CHICAGO — Former President Barack Obama praised “selfless” Joe Biden for passing the baton in his address to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night — just weeks after playing a leading role in a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign to bury the president’s re-election bid.
”At a time when the other party had turned into a cult of personality, we needed a leader who was steady and brought people together, and was selfless enough to do the rarest thing there is in politics — putting his own ambition aside for the sake of the country,” Obama gushed.
“History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger — and I am proud to call him my president, but I am even prouder to call him my friend.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago.AP
Obama, 63, took the stage as U2’s “City of Blinding Lights” — a staple of his historic 2008 presidential campaign — blared in the United Center. He said that what he admired most about his former VP was “his empathy and his decency and his hard-earned resilience.”
“And over the last four years, those are the values America has needed most,” said Obama, going on to praise Biden’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the languishing economy when he took office.
