President Joe Biden saved his most powerful argument against Donald Trump for the moment he told the nation why he was no longer the person to make it.
In a primetime Oval Office address on Wednesday, Biden explained his decision to end his bid for reelection after weeks of humiliating public debate over his age and mental cognition as instead motivated by a desire to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership at a time of unmatched peril.
"I revere this office, but I love my country more. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president," Biden said. "But … the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think (is) more important than any title," Biden said. "Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition."
His speech ceded the political stage to Kamala Harris, ushering in an unusual period heading into the election where the vice president, not the president, will lead their party. This reversal of power dynamics will require Biden to swallow his own aspirations, may at times compromise his dignity, and may prompt Harris, at some point — perhaps as soon as this week over Gaza — to break from her boss for her own political good.
Most importantly, Biden's speech, his allusions to history, his stylization of his decision to step aside as a service to the nation, and his detailed definition of what America means, represented a brutal political indictment of Trump.
Biden opened his speech behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office referring to great presidents in the pantheon and how their lives and actions reflected the character of the nation they built and led.
"Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington showed us presidents are not kings; Abraham Lincoln, who implored us to reject malice; Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear," Biden said. His implication from each historical example was clear. He sees Trump, the Republican nominee and an ex-president seeking to dedicate a new term to "retribution," as the antithesis of all these values and is therefore the most un-American president to ever hold or seek the office.
Biden was doing what presidents often do at a time of crisis, reaching into the national mythology to convince Americans to honor the foundational principles of the country built up through decades of words and action. In case anyone had missed the point, he returned to his historic narrative at the end of the speech, quoting founder Benjamin Franklin's maxim: "A republic, if you can keep it."
The president added: "Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands," assigning to voters the task of what he regards as a fight to save democracy against Trump's perceived threat -- which he now won't be able to do himself in November's election.
Read Stephen's full analysis of the speech here.
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