This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
Good evening and welcome to PBS News special coverage of President Biden's address to the nation.
I'm Jeff Bennett and I'm Ana Navaz.
The president's speech is his first major public appearance since ending his re-election campaign 3 days ago and endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic presidential nominee.
President Biden had been isolating at his beach home in Delaware with a COVID diagnosis for the last several days, but yesterday he tested negative for the virus and returned to White House as we await the president's remarks.
Let's go quickly now to our White House correspondent Laura Barone Lopez.
Laura, what should we expect to hear from the president tonight?
We're going to hear the president explain why he bowed out of the race omna and say that defending democracy is much more important than any job title.
The president will be joining us shortly from the Oval Office.
That's our White House correspondent Laura Barone Lopez from the White House, we will have full analysis here with our panel of experts to follow and of course we're bringing you the president's remarks as soon as he joins us again, the first time he is speaking publicly since ending his re-election campaign just 3 days ago.
Let's go live to the president.
My fellow Americans.
I'm speaking to you tonight from behind the resolute desk in the Oval Office.
This sacred space.
I'm surrounded by portraits, extraordinary American presidents.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Immortal words that guide this nation.
George Washington, who showed us presidents are not kings.
Abraham Lincoln who implored us to reject malice.
Franklin Roosevelt who inspired us to reject fear.
I reve this office.
I love my country more.
It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president.
But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake.
I think it's more important than any title.
I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people.
But this sacred task.
Perfecting our union.
It's not about me.
It's about you.
Your families Your futures It's about we the people.
We can never forget that.
And I never have.
I've made it clear that I believe America has had an affliction point.
On those rare moments in history.
When the decisions we make now.
Determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come.
America is going to have to choose.
Between moving forward or backward.
Between hope and hate.
Between unity and division.
We have to decide, do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect.
Freedom, justice, and democracy.
In this moment We can see those we disagree with, not as enemies but as as fellow Americans, can we do that?
Those character and public life still matter.
I believe you know the answer to these questions.
Because I know you, the American people.
And I know this.
We are a great nation because we are good people.
Would you like to meet in this office.
I promised to always level with you.
To tell you the truth.
The truth sacred cause of this country is larger than any one of us.
Those of us who cherry that cause.
Cherishes so much.
Cause of American democracy itself.
We must unite to protect it.
You know, in recent weeks it's become clear to me.
I need to unite my party.
This critical endeavor.
I believe My record as president.
My leadership in the world.
My vision for America's future.
All married at a 2nd term.
But nothing Nothing Can come in the way of saving our democracy.
That includes personal ambition.
So I've decided the best way forward.
Is the pass the torch to a new generation.
It's the best way to unite our nation.
I know there is a time and a place.
long years of experience in public life.
There's also a time and a place for new voices.
Fresh voices, yes, younger voices.
In that time and place is now.
In the next 6 months.
I'll be focused on doing my job as president.
That means I'll continue to lower costs for hardworking families.
Grow our economy.
I'll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose.
I'll keep calling out hate and extremism.
Make it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence.
Or any violence ever, period.
I'm going to keep keep speaking out.
Protect our kids from gun violence.
Our planet from climate crisis is the existential threat.
And I will keep fighting for my cancer moonshot.
So we can end cancer as we know it because we can do it.
I'm going to call for Supreme Court reform.
Because this is critical to our democracy.
Supreme Court reform.
You know, I will keep working to ensure American remain strong, secure, and the leader of the free world.
I'm the first president in this century.
To report to the American people.
That the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.
We'll keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin.
With taking over Ukraine.
Doing more damage.
We'll keep NATO stronger.
And I'll make it more powerful and more united than any time in all of our history.
I'll keep doing the same for allies in the Pacific.
You know, when I came to office, The conventional wisdom was that China would never would inevitably pass the surpass the United States.
That's not the case anymore.
And I'm going to keep working to end the war in Gaza.
Bring home all the hostages to bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war.
We're also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.
You know, I've come so far since my inauguration.
On that day I told you as I stood in the winter we're still in a winter.
Apparel And when are possibilities.
parallel possibilities.
We're in the grip of the we were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century.
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
We came together as Americans.
We got through it.
We merged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.
Today we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs a record.
Wages are up Inflation continues to come down.
racial wealth gap is the lowest it's been in 20 years.
We're literally rebuilding our entire nation, urban, suburban, rural, and tribal communities.
Manufacturing has come back to America.
We're leading the world again in chips and science and innovation.
We finally beat Big Pharm after all these years to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.
