I See An America...
June 23, 2004
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
BIDEN: We live in a time of incredible opportunity, “the best of times, the worst of times,” as Dickens said. Extraordinary times that call for extraordinary people.
As a consequence of the Clinton administration – when the economy boomed and deficits evaporated – we stood at the dawn of the 21st century – in many ways – better off than we were. Everything seemed possible.
And I for one had the hope – and still do – that if we had exercised the full measure of our power, our wisdom, and our ideals – we could have set in motion a series of events that would have changed the world so that we would have a chance – at least a chance – to not repeat the carnage of the 20th century.
Instead, the Bush Administration has squandered the opportunities it was bequeathed by the Clinton Administration:
A balanced budget.
The national debt paid down.
Growing employment.
Middle Class growth.
A muscular foreign policy, represented by Bosnia and Kosovo that had the respect of the world.
We have an opportunity to regain that respect.
That is what this election is about.
I realize that may seem an optimistic view, but I make no apologies for it. It is an optimism born of a set of values, and a pioneer spirit, that is the history of the journey of America. And the journey continues today.
We have done extraordinary things as a nation and a people.
When my generation looks back at the world of our parents and grandparents, we see hard times and obstacles that seemed almost insurmountable.
The stock market crashed. Fortunes were lost. The Great Depression displaced thousands and thousands of families. Family farms turned into a dust bowl.
And yet, no matter what the situation, our parents and grandparents did not lose hope. They did not give up. They did not give in. They dug down deep and survived. They overcame every obstacle. They thrived.
Then the promise was handed to us, to my generation, to all of us.
We fought the Cold War. The Korean War. The Gulf War. And when Vietnam came our way, men like John Kerry served with honor and, here at home, many exercised their right to dissent.
In the 60s, we had seen three of our heroes gunned down and a decade later the long dark wall of the Vietnam Memorial go up.
But with every challenge we renewed our values, our faith, and our ideals.
We passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. We were inspired when we heard John Kennedy challenge us to go to the moon; and white America and black America bowed their heads in recognition when Martin Luther’s King told us he had a dream, and we shall never forget it.
Yes, we are a nation that thrives on challenge.
We are curious, tough minded, and resilient. We are, after all, Americans; sometimes we go against the grain. We question ideas. We question our institutions. We dissent. We debate. We demonstrate. We fight for what we believe is right with every fiber of our being.
We stand on principle and we never give in.
There is no mistaking it; an America challenged is an America engaged, ready to get the job done.
In the 90s, we literally reached the edges of the universe; and there seemed to be absolutely no reason – as the economy boomed – as science and technology and the internet exploded – as we went from an analogue to a digital world – that we could not find, in that almost perfect storm of progress, a prescription for peace and prosperity as opposed to war and carnage.
And then came 9-11.
Our enemy was not a uniformed army, not a rogue nation, not even a failed state. It was an army of terrorists who, as John Kerry has said, “use terror as a sword and religion as a shield.”
Their enemy is civilization; but it is also a battle of Islam vs. Islam and it will require a fundamental change in our thinking.
We need to see our allies as our friends and old adversaries as potential partners in this war.
We need to understand that you cannot defeat an ideology with an army alone. It must be defeated with values as well. We need to understand there is a world that is shrinking at warp-speed – cultures colliding – that unilateralism is a prescription for isolationism.
We need to understand that a democracy that widens the gap between nations diminishes the prospects for progress and prosperity.
9-11 was a tragic but also a brutal awakening and an opportunity.
The first and foremost thing we had to do was readjust our priorities.
On September 10, 2001, I made a speech at the National Press Club that said exactly that.
I had decided to give that speech precisely because of this Administration’s preoccupation with an ill-conceived, misguided formula on how to enhance our security... A preoccupation that, in my view, was based on radical ideology rather than well-thought-out policy.
They were talking about missile defense. I was talking about a vile in a backpack, a bomb in the belly of a ship.
They were talking about intercontinental ballistic missiles with a return address. I was talking about terrorists with no address at all.
The next day was 9-11, and – as traumatic and devastating as it was – it presented an opportunity for us to unite the nation and the world.
For the first time the enhanced security of one nation was not a zero sum gain. Every nation in the world and every American knew that international terror and its tentacles were a threat to nations everywhere, notwithstanding their forms of government.
Bin Laden should have been a uniting force for all nations and all Muslims who preach and practice the true word of Islam and the Koran, and the President should have recognized it.
We squandered the opportunity to unite America and the world.
We squandered the opportunity to capitalize on Americans’ willingness to come together as thousands stood in blood lines after the attacks, and longed to do something for their country again.
We squandered the opportunity to unite the world after the French newspaper Le Monde ran a headline on September 12th that said: “We Are All Americans.”
We squandered the opportunity to engage NATO after they spontaneously enacted Article 5.
History may not judge George Bush harshly for the mistakes he has made. But it will hold him accountable for the opportunities he missed to unite America and the world after 9-11. Of that I am certain.
Imagine if he had said: “I am calling on all of our of allies to meet me tomorrow in Paris to bring together the collective power of those who abhor terrorism in an effort to make victory a global imperative.”
Imagine if he had said to every American, “I know how much you want to help in the war on terror, how united we are as a nation. I know every American is prepared to sacrifice to win this war. So I propose a National Service Corps to help unite this nation.”
I could catalog his failures on domestic and foreign policy and the squandered opportunities to unite America and the world.
Each of you knows what those failures are. The American people know what they are. They can sense it. They know we have lost our way in the world and they want to get back on track.
We have all seen polling that shows that Americans have given Bush the benefit of the doubt. But the tide is turning.
Come September, the American people are going to pivot. They are going to turn and look at John Kerry and the Democratic Party. They are going to ask what we Democrats would do differently.
