They believe that in a democracy, the
right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast
their ballot, not harder.
They believe that no one -- including
the president -- is above the law, and that no public official -- including the
president -- should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters.
They understand that in this
democracy, the Commander-in-Chief doesn't use the men and women of our
military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as
political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil. They
understand that political opponents aren't "un-American" just because
they disagree with you; that a free press isn't the "enemy" but the
way we hold officials accountable; that our ability to work together to solve
big problems like a pandemic depends on a fidelity to facts and science and
logic and not just making stuff up.
None of this should be controversial.
These shouldn't be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They're
American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable
him, have shown they don't believe in these things.
Tonight, I am asking you to believe
in Joe and Kamala's ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build
it back better. But here's the thing: no single American can fix this country
alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional --
you give me your vote; I make everything better. It requires an active and
informed citizenry. So I am also asking you to believe in your own ability --
to embrace your own responsibility as citizens -- to make sure that the basic
tenets of our democracy endure.
Because that's what at stake right
now. Our democracy.
Look, I understand why many Americans
are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in
Congress make it easy for special interests to stop progress. Believe me, I
know. I understand why a white factory worker who's seen his wages cut or his
job shipped overseas might feel like the government no longer looks out for
him, and why a Black mother might feel like it never looked out for her at all.
I understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder
whether there's still a place for him here; why a young person might look at
politics right now, the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and crazy
conspiracy theories and think, what's the point?
Well, here's the point: this
president and those in power -- those who benefit from keeping things the way
they are -- they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can't win you
over with their policies. So they're hoping to make it as hard as possible for
you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. That's how they
win. That's how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and
the lives of the people you love. That's how the economy will keep getting
skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more
people fall through the cracks. That's how a democracy withers, until it's no
democracy at all.
We can't let that happen. Do not let
them take away your power. Don't let them take away your democracy. Make a plan
right now for how you're going to get involved and vote. Do it as early as you
can and tell your family and friends how they can vote too. Do what Americans
have done for over two centuries when faced with even tougher times than this
-- all those quiet heroes who found the courage to keep marching, keep pushing
in the face of hardship and injustice.
Last month, we lost a giant of
American democracy in John Lewis. Some years ago, I sat down with John and the
few remaining leaders of the early Civil Rights Movement. One of them told me
he never imagined he'd walk into the White House and see a president who looked
like his grandson. Then he told me that he'd looked it up, and it turned out
that on the very day that I was born, he was marching into a jail cell, trying
to end Jim Crow segregation in the South.
What we do echoes through the
generations.
Whatever our backgrounds, we're all
the children of Americans who fought the good fight. Great grandparents working
in firetraps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing
their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos told to go back
where they came from. Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs, made to feel
suspect for the way they worshipped. Black Americans chained and whipped and
hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote.
If anyone had a right to believe that
this democracy did not work, and could not work, it was those Americans. Our
ancestors. They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short
all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from
the myth. And yet, instead of giving up, they joined together and said somehow,
some way, we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words, in
our founding documents, to life.
I've seen that same spirit rising
these past few years. Folks of every age and background who packed city centers
and airports and rural roads so that families wouldn't be separated. So that
another classroom wouldn't get shot up. So that our kids won't grow up on an
uninhabitable planet. Americans of all races joining together to declare, in
the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state, that Black Lives
Matter, no more, but no less, so that no child in this country feels the
continuing sting of racism.
To the young people who led us this
summer, telling us we need to be better -- in so many ways, you are this
country's dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that
everyone has equal worth. For you, it's a given -- a conviction. And what I
want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of
self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions.
You can give our democracy new
meaning. You can take it to a better place. You're the missing ingredient --
the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully
lives up to its creed.
That work will continue long after
this election. But any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of
this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if
that's what it takes to win. So we have to get busy building it up -- by
pouring all our effort into these 76 days, and by voting like never before --
for Joe and Kamala, and candidates up and down the ticket, so that we leave no
doubt about what this country we love stands for -- today and for all our days
to come.
Stay safe. God bless.
Please Vote
on or before November 3, 2020!
Please Vote
on or before November 3, 2020!!.
Please Vote
on or before November 3, 2020.!!!