And I'm going to keep fighting to make sure we lower the costs for everyone, not just seniors.
More people have health care today in America than ever before.
And I saw one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families.
We were exposed to toxic materials.
You know, Most significant climate law ever, ever in the history of the world.
The first major gun safety law in 30 years.
Today Violent, the violent crime rate is at a 50-year low.
We're also securing our border.
Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office.
I've kept my commitment.
To appoint the first black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
I also kept my commitment.
To have an administration that looks like America.
The president for all Americans.
That's what I've done.
I ran for president 4 years ago.
Because I believed and still do that the soul of America was at stake.
The very nature of who we are was at stake.
That's still the case.
America's an idea.
An idea is stronger than any army.
Bigger than any ocean.
More powerful than any dictator or tyrant.
It's most powerful idea in the history of the world.
And ideas that we hold these truths to be self-evident.
all created equal.
And Daar are certainly inalienable rights.
Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
We've never fully lived up to it, to this sacred idea, but we've never walked away from it either.
And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.
Just a few months.
The American people will choose the course of America's future.
I made my choice.
I've made my views known.
I'd like to thank our great Vice President Kamala Harris.
It's the experienced, she's tough, she's capable.
She's been an incredible partner to me.
And a leader for our country.
Now the choice is up to you, the American people.
When you make that choice.
Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin's hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office.
Alongside the bus of Doctor King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.
When Ben Franklin was asked, as he emerged from the Can't the convention going on.
Whether the founders.
I've given America a monarchy republic.
Frank and response was republic.
If you can keep it.
Republic, if you can keep it.
Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands.
My fellow Americans has been the privilege of my life.
Serve this nation for over 50 years.
Nowhere else on earth.
But a kid with a stutter.
From modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Claremont, Delaware.
One day sit behind the resolute desk.
In the Oval Office as President of the United States.
Here I am.
That's what's so special about America.
We're a nation of promise and possibilities.
of dreamers and doers.
ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.
I'd give my heart and my soul to our nation.
Like so many others.
I've been blessed 1 million times in return.
The love and support of the American people.
I hope you have some idea how grateful I am.
All of you Great thing about America.
is here Kings and dictators do not rule.
The people do.
History is in your hands.
Power's in your hands.
The idea of America lies in your hands.
You just have to keep faith, keep the faith, and remember who we are.
Where the United States of America.
And there's simply nothing, nothing beyond our capacity.
We do it together.
So let's act together.
Preserve our democracy.
God bless you all.
May God protect our troops.
Thank you.
President Biden speaking to the nation from the Oval Office making a case for his legacy sweeping domestic legislation, the renewal of alliances abroad, a defense of democracy, really presenting himself as the bridge candidate.
He vowed to be back in 2020 and ultimately became this past weekend.
Let's turn to our panel now for more reporting and analysis.
We're joined by Republican strategist Kevin Madden, Democratic strategist, Guy Cecil, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, he joins us from Austin, Texas, and at the White House are Lara Barone Lopez, uh, Guy Cecil, you heard President Biden say, I revere this office, but I love this country more.
React to what you heard.
Well, I think he went into the speech wanting to do 3 things.
One, he wanted to talk about his own legacy, the historic achievements of this administration, the progress we've made as a country, and you wanted to talk a little bit about what he wanted to do for the last 6 months of his administration.
Second, I think he wanted to draw an implicit or maybe somewhat explicit comparison between the two candidates that will be on the ballot talking about passing it on to the next generation of Americans and being that bridge candidate that you talked about and third I think the two things, the two questions he asked the country were really important.
Do we believe that our opponents, our enemies, or are they fellow Americans, and do we believe that character matters and I think the end of that speech really wrapped that up, talking about his own service to the country, his own care for the country, and the humility he feels at serving as president.
So on all Tree of those fronts.
I thought he, he did a great job.
Kevin, a lot of folks are tuning in because they wanted more of an explanation, right, about why the president made the decision.
He did.
There's been a lot of reporting around his meeting with some of his closest closest advisors that help him get to that decision, but he said here, I believe my record as president, my vision for the future merited a second term, but nothing gets in the way of democracy that includes personal ambition.
What did you take away from that explanation?
Well, look, I think overall I think this was a very under.
address.
I think he failed to answer some of the questions and concerns that American people have out there about whether or not he's even capable to finish the rest of his term and I think those are very real concerns given the COVID diagnosis that he only had a few, only a week ago.
Um, I'd say the other thing too is that he, this speech, the way he delivered it reinforced a lot of the concerns that people have.
He was very low energy.
