US President-elect Joe Biden declares it is ‘time to heal in America’

Yahoo News -In his first speech as President-elect on Saturday ( NOv. 7) Joe Biden said he hoped to unify the nation after an especially bitter campaign with President Trump, who has so far refused to concede defeat in the race.

“Folks, the people of this nation have spoken,” Biden said on an outdoor stage at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., as a crowd, with many people watching from inside their cars, honked and cheered approval. “They’ve delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people. We won with the most votes ever cast on a presidential ticket in the history of the nation, 74 million!”

The former vice president repeatedly sought to reinforce his message during the campaign that he would seek to be a president for all Americans, regardless of whether they had voted for him.

“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unify. Who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States,” Biden said.

“All those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. … But now, let’s give each other a chance. We need to stop treating our opponents as our enemies,” Biden told the crowd. “They’re not our enemies. They’re Americans. This is the time to heal in America.”

Biden was declared the victor in the particularly bruising race against President Trump on a date that holds personal significance for the Democrat: It was 48 years to the day that he was first elected to the United States Senate in his home state of Delaware.

Biden ran two failed campaigns for president – one in 1988 and the other in 2008. He served eight years as vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, and then, on his third try, he crossed the finish line.

As several major news networks called the race in Biden’s favor late Saturday morning, Trump was playing golf at his club in Sterling, Va. The president vented his frustration on Twitter, continuing his attempt to discredit Biden’s victory by arguing that voting irregularities had robbed him of the presidency.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Biden’s running mate and the first woman of color to be elected vice president, introduced the president-elect.

“When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America,” said Harris, who wore all white, in a nod to the women who fought to give women the right to vote in the U.S.

Noting the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the country, Harris thanked all the officials and volunteers who made sure the election went forward.

“To the poll workers and election officials across our country who have worked tirelessly to make sure that every vote is counted, our nation owes you a debt of gratitude. You have protected the integrity of our democracy,” Harris said.

In her history-making speech, Harris, the daughter of an Indian-American mother and a Jamaican father, drew on her own background, saying she was reflecting on the life of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who died of cancer in 2009.

“I am thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American, who throughout our nations history have paved the way for this moment tonight,” Harris said.

The announcement that Biden had won the election set off mass celebrations in many of the heavily Democratic cities that Trump had spent weeks attacking on the campaign trail. Crowds numbering in the thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Austin, among others. Smaller crowds of Trump supporters also assembled to show their support for the president, like those that greeted him as he left his Virginia golf course.

While Trump and his legal team say they are preparing to contest several states’ election results in the courts, most observers consider that strategy quixotic, and leaders from around the world appeared ready to move on from Trump, sending their congratulations to Biden and Harris for their apparent victory.

“Congratulations President-elect @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris on your victory in the US Presidential election,” New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wrote on Twitter. “With so many issues facing the international community, your message of unity is one we share. New Zealand looks forward to working with you both!”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Trump has frequently criticized, also said in a statement that she considered the U.S. presidential race to be over.

“I’m looking forward to the future collaboration with President Biden. Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable, if we want to overcome the great challenges of this time,” Merkel said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a tweet that he believed Biden’s election would yield an even stronger friendship between the two nations. It was a conversation with Zelensky in which Trump pressured him to investigate Biden and his family that sparked the impeachment proceedings brought against the president by House Democrats.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Emmanuel Macron of France and others also congratulated the president-elect.

Nov. 8 , 2020

Image : President -elect Joe Biden – Reuter