Biden vows to end Trump-era ‘darkness’
■ Says it will be a ‘life-changing’ election for US’ future
Joe Biden pledged that he will be an “ally of the light” as he formally accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, urging voters to unite to overcome a “season of darkness” that his rival President Donald Trump has cloaked America for much too long.
Addressing the challenges facing the country, including the deadly coronavirus pandemic, economic slowdown and climate change, Biden asked Americans to entrust him with the presidency in the November elections, vowing to “draw on the best of us, not the worst.”
On the final day of the four-day virtual Democratic National
Convention on Thursday, Biden, 77, accepted the Democratic Party’s nomimation as the presidential candidate to challenge incumbent President Trump, a Republican, in the November 3 presidential election. “It is with great honour and humility that I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America. But while I will be a Democratic candidate, I will be an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn’t support me as I will for those who did,” he said in an impassioned speech that lasted 25 minutes.
“This is a life-changing election that will determine America’s future for a very long time,” Biden, the former vice president said. “It’s time for us, for We the People, to come together,” he said.
“For make no mistake. United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America. We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege,” Biden said.
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Wilmington, Aug. 21: Joe Biden promised on Thursday to end the “darkness” of Donald Trump’s presidency in a speech accepting the Democratic nomination with an impassioned call for unity and a return to optimism.
“The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger, too much fear, too much division,” Biden said.
“If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness,” he said.
“It’s time for us, for we the people, to come together.” Speaking in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, but with an audience almost entirely online or on television, Biden’s acceptance speech reflected the enormity of the shutdown that has upended life across the United States in the battle against the deadly Coronavirus.
And Biden, 77, urged Americans in blistering terms to punish Trump for the chaos that has seen more than 1,70,000 deaths and economic calamity.
“We lead the world in deaths,” he said in the 22minute speech, calling Trump’s performance “unforgivable.” “On day one” of his own presidency, Biden said, he would implement a national Covid-19 plan and mandate mask wearing.
Biden is on his third White House bid after failing to win the nomination in 1988 and 2008.
But after months of relentless mockery from Trump and other Republicans who claim Biden is senile, the veteran politician’s speech was markedly fluent and always full of passion.
Democrats hope the strong performance, as well as the vice presidential nomination of Kamala Harris — the first woman of colour ever to make it onto the White House ticket of a major party —will deflate those attacks.