Biden pledges to protect Americans
President ‘still has no plan’
Joe Biden accepted the Democratic nomination for president with a promise to heal “one of the most difficult moments America has ever faced”.
“We will overcome this season of darkness,” he said.
In a damning address that blamed President Donald Trump for failing to protect Americans from the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Biden said he offered “a path of hope and light”.
“This is a life-changing election. This will determine what America is going to look like for a long, long time,” he said.
Mr Biden continued the strident attacks on Mr Trump that have characterised the past four nights of the slimmed-down online convention.
He said Mr Trump had steered the world’s worst response to the pandemic: “After all this time, the President still doesn’t have a plan. No miracle is coming.”
On day one of a Biden administration, he said, he would introduce rapid coronavirus testing and a national mandate for masks.
“In short we will do what we should have done from the very beginning.
“Our current President has failed in his very basic duty to the nation, he’s failed to protect America.
“My fellow Americans, that is unforgivable. I will protect us from every enemy, seen and unseen, every time.”
Mr Biden’s rhetoric was not supported by solid policy offerings.
He said he would build on the affordable health care act known as Obamacare that Mr Trump has tried to wind back.
He also promised wage equality and a path to sustainable energy without saying how either would be funded.
Mr Biden is campaigning as the unity candidate and said he would unite an America which wasn’t “just a collection of clashing interests, of red states and blue states”.
“We’re so much bigger than that, we’re so much better,” he said.
This is Mr Biden’s third run for president, after withdrawing his candidacy early in the 1998 and 2008 races.
His first run was tainted by a plagiarism scandal and disappointing early primary showing, while he bowed out after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama dominated the later cycle.
The night was introduced by actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld fame, who recalled how she met Mr Biden when she was researching her role in the comedy Veep and he was vice president.
A breast cancer survivor, Louis-Dreyfus told of how Mr Biden had been one of the first to call her when she was diagnosed. “His real warmth and kindness on that call … it made me cry,” she said.
“Our current President has made me cry too but it’s never had anything to with his warmth or kindness.”
Mr Trump’s tweet response to Mr Biden was tame by his standards: “In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks.”