 "President Joe Biden listens during a briefing regarding the federal response to the spread of wildfires in the Los Angeles area, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 9, 2025. AP File")
Ahead of his farewell address on Wednesday, President Joe Biden has penned a letter, highlighting his accomplishments over his four-year tenure and calling on fellow Americans to build on his progress.
Biden is scheduled to deliver his last Oval Office address at 8 pm ET on Wednesday as he prepares to hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump and exit politics after a decades-long career.
According to The Hill report, in the letter, Biden said that he took office during the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic crisis, emphasising that “we came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.”
He highlighted the improved economy, pointing to decreasing inflation, rising wages, and a recovering job market since he assumed office. He also celebrated key accomplishments, such as the ongoing infrastructure development across the US following the bipartisan infrastructure law he signed in 2021 and America’s leadership in the semiconductor industry due to the CHIPs and Science Act he enacted in 2022, added the report.
“I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that’s still the case,” The Hill quoted Biden writing in the letter.
“America is an idea stronger than any army and larger than any ocean. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world. That idea is that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now,” he added.
He mentioned that he and Vice President Kamala Harris requested their staff to compile a summary of their progress over the past four years, which he included in the letter.
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More Shorts“I hope you’ll do your part to build on the progress we’ve made,” the President wrote.
He described it as the greatest privilege of his life to spend five decades in politics, stating that he poured his heart and soul into serving the nation.
“Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States,” he said.
He also gave a handoff note as a preview of the speech.
“History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep the faith and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together,” Biden said.
The president leaves office after he dropped his bid for reelection in July. He passed the torch to Harris, who lost to President-elect Trump in November. Trump will be sworn in on Monday.
With inputs from agencies