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Joe Biden accepts Democratic nomination, vows to end ‘season of darkness’
Joe Biden had waited 32 years for this moment, having first run for the party nomination in 1987.
Joe Biden accepted the Democratic party nomination for president Thursday, the last day of the first ever virtual convention held in the shadow of a raging Covid-19 epidemic, with a promise to heal and unite the nation and help it “overcome this season of darkness”.
Biden, a former vice-president and six-term senator before that, directly criticized President Donald Trump for his handling of the epidemic that has infected more than 5 million Americans and killed 170,000 and the cratering of the economy.
Biden said Trump had “cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division.”
Biden offered himself as a contrast: “Here and now, I give you my word: 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 of the darkness. …(and) United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America. We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege.”
Calling the upcoming elections in November 3 “life-changing” with the potential to determine America’s future for a long time, the Democratic nominee laid out his case for the White House in stark terms: “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are all on the ballot.”
Biden accepted the party’s nomination in a speech from a hall in Wilmington, Delaware. He was joined by wife Jill Biden on the stage after he finished, and by his running mate Kamala Harris and her spouse Doug Emhoff. They stood socially distant before walking out for celebratory fireworks.
Biden waited 32 years for this moment, having first run for the party nomination in 1987. He had dropped out then even before the primaries over plagiarism allegations. He tried again in 2008, but pulled out after a poor showing in the first of the nominating contests, the Iowa caucus.
The 2020 race did not start well either. He fared poorly in the first two nominating contests, Iowa and New Hampshire. He did somewhat better in Nevada, the third contest and went to South Carolina, the fourth, with the fate of his campaign in balance. He crushed it with the overwhelming support of the state’s Black Democrats and went on to sweep the Super Tuesday contests, winning 11 of the 14 states, toppling Senator Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner. He never looked back.
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Biden turned the Democratic presidential ticket historic with his pick for running mate: Kamala Harris. She is the first Indian American and Black woman to run for vice-president. In fact, she is the first woman of color to run for this high office.
She accepted her nomination on Wednesday with a rousing tribute to her Indian-born mother and values inherited from her.
Biden leads Trump by 7.6 points in the RealClearPolitics average of polls nationally and by 8.8 points in FiveThirtyEight’s weighted average of national polls. He also leads the incumbent in all the swing states.
Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak is his key vulnerability in his re-election bid — 58% of Americans disapprove of it in a new high, according to a CNN poll. And 68% felt embarrassed by the US response to it. The United States is the country hit the hardest by the virus.
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Democrats have thus chosen to attack Trump singularly on Covid-19.
“Just judge this president on the facts,” said Biden in his acceptance speech. “5 million Americans infected with Covid-19. More than 170,000 Americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on Earth. More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year. More than 10 million people are going to lose their health insurance this year. Nearly one in 6 small businesses has closed this year.”
President Trump will make his case for a second term at the Republican party convention starting Monday, which might, or not, be a mix of in-person and virtual.