He stumbled over his delivery, um, and so I think, you know, one of the things that I'd say too is, That he tiptoed very close to a political speech.
Guy even mentioned that he wanted to draw a contrast between the two candidates for in the presidential race and you know reference in reference to Kamala Harris, this is an Oval Office speech where the American public is looking to hear a bit more of a uh unity message from the president and a message about his about his, his, his current position and I think it did tiptoe into a political, uh, uh.
Mentioning her by saying I've made my preference clear, right, and I think that he largely hit on the unity message, but I think that was somewhat dulled by how political it felt and I think this is a very memorable moment.
But it was a very unmemorable message and delivery from the president.
Let's bring in, bring in Doug Brinkley, uh, because Doug, this has been this entire thing has been unprecedented.
This is a word that's been kicked around a lot this election cycle, a sitting president and incumbent abandoning his bid this this late, but there are some parallels, namely LBJ, who in March of 1968 famously said he would not seek nor would he accept the nomination of the party.
What parallels do you see between our 36th and 46th president.
But for starters, I think he, his main thing he accomplished was that he's no longer in Rehoboth Beach.
He did have COVID, but he's back and he used the Oval Office to say, I'm in charge.
It's why he named so many presidents, the greats, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, and then voke Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez, meaning I'm important and I'm in the Oval Office and he got that across, but it, it, it did when LBJ dropped down in 1968, it had the the effect of everybody couldn't believe it.
With shock and awe because he did it unexpectedly at the end of March, and, you know, in this case, you know, President Bide that basically said this, but we heard right now in his social media announcement that went everywhere, we've been talking about it for days, so there wasn't any memorable line tonight or something that's going to be remembered in history, and I agree he seemed weak and presentation considering this is the big moment to get across to the American people.
Um, I, you know, what we're hoping is that his health is good.
It's been an issue the White House is stubbornly doesn't want to talk about it.
Is he in cognitive decline?
Is he not?
What's going on?
And where nobody's ever been quite comfortable with their answers because it could be if he had not been, if he's been infirm for a while and they didn't let people know that causes them a legacy issue, but it, it was like a mini, mini, mini farewell address for a president that still has 6 long months.
To lead our nation.
Let's bring in Laura Barone Lopez over at the White House.
Laura, you were watching this unfold, as were we here and pick up on some of these points that Kevin raised that Doug just raised that many of those questions that voters have had about the president's ability to carry forward his duties about any kind of decline maybe weren't necessarily answered tonight.
Is that something that the White House wanted to explicitly address.
What did you take away?
Well, part of bringing the president, you know, part of the president coming back to the White House, giving this address from the Oval as Douglas Brinkley was was saying was to give this presentation that he is back at the White House doing his work.
He is going to continue to do the work for the remainder of his term, and there's a lot that he wants to accomplish in the time that he has left.
He wants to get a ceasefire deal between Gaza and Israel, and he also is going to try to do as much as he can.
On NATO in Ukraine to keep that those alliances together, but White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did address that question today, Ana.
She was asked about the president's health, and she said that he did not bow out of the race because of his health, but that had nothing to do with it.
And so I expect that the White House is going to be asked again multiple questions about whether or not the president, the president still has the fitness and the capability to finish the job.
He maintains that he does.
I think.
stood down in this speech I know was also how heartfelt and emotional he was.
He talked about being grateful for being able to serve as the president talked about being someone who was a kid with a stutter being able to rise to this level, to this office, and hold it and also you could really hear that he still felt like he maybe could have won the election, and that's something to the final days that he really held tight to that he thought that he very well could have maybe beaten Trump and now We'll never know and it wasn't until really right before this past Sunday that the president ultimately decided that it was time for him to bow out and it was in large part because he had lost a lot of the backing of the leaders across his party.
Let's shift our focus to the Vice President Harris now that she's the likely nominee, how does she establish herself?
How does she distinguish herself, uh, when you have an incumbent who's still in office obviously but who also very much wants to remain part of this debate.
Sure, well, it's always a challenge for any vice president when they are still serving in an administration, but I think if you look at Kamala's performance over the last 3 days, uh, she has united our party.
She has collected $127 million in grassroots contributions.
70% of those from first-time contributors.
They've recruited 72,000 new volunteers.
She's given 2 to 3 speeches every day drawing a pretty sharp contrast, not just focused on the administration record, which I'm sure she will do.
But focused on her long career as a prosecutor, as an attorney general, as the senator from California, so I think her number one job is to use this opportunity and I think she'll have it, to reintroduce herself to the American people.
