President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivered rousing victory addresses Saturday on an outdoor stage in Wilmington, Delaware, pledging to heal a country tattered by a pandemic, racial strife and a divisive political campaign.
“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but to unify,” Biden said, “who doesn’t see red states or blue states but who only sees the United States.”
“The people of this nation have spoken,” Biden said. “They’ve delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for ‘We the people’.” He said. “We won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket… Tonight we are seeing all over this nation, all over the world, an outpouring of joy, renewed hope.”
In his 15-minute victory speech he said, “We will lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example.”
To Black voters, he said, “The African American community stood up again for me. You always had my back and I’ll have yours.
“I have the honor of serving with a fantastic vice-president, Kamala Harris, who makes history as the first woman, first Black woman, first woman of South Asian descent, the first daughter of immigrants ever elected in this country. Don’t tell me it is not possible in the United State. It is long overdue.”
Dressed in a white suit acknowledging the Suffragist Movement and adorned with her AKA sorority pearls, Harris introduced Biden and invoked the memory of the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) noting, “before his passing wrote, ‘Democracy is not a state, it is an act’ and what he meant was America’s democracy is not guaranteed. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to guard it and to never take it for granted.
“We the people have the power to build a better future,” Harris said. “When democracy was on the ballot with the very soul of America at stake, you ushered in a new day for America.
“While I may the first woman in this office I will not be the last because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities and to the children regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.”
“For four years you marched for justice for our lives and then you voted,” Harris said, thanking “all of the women who worked for a century for the right to vote,” with the 19th amendment and the Voting Rights amendment.
Biden said, “I said from the outset I wanted a campaign to look like America and we have done that. To all of those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I have lost a couple of times myself but now let us give each other a chance.”
His top priority is to get COVID-19 under control and then, citing from the Old Testament, Chapter Three of Ecclesiastes, “The Bible tells us, ‘For everything there is a season.’ This is a time to heal in America,” referring to the religious hymn, “On Eagle’s Wings.” Quoting from his father Biden said, “My father said ‘Joey, keep the faith… but my mother said, ‘No, Joey, spread the faith.’”