WILMINGTON, Del. — Forty-eight years to the day after he was elected to represent Delaware in the Senate at the age of 29, Joseph R. Biden Jr. will speak to the nation for the first time as president-elect on Saturday night.
His appearance in his hometown was a triumphant moment in a career that spanned 36 years in the Senate, eight years as vice president and three presidential bids. On Saturday, Mr. Biden was expected to offer a message of national unity and a promise to soothe the extraordinary divisions that defined the last four years in American politics. He was also expected to chart a vision for navigating a series of crises that have gripped the country in recent months.
Mr. Biden was slated to speak at 8 p.m. Eastern from a flag-bedecked outdoor stage near the Chase Center on the Riverfront, an event center in Wilmington. He was set to be joined by his wife, Jill Biden, as well as the vice president-elect, Senator Kamala Harris, and her husband, Douglas Emhoff.
Mr. Biden spoke outside the Chase Center once this past week, in the early hours of Wednesday, when he said in brief remarks that he was “on track to win this election.” In the days that followed, he limited himself to short and measured public statements as he and his advisers waited for news organizations to call the race.
In a written statement earlier Saturday, Mr. Biden called for the nation to come together. “It’s time for America to unite,” he said. “And to heal.”
In the hours before his speech, Mr. Biden spoke with former President Barack Obama, who congratulated him, as well as with the top Democrats in Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. At one point, Mr. Schumer held up his flip phone so Mr. Biden could hear people cheering for him in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s advisers and allies were giving serious thought to the transition period, for which they have been planning for months.
“He will show respect to the 68 or so million Americans who voted for his opponent by how he conducts himself in the transition, by how he speaks to the country,” Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said on Friday. “He will promptly begin reaching out to leaders of both parties to help figure out what’s possible and what’s the right path forward.”
And a number of officials who expected to be involved in the transition said they thought Mr. Biden’s team would devote particular focus to grappling with health care challenges, including how they will deal with the coronavirus crisis.
“There’s no question that Covid has been a massively important part of everything that’s gone on with health care over the last several months,” said former Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, who also said he intended to be involved in the health care transition. “The huge focus on Covid would continue.”
Representative Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana, a national co-chair of Mr. Biden’s campaign and a possible future member of Mr. Biden’s administration, made clear that combating the virus would be a top priority of the president-elect’s as well in the coming days.
“He has a chance to take a breath, but I’m not sure that he will, because I know he’s so concerned about Covid,” Mr. Richmond said. “He’ll be up in the morning working on America’s Covid response.”
Mr. Biden’s staff members and family, however, did take a minute to soak in a development that Mr. Biden has been thinking about in some capacity for a half-century.
Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, said she had been on a run and her mother had called to inform her that CNN had called the race for her candidate. Asked how she felt, she said, “Ecstatic — a great day for this county,” according to a pool report.
“It’s wonderful,” Valerie Biden Owens, Mr. Biden’s sister, told a small group of reporters at the Westin hotel in Wilmington a few minutes before CNN called the race. “It’s a wonderful thing for us, but it’s a better thing for America.”
"now" - Google News
November 08, 2020 at 08:01AM
https://ift.tt/3lcBie4
Biden, Now President-Elect, Prepares to Address Nation - The New York Times
"now" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35sfxPY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Biden, Now President-Elect, Prepares to Address Nation - The New York Times"
Post a Comment