I can tell you from an internal polling from the PAC that I worked for Priorities USA over the span of the last 3 days, we saw a 6 point deficit for President Biden and the five closest battleground states turned into a 1 point deficit between President Trump and Kamala Harris reconciling a lot of our democratic base.
Starting to move some of those suburban women back to our coalition that looks a lot more like 2020 than it did like 2016.
Can I, can I answer that real quick?
I think that's guy brings up a good point.
I think the chance to really do a better job of articulating the administration's economic record and their economic message in key battleground states around this country.
I think Vice President Kama Harris is going to relish that opportunity.
I think we saw tonight some of the problems that Joe Biden had with the energy and the enthusiasm and the really.
Crystallized message to those voters.
I think where the challenge really comes is on the things that you're really out of your control, national security, uh, foreign policy, some of the diplomatic postures that the president is going to have to take to get a ceasefire done to keep our allies in place, she may have to take some positions that maybe run counter to the administration and that's where you could have tension inside a Biden White House with a Kamala Harris campaign for president on the campaign trail.
Well, Douglas Brinkley, weigh in on that.
If you don't mind, we don't need to delve too far down into the political on this, but from a contextual point of view here, you have a man who just delivered an Oval Office address, someone who has spent 50 years in public service and in office in some form mentioning some of those parts of his legacy from these last 4 years in office and then you have him passing the torch to, as he said, younger, newer, fresher voices, how much of that message as he laid it out today, do you expect to be carried forward?
In a Harris campaign.
I think if we're going to take President Biden at his word that he has passed the torch to Kamel Harris, then he needs to get out of her way.
She's got an incredible sprint to the election day.
She's trending, she's popular, she's building momentum, but she may have to deviate on issues about Israel Gaza somewhat.
She might have to deviate on something dealing with climate change.
President Biden has to let Kala Harris be herself, and she's showing she can do it.
I know he loves her and Trust her, but it's not clear to me if you're, if you uh you're sitting president like Biden who's just stepped down and you have a 36, 38% approval rating that you're uh help on the campaign trail.
Um, she might want to embrace the Biden policies that she's part of buying Harris, but also maybe not quite do it that way, otherwise you become what you happened to Hubert Humphrey.
He was Lyndon Johnson's vice president and Humphrey could never shake LBJ.
He got to Chicago and had to fight Eugene McCarthy and others.
Uh, Harris doesn't have a movement in the Democratic Party working against her, but she has the anchor of Biden, the good and the bad, and so take the good, distance herself from the rest and let Harris and her new VP of be the real torchbearers as Biden has suggested that she is Laura, how is the campaign thinking about that if President Biden is a negative draw for some voters that Vice President Harris needs, not necessarily Democrats but independent voters, swing voters.
How are they thinking about navigating that?
Well, we've heard from the president himself that he'd like to be out there and get out there and help her campaign, but I think that what we are going to see from Harris's campaign is that she is the one that is going to lead a very different schedule than President Biden did, you know, there was frustration from some Democrats that President Biden was not holding as many rallies as he could in a day, traveling to as many battleground states as he could as they thought he should and Vice President Harris has a much better stamina because she is younger and she has already demonstrated in the amount of phone calls she's made to Democrats across the board to really show that she's tapped in, that she's ready to go.
That's a big change that I've been hearing from Democrats and a lot of the Democrats that I talked to also say that they feel as though she is already changing the map that states that looked as though they were closing off to her are starting to open back up again.
They have a lot more hope when it comes to Georgia and when it comes to North Carolina than they did just days ago when they thought that they were going to Have to focus on those blue wall states, so that's something that you're hearing from the campaign and I think you're going to see a lot of these other Democrats that were considered the bench and that some wanted to potentially challenge Kamala Harris for the nomination.
You'll see a lot of those governors, Governor Whitmire, Governor Shapiro, all of them out there in force as surrogates for her.
Guy in 30 seconds or so you expect Harris to break dramatically from Biden or do it maybe over time?
Yeah, I don't, I don't expect any major breaks from an administration that's the.
but she is her own person.
She's proven that over her career and I'm sure there will be differences over the course of time, but the reality is she's part of this administration and she'll run on that record.
Guys or Kevin Madden, Douglas Brinkley, and Laura Barone Lopez, thank you all for joining us tonight.
That meanwhile concludes our PBS news special coverage of the president's address.
We hope you'll join us tomorrow for the Newshour.
I'm Ana Navaz and I'm Jeff Bennett.
Thanks very much for joining us.
This program was made possible by the corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
You're watching PBS.
