Biden, surrounded by family, speaks at the DNC: ‘I gave my best to you’

President Joe Biden, for several moments, couldn’t speak. At first, it was because he was dabbing his eyes. Then, it was because the cheers were so sustained.

“Thank you,” he said nearly two dozen times, unsuccessfully trying to begin his speech amid a sea of “We love Joe” signs.
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His wife, first lady Jill Biden, kept crying. His daughter, Ashley, dabbed her eyes. His son, Hunter, looked on from backstage. The crowd was electrified, eager for a cathartic moment after a weeks-long barrage of can-you-believe-this moments. Biden looked out at his family, who have been a backbone of his career and sounding board for the most difficult decisions of his political life.

“My dad used to have an expression,” he said. “He’d say, ‘Joey, family is the beginning, the middle and the end.’”

Biden has played many roles over his long career. He was introduced as the “young fella” in his 1988 presidential campaign. He was the foreign policy statesman during the eight years he served as vice president. And he was the elder wise man during his 2020 presidential campaign.

On Monday night, as he took the stage for his 13th Democratic National Convention, he was the torch passer. He tried to occupy this new role, one that required a recognition that his time as the party’s chief standard-bearer was nearing an end. He spoke to a crowd that Democrats compared to those of 1960 and 2008, but with the recognition that the catalyst was not him but the new optimism and joy that have overtaken the party since he stepped aside and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.

For much of Biden’s presidency, Harris has been the understudy. As vice president, she is often in the background, never wanting to appear to overshadow the principal.

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