Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden conjured Franklin Delano Roosevelt in one of the final speeches of his 2020 campaign, calling for unity while foreshadowing an aggressive liberal agenda should he win the White House next week.
During a stop in Warm Springs, Georgia, Biden recalled how Roosevelt sought out the city’s mineral springs to ease the paralytic effects of Guillain–Barré syndrome before he died from the disorder in 1945.
“This place, Warm Springs, is a reminder that though broken, each of us can be healed. That as a people and a country, we can overcome this devastating virus. That we can heal a suffering world. And yes, we can restore our soul and save our country,” he said Tuesday, not far from Roosevelt’s Little White House.
Biden, the two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, launched his third White House bid in April 2019, he claims, in reaction to the deadly 2017 civil unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia. And he’s spent the intervening 18 months talking about bridging divides, simultaneously criticizing President Trump’s leadership, or lack thereof, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
“Time and again throughout our history, we’ve seen charlatans, the conman, the phony populist who sought to play on our fears, appeal to our worst appetites, and pick at the oldest scabs we have for their political gain. They appear when the nation’s been hit the hardest,” Biden said Tuesday.
“Has the heart of this nation turned to stone?” he asked, quoting Pope Francis. “I don’t think so. I refuse to believe it. I know this country. I know our people.”
Throughout his campaign, Biden has routinely alluded to Roosevelt, sharing that he was reading The Defining Moment, a political history book detailing Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office.
Just as Roosevelt vigorously pursued his New Deal programs and raft of reforms, Biden vowed Tuesday to lead on issues, such as the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response, the economy, healthcare, and climate change.
One week before polls close, Biden had two public events in Georgia on his schedule, a state that hasn’t supported a Democratic standard-bearer since Bill Clinton in 1992. Trump won Georgia by 5 percentage points in 2016, but four years later, the president is only ahead on average by less than a point, according to RealClearPolitics.
