• Biden gives an emotional goodbye to Delaware,
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden offered an emotional farewell to his home state Tuesday, weeping openly several times as he spoke in front of a bank of Delaware flags before boarding a flight to Washington for his swearing-in as president at noon Wednesday.
“I know these are dark times. But there’s always light,” Mr. Biden said from the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/ Reserve Center at the New Castle Airport, a venue named after his son, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
“You’ve been there for us in the good and the bad and never walked away,” Mr. Biden said, after calling out to several friends in the audience. “And I am proud, proud, proud, proud to be a son of Delaware.”
As Mr. Biden spoke, tears rolled down his face, and he fought for control several times.
Paraphrasing an adage from Irish writer James Joyce, Mr. Biden said: “Excuse the emotion. But when
I die, Delaware will be written on my heart.”
Mr. Biden said his only regret was that his eldest son, who had been the state’s attorney general and was looking toward a run for governor before his death, was not the one leaving for Washington to be sworn in as president. Mr. Biden’s plane arrived at Joint Base Andrews two hours later.
Mr. Biden’s raw goodbye matched the tumultuous moment in the country’s history as he prepares to take over as president.
More than 20,000 troops are billeted in the nation’s capital to keep peace during Mr. Biden’s inauguration. And roughly 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, which is spreading across the nation amid a struggling effort to vaccinate the most vulnerable.
The events leading up to the inauguration will be subdued rather than celebratory and festive. Even before the Capitol riot two weeks ago, many events associated with a transfer of power had already been scaled back due to the virus.