Joe Biden accepts Democratic Party nomination for US president

The former vice president’s address capped the final night of the Democratic National Convention, made virtual because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Joe Biden accepted the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump, urging Americans in a prime-time-address Thursday to vote for new national leadership that will overcome deep US political divisions.

Joe Biden’s speech -- the most important of his nearly half-century in politics -- set the tone for a bruising general election battle against Trump.(REUTERS)

The former vice president’s address capped the final night of the Democratic National Convention, made virtual because of the coronavirus outbreak. Biden spoke to a largely empty room at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, with supporters parked outside watching on screens as if at a drive-in movie theater.

Biden’s speech -- the most important of his nearly half-century in politics -- set the tone for a bruising general election battle against Trump. The former vice president said Trump had “cloaked America in darkness for far too long.”

“I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness,” he said.

Democrats have spent three nights mixing blunt criticism of Trump as an incompetent and corrupt threat to democracy with reassuring promises that Biden, 77, has the decency and experience to tackle the pandemic and other difficult problems. They’ve also sought to portray the party’s moderate and liberal wings as largely unified, burying progressive concerns that Biden is too much of an establishment centrist.

At a small rally earlier in the day near Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Trump told his supporters that Biden would be their “worst nightmare.”

Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur who challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination, opened the convention’s fourth night by urging Americans who voted for Trump “or didn’t vote at all” in 2016 to consider the former vice president.

“We are in a deep dark hole, and we need leaders who will help us dig out,” he said. He said he sympathized with 2016 Trump voters or those who “despair that our government will ever rise to the challenges of our time.” But, he said, “We must give this country, our country, a chance to recover.”

Biden and his vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, are “real people. They understand the problems we face. If we give them the chance, they’ll fight for us and our families every single day.”

Speaker after speaker at the convention, including former President Barack Obama, also have encouraged Americans to vote early and have a plan to cast their ballot, in anticipation of potential mail delays and long, socially distanced lines at physical polling stations. Harris, a California senator, warned viewers on Wednesday that Republicans will seek to suppress the vote in the belief that high turnout would benefit Biden.

A record number of Americans are expected to cast mail-in ballots this year because of the pandemic. Democrats have accused Trump of trying to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service to help his re-election bid, while the president has already begun to try to sow public doubt about any outcome that results in a Biden victory.

“Let’s stand up for our children, our children’s children, and for this great democracy that our ancestors worked to build, and let’s vote,” said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, whom Biden considered as a possible running mate. “And let’s organize to get others to vote with us.”

Thursday’s program features two Democratic election officials, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who have moved to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic despite Trump’s unfounded claims it’s riddled with fraud.

Hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Thursday night’s program theme is “America’s Promise,” touting Biden’s decades of public service and featuring people who can “speak to Joe Biden’s leadership and character,” according to the DNC. Louis-Dreyfus repeatedly mocked Trump in jokes during interludes between speakers.

Speakers included other former Biden competitors for the party’s nomination: Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg said that Trump’s leadership had been terrible for the country, blaming him for hundreds of thousands of Americans sickened or killed by coronavirus.

“I’m not asking you to vote against Donald Trump because he’s a bad guy. I’m urging you to vote against him because he’s done a bad job.”

Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, both considered as possible Biden running mates, both spoke as well, as did and Senator Chris Coons of Biden’s home state of Delaware.

Duckworth, a veteran amputee who was wounded in combat, said that “Donald Trump doesn’t deserve to call himself commander-in-chief for another four minutes, let alone another four years.”

Buttigieg, who is gay, said that Biden had “stepped out ahead, even of this party, when he said that marriage equality ought to be the law of the land” and that Biden is building a coalition “standing for an America where everyone belongs.”

Biden will be introduced by his children and grandchildren, including his son, Hunter Biden, who was targeted by Trump during the impeachment for his work for a Ukrainian gas company while Biden was vice president. His presence signals that Biden is unconcerned with Trump’s reaction to his appearance.

Harris made history on Wednesday night by becoming the first Black and Indian-American woman to be nominated for the vice presidency with an acceptance speech meant to re-introduce her to the country and help make the case against Trump.

Thursday’s entertainment included The Chicks -- formerly the Dixie Chicks before the protests following the death of George Floyd. They performed the National Anthem.

Trump, who has been live-tweeting criticism during keynote speeches and staging counter-programing -- including Thursday’s trip near Biden’s boyhood home -- gets the chance to make his case for re-election during the Republican National Convention starting on Monday.

Before Biden’s speech, the president assailed his re-election opponent during a more than hour-long rally at Mariotti Building Products in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, close to Scranton. He said the former vice president “abandoned” Scranton -- Biden moved as a child when his father found work in Delaware -- and criticized his 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War and his immigration policies.

“Joe Biden is the candidate of these privileged liberal hypocrites who hold you and your values in disdain,” Trump said. “But you can send them all a thunderous message on Election Day by voting Trump-Pence.”

The president and other Republicans have mocked Biden’s recent verbal missteps, suggesting his mental acuity has slipped with age. But Biden supporters argue that his oratory skills are often discounted and that he’s delivered when he must, including during his vice presidential debates against Sarah Palin in 2008 and Paul Ryan in 2012.

“He’s not Barack Obama, he’s not Michelle Obama, he’s not Bill Clinton, he’s not even Hillary Clinton,” said Patti Solis Doyle, Biden’s 2008 campaign chief of staff. “But he is very good when he speaks about the things that he cares about and that’s predominantly his family, his mother, his father, his upbringing.”