President Joe Biden delivered a prime-time speech on Wednesday night to make his case for his presidency as he reluctantly leaves the White House after five decades in politics.
‘This will be my final address to you from the American people, from the Oval Office, from this desk as president. And I’ve been thinking a lot about who we are and maybe even more importantly, who we should be,’ he said.
He made his final address to the nation from the Oval Office, speaking from behind the Resolute Desk. Ahead of his remarks, the White House released a document detailing his his four years as president. It ran over 100 pages.
Biden, 82, has spent the past few weeks trying to cement his legacy, going on a farewell tour as wildfires rage through California.
The president laid out his foreign policy accomplishments on Monday. On Wednesday he announced a ceasefire deal in the Middle East designed to end the war in Gaza and bristled at a question of whether Donald Trump also deserved credit.
The White House social media accounts have been in over drive, posting lists of Biden’s accomplishments: his infrastructure law, the clean energy initiatives and bringing the country out of the COVID pandemic.
Biden, in a letter to the nation released Wednesday morning, described the country as ‘stronger, more prosperous and more secure’ than it was four years ago.
‘It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,’ Biden wrote.
‘Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States,’ he said.
‘I have given my heart and my soul to our nation. And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.’
He also touted his economic record, which included a string of more than 40 consecutive months of job, but also a period of high inflation that spiked concerns about his handling of the economy and contributed to his election loss.
‘Today, we have the strongest economy in the world and have created a record 16.6 million new jobs. Wages are up. Inflation continues to come down. The racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years.’
‘We’re rebuilding our entire nation—urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities. Manufacturing is coming back to America,’ Biden wrote.
But his presidency had its failures, including his quest to expand social services, including lowering the cost of child care and sustaining programs to cut child poverty.
There was the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan where 13 American soldiers were killed in an airport bombing. And his controversial pardon of his son Hunter.
Ukraine’s war with Russia also hangs over the final days of the Biden’s presidency.
Biden himself has been wistful as his prepares to leave the White House on January 20th.
He’s even argued he could have beaten Donald Trump in the November election.
‘It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,’ Biden told USA Today, citing polling he reviewed.
He reluctantly ended his presidential ambitions in July, after a disastrous debate performance against Trump led Democrats leaders to nudge him out the door.
His age was evident as he searched for words, fumbled in his message and shuffled on to the stage.
He leaves office with the lowest approval numbers of his presidency. A CNN poll found only 36% of adults say they approve of the way Biden handled his time in office, matching his previous low mark in CNN polling during his term.
Trump, meanwhile, comes in with a mandate, having won the popular vote and every battleground state.
Biden, however, has vowed to stay a part of public life.
‘I’m not going to be out of sight or out of mind,’ he said last week when asked about his post-presidential life.
He will visit Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday – his final full day as president of the United States. His victory state’s primary put him on the road to winning the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race.
He and Jill Biden will attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Then they will head to California, NBC News reported, to stay in Santa Ynez, where they spent time in August on vacation.
After Trump takes the oath of office, they will board the blue-and-white 747 for their journey west.
But it will no longer be Air Force One – the designation for the plane that carries the President of the United States. The flight will simply be known as Special Mission.