President Joe Biden sent a message to leaders in his final address to the United Nations General Assembly — his fourth and final term as president — while detailing how he may ultimately withdraw from the 2024 race against Donald Trump. What caused it to happen?
While much of the focus was on overseas issues, including Russian aggression in the Middle East and Ukraine, Biden also noted how over the summer he was “faced with the decision of whether to run for another term as president.” Period is to be obtained”.
“Being president has been the honor of my life. I want to do more. But as much as I love the job, I love my country more. I have decided, after 50 years of public service, now The time has come for a new generation of leadership to take our nation forward.
Then, more bluntly, Biden added to applause, “My fellow leaders, we must never forget, few things are more important than being in power. These are your people — these are your people.” are – which is most important.”
And in what could be seen as a dig at his former rival, Biden continued: “Never forget, we're here to serve the people, not the other way around. Because the future will be — the future they're going to win.” Who harness the full potential of their people to breathe freely, think freely, innovate, teach, live and love openly without fear.
Biden was mostly optimistic in his speech, reflecting on his decades of service and the trials and tribulations of global crises in between — the Cold War and Vietnam War in its early days, now replaced by Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine. And the conflict in Ukraine has taken over. .
“We can't get tired,” he said of the numerous conflicts that have erupted in recent years. “We can't look away.”
Regarding Afghanistan, Biden said, “When I came into office, Afghanistan replaced Vietnam as America's longest war. I was determined to end it, and I did. It was a It was a difficult decision, but it was the right one.”
Biden reiterated that “four American presidents have faced this decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the fifth.”
“Things can get better,” Biden said. “We must never forget that. I have seen this throughout my career.
“Maybe because of what I've seen and what we've done together over the decades, I have hope. I know there's a way forward.”
His speech comes more than a month after an interview CBS Sunday Morning A key deciding factor in his withdrawal, he said, was the fact that “a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate believed that I would hurt them in the race. And I was concerned that if I ran So that would be the topic. You would be interviewing me about, why did Nancy Pelosi say that, why did she do that – and I thought that would be a real distraction.