We have to do more than recite a catalogue of Republican failures.
We have to deliver on the promise of our Party.
We have to show them we understand that there is as much power in the minds of our children as in all the smart bombs in our arsenal.
But we also have to let them know that we are not afraid to use that arsenal to defend this nation, that national security is part and parcel of any Democrat’s portfolio.
We know the Republican attack machine – with tens of millions of dollars at its disposal – is good at spinning our well-founded criticisms into a simple assertion that we – as Democrats – are rooting for failure.
Folks, no Democrat has ever rooted for failure. That’s not only wrong. It’s insulting. It’s demeaning. It’s not worthy of being part of our political discourse.
No Democrat has ever won the presidency on a platform of anything other than optimism, or without recognizing the indomitable spirit of the American people.
In foreign affairs, there is nothing in the war on terrorism that is at odds with America’s ability to bring the world with us and project power in defense of freedom.
Truman said: “The world today looks to us for leadership. The force of events makes it necessary that we assume that role.”
And here at home, no less than abroad, we long for a spirit of community again. Where we recognize we have so much more that unites us than divides us, and leaders who can bring out the best in all of us.
And I know John Kerry believes it as well.
As the well-oiled, well-greased Republican attack machine turns its blades on John Kerry and on every Democrat who dares to challenge either their veracity or their policies, we must reiterate our faith in the fundamental principles of this Party.
There is no reason we cannot provide economic growth for the Middle Class. Tax cuts not only for the rich, but for working class Americans struggling to send their kids to college, pay for prescription drugs, and take care of their aging parents.
There is no reason the richest country in the history of the universe cannot increase the minimum wage to provide a family with enough to pay the rent, pay for food, and live in dignity.
Most importantly, there is no reason we cannot unite the world in an effort to save the world.
In fact, there is only one reason – one thing – that can prevent that from happening. And that is four more years of George Bush.
That is the only thing that stands in the way of this great nation achieving its destiny.
As I have said many times, this generation of Americans is ready and anxious to do great things.
Let us give it the tools it needs to accomplish all it can accomplish.
Let this generation be defined by the depth of its knowledge, by its creativity, its ingenuity, and the goodness in its heart.
Let it be a generation of Americans – like every generation – one that thrives on discovery, on exploration, on invention... one that wants to know everything there is to know... see everything there is to see... build everything there is to build because they are resourceful committed and curious, and because we always believe in our capacity to do more and do better.
The only thing missing is leadership, leadership that does not pit one American against another, Catholic against Protestant, Black against White, Rich against Poor, Middle Class against everyone trying to get there.
That is not what political leadership is about.
Woodrow Wilson said, “A political party is worth no more than that for which it stands.”
Robert Kennedy said in another context, “Our answer is the world’s hope.”
It is our responsibility to rely on the qualities of this great nation – and dare to challenge our fellow Americans to live up to their heritage – to reclaim their birth right.
Where is it written that we must mortgage our children’s future with unbearable debt, saddle them with the enmity of the world, and burden them with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?
Where is it written that our children must be consigned to an education that does not provide them tools for advancement, or that their grandparents have to chose between having a meal or taking their medicine?
Where is it written that in the 21st century Americans must live a life of fear and uncertainty and vulnerability, in a world less safe than it was for their parents?
Only one place: in the hearts and minds of those who espouse our ideals, but do not trust them enough to practice them...
...in the hearts and minds of those who appeal to our patriotism without appreciating the true nature of the unique idea that is America...
...in the hearts and minds of those who reference God as their guide – but who, in their heart, are so arrogant as to believe only they speak to God, and God speaks only to them...
...in the hearts and minds of those who view tolerance as weakness, compromise as capitulation, and cooperation as naive.
That is not my America... not the America of my mother and father... not the America that has been the proverbial shining city on the hill for all the world to see.
It is time to restore our nation to the heights of respect and admiration it once had – for that is the surest way to defeat those who would harm us.
It is time for another generation of Irish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Italian-Americans, African-Americans, Arab-Americans – and so many more – to live up to our birthright of what it means to be an American.
Early on, we learn this truth and this responsibility:
“One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Yes, indivisible. All Americans. Linked together by the enduring traits forged in good times and bad, over 227 years.
It is time to challenge the notion that rigidly-held ideology trumps well-conceived policy, that division and deceit have a place in civilized political discourse.
It is time to restore America’s soul.
We are at the hinge of history, and the door can swing one of two ways.
It can lead to greater estrangement from the world, and greater insecurity at home, or an era of American leadership that shapes a world of renewed alliances, greater trust, and opportunities as great as any in the past. We will be judged by the path we choose. The challenges before us – no matter how difficult – present enormous opportunities, even in this post 9-11 world.
My mother always says, “From every bad thing, something good will come.”
It is how her generation engaged adversity and how they grew stronger because of it. That is the America I know.
It is captured in all those old family photographs on our mantle pieces, or buried in our attics – photographs of our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents who suffered through the Depression and two World Wars. Much was asked of them, but much was given, and even more was learned.
But their very lives and the dignity with which they lived them taught us that there is nothing Americans cannot do, nothing we cannot accomplish when we put our hearts and minds to it.
In every family’s old photographs are the stories of heroes and heroines who made our communities stronger and safer, men and women who, through a profound faith and extraordinary courage made us more secure and brought our hopes and our promise closer together.
In that spirit of hope and faith, let me leave you with the words of my favorite Irish poet, Seamus Heaney. He said:
History says don’t hope On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change On the far side of revenge Believe that further shore Is reachable from here Believe in miracle And cures and healing wells.
I believe. I know John Kerry believes. And so should all of you.
