President Biden said Wednesday it’s been the “privilege of my life” to serve in the White House in a farewell letter to the American people.
The outgoing commander-in-chief, who is set to leave office Monday as his four-year term expires, said he’s put everything he has into more than five decades of public service.
“It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” wrote Biden, 82. “I have given my heart and my soul to our nation. And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.”
Ahead of a primetime speech from the Oval Office, Biden boasted that he is leaving the country in solid shape, especially on the economic front after he presided over an unprecedented 48 straight months of job growth.
“Today, we have the strongest economy in the world and have created a record 16.6 million new jobs,” he wrote. “Wages are up. Inflation continues to come down.”
Even as he leaves office with historically low approval ratings, Biden ticked off a laundry list of achievements that he suggested would win him a favorable verdict from history.
“Manufacturing is coming back to America. We’re leading the world again in science and innovation, including the semiconductor industry. And we finally beat Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors,” he continued. “More people have health insurance today in America than ever before.”
He reminded Americans that he led the nation out of the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.and presided over a historic recovery.
“We came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure,” he said.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
Despite the happy talk, Biden leaves office on a profoundly bittersweet note.
Four years ago, he vowed to “restore the soul” of the country by vanquishing President-elect Trump and proving that the bombastic populist was only a footnote in history.
Instead, Biden will hand the keys to the White House back to his rival after voters gave Trump a solid election victory that amounts to a rejection of Biden.
With the end of his single term only days away, Biden finds himself forced to admit that he failed in one of his most important goals.
“I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake,” Biden wrote. “And, that’s still the case.”
President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Relatively few Americans are buying it. Just a quarter of Americans say Biden was a good or great president, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That’s lower than Americans’ appproval of the twice-impeached Trump when he left office soon after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and during the deadly depths of the pandemic.
Biden reprised his now familiar but still inspirational life story that has powered his remarkable political career.
As he edges out of the spotlight, he suggested that his meteoric rise from working class roots to the pinnacle of power reflects the enduring power of the American dream.
“Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States,” Biden wrote.