Roving Periscope: Forced to quit, Biden claims he passed the torch to Harris to “save democracy”

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Four days after quitting the race under mounting Democratic pressure and falling health, and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the November 5 presidential election as his successor, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday claimed that he has passed the torch to the next generation to “save democracy.”

In his first televised address since his Sunday decision, he told Americans that he dropped out of the 2024 election to unite his party and his country, saying in a historic Oval Office speech that it was time to pass the torch to “younger voices,” the media reported on Thursday.

Biden, 81, hailed his “tough” and “capable” deputy, Harris, 59, who is set to become the new Democratic presidential nominee in the party’s forthcoming convention in August.

“The defense of democracy, which is at stake, is more important than any title,” Biden said. “I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation.”

The gaffe-prone President, suffering from serious advancing age-related issues, bowed out of the race later than any other president in US history on Sunday, giving in to weeks of pressure from Democrats after a disastrous CNN debate performance against Donald Trump on June 27 raised concerns about his age and mental acuity.

“America’s an idea, an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant,” he said in a frail voice, warning that democracy is at stake in the November election.

Using the powerfully symbolic setting of the Resolute Desk, Biden’s speech called for an end to the divisions in US politics and said the country was more powerful than “any dictator or tyrant.”

The veteran Democrat said there was a “time and a place for new voices, fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”
In a poignant sign of support for Biden after the toughest decision of his political life, most of his family sat watching him in the Oval Office as he spoke.

They included his wife Jill and daughter Ashley — who held hands near the end of his remarks – the President’s troubled son Hunter and some of Biden’s grandchildren.

First Lady Jill Biden later posted a letter on X thanking “those who never wavered” — an apparent backhanded dig at the Democrats who called on Biden to quit — and said it was “time to put that trust in Kamala.”

Biden’s withdrawal has upended Trump’s campaign, which had previously focused on the outgoing President’s age and mental acuity. Now it is Trump, 78, who is the oldest candidate in US history, vis-à-vis Harris, 59.

Republican nominee Trump, who had initially called for unity after surviving an assassination attempt on July 13, was in no mood for magnanimity after Biden’s speech.

“Crooked Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech was barely understandable, and so bad!” Trump said on social media.

Republicans have called for Biden to step down altogether, saying that if he is not fit to stand for re-election then he is not fit to serve as the President either anymore.

Biden however insisted that he was no lame duck and that he would continue to work on the economy and key foreign policy issues for the rest of his time in office—until his successor takes over in January 2025.

“Over the next six months I will be focused on doing my job as president,” he insisted.

One key goal is a peace deal in the Middle East — a legacy-defining dream that many US presidents before Biden have chased.

Biden, who has been increasingly critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday.

But in a sign of how quickly things are changing, Netanyahu will sit down separately that day with Harris as well, as well as meeting Trump in Florida on Friday.

The US election campaign meanwhile is moving ahead at full speed without Biden.

In his first rally since Harris secured enough delegates to become the de facto Democratic nominee, Trump hit out at Harris as his “new victim.”

“She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country,” he said, accusing Harris of hiding Biden’s “mental unfitness.”

Earlier, the White House denied there was any “cover-up” over Biden’s condition.

Harris was also on the campaign trail Wednesday, telling a Black college sorority in Indianapolis that “I am fighting for our nation’s future.”