President Joe Biden told the American public in an Oval Office address on Wednesday that he had abandoned his re-election campaign because there is “a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices — yes, younger voices”.

His words, lasting 11 minutes in all, were the first extensive ones from Biden since his decision to step aside and expanded on his initial announcement, delivered in a post on social media on Sunday, that he was dropping out of the race. His tone was wistful, and his speech was an early farewell.

“It’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” he said

Sitting behind the Resolute Desk and surrounded by photos of his family, Biden ticked through the accomplishments of his term, ranging from the choice of the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court justice to pulling the country out of a paralysing pandemic. He expressed gratitude to the American people for allowing a “kid with a stutter” from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to reach the pinnacle of American politics.

Ultimately, Biden said, he concluded that “the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation”. The President praised Vice-President Kamala Harris but warned, as he has for years, that Americans faced a choice between preserving democracy and allowing it to backslide.

Biden, who spent the first part of the week recovering from Covid at his beach house in Delaware, spoke with a rasp and slight slur in his voice, speaking sometimes haltingly as he promised that he would defend his legacy and do what he could to help Harris win the election against former President Donald Trump. He stared straight ahead into the camera and seldom blinked.

“Over the next six months I will be focused on doing my job as President,” Biden said. “That means I will continue to lower costs for hardworking families, grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose.”

Other than saying it was time to pass the torch to someone young, Biden offered no other reason for his decision to step down. He did not mention the three-week pressure campaign from his own party to get him out of the race.

New York Times News Service