I'm in Philadelphia where our constitution was drafted
and signed it wasn't a perfect document it allowed for the inhumanity of slavery
and failed to guarantee women and even men who didn't own property,
the right to participate in the political process.
But embedded in this document was a north star
that would guide future generations.
A system of representative government, a democracy
through which we could better realise our highest ideals
through civil war and bitter struggles, we improved this constitution
to include the voices of those who'd once been left out
and gradually we made this country more just and more equal
and more free.
The one constitutional office, elected by all of the people
is the presidency.
So to minimum we should expect a president to feel a sense of responsibility
for the safety and welfare of all 330 million of us
regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we love,
how much money we have or who we voted for.
But we should also expect a president to be the custodian of this democracy.
We should expect that regardless of ego ambition or political beliefs,
the president will preserve, protect and defend the freedoms and ideals
that so many americans marched for, went to jail for, fought for and died for.
I have sat in the oval office with both of the men who are running for president.
I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision
or continue my policies.
I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show
some interest in taking the job seriously,
that he might come to feel the weight of the office
and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care
but he never did.
For close to four years now he has shown no interest in putting in the work
no interest in finding common ground,
no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself
and his friends.
No interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show
that he can use to get the attention he craves.
Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't
and the consequences of that failure are severe.
170,000 americans dead,
millions of jobs gone
while those at the top taken more than ever.
Our worst impulses unleashed,
our proud reputation around the world badly diminished
and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.
Now, I know that in times as polarised as these,
most of you have already made up your mind.
But maybe you're still not sure which candidate you'll vote for
or whether you'll vote at all.
Maybe you're tired of the direction we're headed but
you can't see a better path yet or you just don't know enough about the person
who wants to lead us there.
So let me tell you about my friend Joe Biden.
12 years ago, when I began my search for a vice-president,
I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother.
Joe and I come from different places, different generations but
what I quickly came to admire about Joe Biden is his resilience,
born of too much struggle,
his empathy born of too much grief.
Joe is a man who learned early on to treat every person he meets
with respect and dignity,
living by the words his parents taught him,
no one's better than you, Joe but you're better than nobody.
That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts
that's who Joe is.
When he talks with someone who's lost her job,
Joe remembers the night his father sat him down to say that he'd lost his.
When joe listens to a parent who's trying to hold it all together right now,
he does it as a single dad who took the train back to Wilmington
each and every night so he could tuck his kids into bed.
When he meets with military families who've lost their hero,
he does it as a kindred spirit, the parent of an american soldier,
somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.
For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room whenever
I faced a big decision.
He made me a better president
and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country.
And in my friend, Kamala Harris, he's chosen an ideal partner
who is more than prepared for the job.
someone who knows what it's like to overcome barriers and who's made a
career fighting to help others live out their
own american dream
along with the experience needed to get things done joe and kamala
have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better fairer stronger
country into reality they will get this pandemic
under control like joe did when he helped me manage
h1n1 and prevent an ebola outbreak from
reaching our shores they'll expand health care to more
americans like joe and i did 10 years ago
when he helped craft the affordable care act and nailed down the votes to make it
the law
they'll rescue the economy like joe helped me do after the great recession
i asked him to manage the recovery act which jump started the longest stretch
of job growth in history and he sees this moment now not as a
chance to get back to where we were but to make long overdue changes so that
our economy actually makes life a little easier
for everybody whether it's the waitress trying to
raise a kid on her own or the shift worker
always on the edge of getting laid off for the student
figuring out how to pay for next semester's classes
joe and kamala will restore our standing in the world and as we've learned from
this pandemic that matters joe knows the world
and the world knows him he knows that our true strength comes
from setting an example that the world wants to follow a nation
that stands with democracy not dictators a nation that can inspire
and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change and terrorism
poverty and disease but more than anything what i know
about joe what i know about kamala is that they actually care about every
american and that they care deeply about this
democracy
they believe that in a democracy the right to vote is sacred and we
should be making it easier for people to cast their ballots
not harder
they believe that no one including the president
is above the law and that no public official
including the president should use their office
to enrich themselves or their supporters
they understand that in this democracy the commander-in-chief
