President Joe Biden delivered his 4th of July speech on Sunday, and boy was it sure different from the speech Trump gave last year. The best thing I can say about it is that it was blissfully short, at 14-minutes. I read the complete transcript so you don't have to.
Biden emphasized that getting vaccinated is "the most patriotic thing you can do." The administration looks to have just missed the goal of getting 70 percent of adults vaccinated by July 4, though they did try to spin that one to claim otherwise, as Leah covered.
While the Biden administration has had successes with vaccine programs, it's all thanks to Operation Warp Speed from the Trump administration that we even have the vaccines to begin with.
Am I looking for Biden to sign the praises of his predecessor, whom he beat in the 2020 election? No. But I don't think it's too much to ask for the Biden administration to not erase any and all success of the Trump administration.
Here's who Sunday's speech did thank:
Thanks to our heroic vaccine effort, we've gained the upper hand against this virus. We can live our lives, our kids can go back to school, our economy is roaring back. Don't get me wrong. COVID-19 has not been vanquished. We all know powerful variants have emerged like the Delta variant—we know that variants have emerged. But the best defense against the virus is to get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. The most patriotic thing you can do, please, if you have not gotten vaccinated, do it, do it now. For yourself. For your loved ones. For your community. For your country. You know, that is how we'll stay ahead of this variant.
We never again want to be where we were a year ago today. So today, while the virus hasn't been vanquished, we know this—it no longer controls our lives, it no longer paralyzes a nation. We have the power to make sure it never happens again. For that, we can thank the scientists and researchers, the educators, and all the frontline and essential workers, like many of you here today who became the light to see us through the darkness.
I hope you know that you, the American people, have been part of one of the most remarkable achievements in American history. But in this moment of joy, we know that this day falls hard on all those who've lost a loved one.
Biden's regard of our founding also took on a different tone from Trump:
245 years ago we declared our independence from a distant king. Today we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus. That is not to say the battle against COVID-19 is over, we've got a lot more work to do. But just as our declaration of 1776 was a call to action, not a reason for complacency, or a claim to victory, it was a call to action. The same is true today. Back then we had the power of an idea on our side, today the power of science.
Remember, folks, the 4th of July is about "the battle against COVID-19." It's a point Biden's been making since at least March, though, when he addressed the nation a year after the virus was declared a pandemic.
And there was more on that topic as well:
I've long said America is unique. Unlike every other nation on Earth, we were founded on an idea. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people are created equal endowed by their Creator of certain unalienable rights, among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And while we have never fully lived up to the words but we have never given up on them. They continue to animate us and remind us at our best, we as Americans believe in honor and dignity, treat everyone with dignity and respect, giving hate no safe harbor. And leaving no one behind. We lead by the power of our example, not the example of our power. And we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We stand as a beacon to the world. It's a code, uniquely American code, it's who we are.
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The defense of all that we love doesn't fall on your shoulders alone. It falls on every one of us, every American. Each day we are reminded there's nothing guaranteed about our democracy, nothing guaranteed about our way of life. We have to fight for it, defend it, earn it. Folks, it's up to all of us to protect the right to life, liberty and justice. The right to equal law and the right to vote and have that vote counted. The right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and know our children and grandchildren are safe on this planet for generations to come. The right to rise in this world as far as your God-given talent can take you, unlimited by barriers of privilege or power.
Is America perfect? No, of course not. Are we the greatest country on earth, though? Yes. My concern, though, is that members of Biden's own party will be further embolden in trashing this nation on its birthday. There's a strong case to make that some Democrats hate America, including and especially Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). I highlighted the squad member's horrible tweet here.
It's not just the congresswoman, who got herself through difficult circumstances to win a primary and general election and is now a sitting member of Congress. It's The New York Times, as I've highlighted, and NPR, as Matt has highlighted. Stay tuned for a piece of mine on perhaps the most illiterate take about this country there is, from Toure for The Grio.
The DNC Chair, Jaime Harrison, also commemorated the occasion in perhaps the most political message there could be on such a day, which I wrote about here.
What we should really worry about, though, is that our enemies, namely the Chinese Communist Party, will use these words against us. The CCP has done so before, and surely will do again.
President Biden closed his speech on what was an "optimistic note," according to Newsweek:
And there is a timeless truth about America. The most powerful idea in the history of the world, in the hearts of the people of this country. It beats in all of our hearts, no matter your gender or ethnicity or your gender or sexual orientation, no matter your disability, no matter your faith. It beats in the hearts of rich and poor alike, it unites America, whether your ancestors were native to the land or forced here as slaves, or immigrants generations back like my family who came from Ireland, or you are coming here today looking to build a better life for your family, like our fellow Americans that I just swore in, in the White House two days ago. The American creed. We use that phrase, the American creed. We all know that phrase, it was written a long time ago. But the genius is every generation of Americans has expanded it wider and wider to include those who were excluded before. That's why it's never gathered dust in our history books, it's still alive today. Alive in our hearts, alive in the work of our hands. Alive not only in the history we read but the history we are making.
My fellow Americans, now we're the guardians of the idea of America, it is up to us to save it, to preserve it, to build on it. And I know we will. On this sacred day, I look out to those monuments on our National Mall, and beyond them to the hearts of the people across the land, I know this—it's never ever been a good bet to bet against America, never.
We just need to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. There is nothing, nothing we can't do if we do it together.
Happy Fourth of July America. God bless you all. May God protect our troops.
More memorable than that is perhaps this oft-repeated "unity" message:
One of the great gifts of the spirit of independence is the capacity to see ourselves whole and see ourselves honestly—what we've got right, what we've got wrong. It's a measure of the greatness of America, of a nation. We are a great nation. We don't seek to bury the wrongs. We face it. We make it right. History tells us when we stand together, when we unite in common causes, when we see ourselves not as Republicans or Democrats, there is simply no limit to what we can achieve. Today we see the results of unity and purpose.
What is this "unity" that Biden speaks of? This nation remains at an increasingly partisan divide.
If you want to read or watch something in stark contrast, check out Donald Trump's speech from last year.