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Marti's avatar

I loved his speech! As life long Republican until this year, I liked Biden. I never saw him as anything but a kind soul who loves his country. His eyes to me held sadness that it won’t be him going forward to unite this country. And I saw what Trump said and the contrast between them is why I can never vote for that nasty, foul bully again. I’m sorry we are losing Biden but thankful Kamala will carry his torch forward and hopefully be our next president.

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Tallulah Pollard's avatar

Interestingly, I haven’t seen any comments here about the part of the speech that hit me hardest. Towards the very end, his voice softens even more and he says “I hope you have some idea how grateful I am, to all of you.” It quite honestly struck me, and it took me several minutes to realize why. It sounded like me thanking all of my friends for helping me move, or thanking my coworkers for helping me get a big project over the finish line. When we’re flooded with a constant stream of all sorts of people in power who are entitled, who are never satisfied, who complain about fairness even as they treat other people grossly unfairly, and who never consider their privilege in the world, it was remarkable and striking to hear the sitting President of the United States thank us for his job. Because, of course, we are fortunate to live in a place where the power we vest in our leaders flows from us. They don’t have their positions because of force, violence, or some imagined divine birthright - even if they’d rather they did. They are in power because we said they could be. It was incredible to hear that acknowledged in a such a humble way. He then went on to make that exact point in his very next sentence. In a hundred years, I would want a student studying this time and the broader societal context to pick up on the fact that that sentence he spoke is the essence of our democracy here in the United States and echoes the sentiments jn Washington’s Farewell Address. Our leaders - and all leaders - are at their best when they can lead with humility, realize their power comes from the people they serve, and then willingly step aside when the people who they serve let them know that they are no longer the ones who are best suited to the task. It was quite the underrated moment, if you ask me.

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