does not use the men and women of our military who are willing to risk
everything to protect our nation as political props
to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil
they understand that political opponents aren't un-american just because they
disagree with you a free press isn't the enemy but the way
we hold officials accountable that our
ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic
depend on a fidelity to facts and science and logic
and not just making stuff up
none of this should be controversial these shouldn't be republican principles
or democratic principles they are american principles but at this moment
this president and those who enable him have shown they don't believe in these
things
tonight i'm asking you to believe in joe and kamala's ability to lead this
country out of these dark times and build it back better
but here's the thing no single american can fix this country alone not even a
president democracy was never meant to be
transactional you give me your vote i make
everything better it requires an active and informed citizenry
so i'm also asking you to believe in your own ability
to embrace your own responsibility as citizens
to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure
because that's what's at stake right now our democracy
look i understand why a lot of americans are down on
government the way the rules have been set up and
abused in congress make it easier for special interest to stop progress
than to make progress believe me i i know it i understand why
a white factory worker who's seen his
wages cut or his job shipped overseas might feel like
the government no longer looks out for him
and why a black mom might feel like it never looked out for her at all
i understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder
whether there's still a place for him here
why a young person might look at politics right now
the circus of it all the meanness and the lies
and conspiracy theories and think what is the point
well here's the point this president and those in power those who benefit
from keeping things the way they are they are counting on
your cynicism they know they can't win you over with
their policies so they're hoping to make it as hard as
possible for you to vote and to convince you that
your vote does not matter that is how they win that is how they
get to keep making decisions that affect your life
and the lives of the people you love
that's how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well connected
how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks
that's how a democracy withers until it's no democracy at all
and we cannot let that happen
do not let them take away your power do not let them take away your democracy
make a plan right now for how you are going to get involved and vote
do it as early as you can and tell your family and friends how they can vote too
do what americans have done for over two centuries when faced
with even tougher times than this all those quiet heroes who found the
courage to keep marshy keep pushing in the face of hardship
and injustice last month we lost a giant of american
democracy in john lewis and some years ago i sat
down with john and a few remaining leaders of
the early civil rights movement
one of them told me he never imagined he'd walk into the white house
and see a president who looked like his grandson
and then he told me that he had looked it up
and it turned out that on the very day that i was born
he was marching into a jail cell trying to end jim crow segregation in
the south what we do echoes
through generations
whatever our backgrounds we are all the children of americans who fought the
good fight great grandparents working in fire traps
and sweatshops without rights or representation farmers
losing their dreams to dust irish and italians and asians and
latinos told go back where you come from
jews and catholics muslims and sikhs made to feel suspect for the way they
worshipped
black americans chained and whipped and hanged spit on
for trying to sit at lunch counters beaten for trying to vote
if anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work
and could not work it was those americans
our ancestors they were on the receiving end of a democracy that
had fallen short all their lives
they knew how far the daily reality of america strayed from the mint
and yet instead of giving up they joined together
and they said somehow some way we are going to make this work
we are going to bring those words in our founding documents to life
i have seen that same spirit rising these past few years
folks of every age and background who packed city centers and
airports and rural roads so that families wouldn't be separated
so that another classroom wouldn't get shot up
so that our kids won't grow up on an uninhabitable planet
americans of all races joining together to declare
in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state
that black lives matter no more but no less so that no child in this
country feels the continuing sting of racism
to the young people who led us this summer telling us
we need to be better
in so many ways you are this country's dreams fulfilled
earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone
has equal worth for you it's a given a conviction
and what i want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations
your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize
those convictions for all of us
you can give our democracy new meaning
you can take it to a better place
you're the missing ingredient the ones who will decide whether or not america
becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.
that work will continue long after this election
but any chance of success depends entirely
on the outcome of this election
this administration has shown it will tear our democracy
down if that's what it takes for them to win
so we have to get busy building it up by pouring all our efforts into these 76
days and by voting like never before for joe
and kamala and candidates up and down the ticket
so that we leave no doubt about what this country that we love
stands for today and for all our days to come
stay safe god bless